The Kings Shadow

Chapters

The Taint of King Sombras Darkness
The Shadow Of King Sombras Darkness
A Reflection Of Grace Or Despair
Breaking Through The Looking Glass
The Cracked Reflection Of Darkness
The Magic To Heal A Poisoned Soul
Madness Descends Upon A Broken Heart

The Taint of King Sombras Darkness

“What? No...NO! STOP!” King Sombra shouted in defiance as the true magic of the Crystal Empire flowed back into the subjects from the Crystal Heart, the very one that he had thought he had locked away to keep for himself, his precious crystal. As the bright blue magic radiated from the Crystal Heart, it soon infected and spread even further through his former servants and the power grew and grew until it receded back into the Heart only to implode with the power of love. The magic reached King Sombra and it penetrated into this very core, into his newly reformed body and he felt himself begin to burn and crack apart like a crystal being crushed under his heavy hoof. “AAAAGGHH!” The pain was too much to hide in silence for King Sombra and he yelled in anger of his defeat and in pain as he felt his new body, a physical pain he has not felt in a thousand years, tear asunder but right before his body completely exploded his mind went blank and he was spared the last few seconds of excruciating pain that would only drive his madness even further. As his body flew apart and into the wind of every corner, most if not all of it slowly burned away and turned into shadowy dust before mixing with the very air and dissolving itself into nature, never to be seen or felt again. All but one thing was destroyed by Princess Cadence and her power of love, King Sombras horn held together and silently flew into the distance and soared towards it new, unknown destination and home.

Beyond lakes, trees, mountains, and deserts and flying by most life living below and in the air did his horn fly and it seemed like it would fly on forever but almost as quickly the horn struck an isolated rock in a dense forest, in the middle of one of the only clearings within it and it struck with the sound of thunder but heard by no one. As soon as the thunder clap ended the horn started radiating a dark magic from within and it oozed out of the broken end and glided down onto the rock and wherever it touched the rock sizzled and steamed but once it hit the ground the grass combusted and the dirt was singed black. The black ooze spread only a few feet from the rock before it sank into the ground but the rock continued to steam while the grass below burned brightly, as if it was seeking to kill all life and it took a few minutes before the blaze died down but the steaming continued on the rock in a few places. The horns magic died down as no more black ooze passed out and no more magic could be felt radiating from within. In time, no sound was heard and no life passed by this tainted area and the sight was quite a fright as a black scorched ring surrounded a steaming rock with a red horn jutting out from the top and there it would stand until called upon by unknown forces.

3 months later........

“Cryssssstallll...........Cryyyyysstallll..........myyyyyyyy........CRYSTAL!” “GASP!” I awoke with a start as I heard that strange voice whispering but when I looked around I saw no pony in sight, no one at all. I quickly stood up and did a quick look around but was too scarred to go too far so I returned to my raggedy, brown blanket and lied down next to it and pulled it back over me and with one more look around, I put my head down and closed my eyes and slowly lulled myself back to sleep. “Come to meeeeeeee.......my.....crysssssstallllll. Coooooome to your Massssssterrrrr. Coooommmmme........ Cooooommmme............. COME!” “GASP” Once again I awoke with a start as that dark voice whispered into my ears, but it felt deeper than that, it reverberated within me and almost shook me and I darted up and around the area again to find its source but once again I found no one but this time I dared to look a little further to find my tormentor. But as before, no sign was found that any pony came and went so I decided to return to my make shift camp and looked up to judge the time and it was still mostly dark but some light was starting to creep along the top of the trees in the few spots where they broke out into the sky. With a groan and a slight cough I grudgingly lay back down and tried to get some more sleep but between the now paranoid thought that I would hear that strange voice and my own personal nightmare I just barely got a few hours of sleep before I naturally woke up thankfully on my own and not by that dark, dark voice. Once I stretched I did a quick brush off of my blanket and tossed it on my back and started to head out to find some food for hopefully most of the day.

My search for food brought me deeper and deeper into this dark forest, I had heard rumors that a dark shadow had fallen in this forest from the few whispers I could hear while I scrounged for food a few weeks ago. But for right now, this forest is my new home and unless the wind in the trees can talk nothing in this forest judges me and looks down on me for being me. But I push those memories aside as I see a small bushel of berries up ahead and I hurry along quickly, thankfully when I am upon the bush I see that there is an abundance of berries, enough if planned smartly to last me maybe three days if I can find my way back to a water hole. I eat as many as I dare for now and I prepared to pick the rest but before I did I noticed a small shiny object just beyond the bush. I hopped over to it and picked it up in my hoof, it was a tiny crystal fragment and even though it was very dark in color it shined brightly and when I adjusted my sight a bit I saw that beyond in the distance there was a bigger shrapnel of crystal so I dropped the small fragment by the bush and hurried along to the bigger piece.

When I came upon the new piece, I saw something strange, the crystal had not been dropped or placed in the ground but actually seemed to be growing out of the very ground itself and when I looked up again I saw that further ahead there was a bigger cluster of crystals growing from the side of a tree where the bark should be. I have never seen anything like this before in the forest or anywhere else before. But before I could look to admire the bizarre beauty I once again looked ahead and I saw something even more bizarre and terrifying. In a clearing up ahead, right in front of me I saw rock right in the middle but it was steaming as if a dragon had just breathed fire on it and the ground since in a circle around it was all burnt but it also looked old, so how was the rock still steaming? But also amongst the burnt grounds were hundreds of crystals sprouting all over, some single and huge and others small but in clusters and some in between and like the tree I passed I saw that all the trees immediately touching the burnt ground had crystals growing like fungus all over its bark. But the rock only had one crystal growing on it, right on top in the middle but the stone around it was cracked, like someone had forced it in with a hammer and inside the crack was just pitch black, even the crystals shine on the rocks surface seemed unable to reach inside. But that was not the terrifying part of this scene, was scared me was the fact that the area seemed to be hazy and I felt like I was standing atop of mountain and looking down, knowing I was going to fall. I looked away and shut my eyes to try and shake this feeling off, this fear, this overwhelming fear.

Only it was just a crystal and my curiosity peeked and I looked again but this time I felt nothing, no fear radiated in me and I saw only the crystal but I also saw something else, something inside the crystal. I couldn’t tell what it was but I saw something and I wanted to know, so I took a step forward but stopped short of the burnt ground. I started getting nervous and I felt something in me telling me to turn back but a new found curiosity within me urged me forward so with one more glance at the crystal I took one step onto the burn ground and heard little crystals crunch beneath my hoof. Nothing seemed to happen so I took one more step “MY CRYSTALS!” “GASP!” I jumped back and smashed into a tree full of crystals and most of them seemed to snap off and crashed on top of me and all around me “My beautiful, shining crystals. My gleaming starsssssss”.

I laid still on the ground in hope that I was not hurt but my eyes started darting around in a panicked fury to find the speaker but yet again they eluded my gaze. I continued to be still but after a few minutes of hearing and seeing nothing I slowly started pushing crystals away until I had room to stand then shook off the rest, afterwards I examined myself to make sure I was not hurt and thankfully I was not. After carefully avoiding the rest I just wanted to run away and never come back to this place and hopefully leave that voice behind and I started to but I slowly stopped and looked back and found myself starting again at the crystal on top of the steaming rock. I knew it was wrong but I wanted to see it again and perhaps find out who was stalking me. So I quickly fetched my blanket and berries and made my camp right by the burnt grounds but made sure to not touch it or any crystals, in case that voice came back. I sat and ate my dinner but all the while I just simply stared and wondered and before I knew it hours had flown by and it was night time and by then I wanted to simply stare more but my eyes betrayed me and I spread my blanket over me and went to sleep. “Yes my cryssssssstal......sleeeeeeeeeep my crystalllll.......sleeeeeep for.....your.....king...”

“Arise....my crysssstalllll....rise and seeeerve me......rise.....Rise........RISE!” “GASP!” I jolted awake yet again due to that dreadful voice and I whipped my head around to find him but I still could not see him. How did he elude me when he sounded so close? But once the fear subsided my gaze was drawn to the clearing in the forest, to the top of a steaming rock surrounded by crystals buried within the burnt ground where the single shining crystal grew, at least it was a shining crystal yesterday. Today when I looked upon the crystal it still had a shine to it but the inside that housed the mysterious object swirled about like ink in water, I wanted to have a closer look but I was reminded of the voice when I stepped on the burnt ground yesterday. Yet the urge in me grew and grew and gnawed at my mind and it drew me closer, my hood stopped just beyond the dark circle but now that I knew that I might hear the voice again I prepared myself and steeled myself to any surprise and with a few strengthening breaths I took my first into the circle and waited for the voice. But to my surprise I heard nothing, no voice, no wind, no birds or animals, nothing but my ragged breaths. With the gift of silence upon me, I took another step then another then another and I found myself in the middle of the burnt circle and halfway to the now darkened crystal and now I felt the tiny crystals embedded within the dirt crunch under my hoofs and with every step they began to emit a warm glow but not enough to hurt or burn me.

I almost began to wait for the voice to appear but I threw away that dangerous thought as I took a few more steps until I was upon the steaming rock and I saw the ever darkening crystal up close and I began to study it. Now that I saw it up close, it looked like crystal itself was growing around the thing inside of it and from what I could see it looked like....a horn? Maybe some sort of unicorn horn perhaps, but that’s impossible! No, that’s morbid! The only way to remove someones horn is when they are dead, who would steal a horn from a dead unicorn and crystallize it? Yet with that morbid thought swirling in my mind, I still wanted to see more and know more about it, I wanted it. “Yessss......my crystal” “NO!” No, no, no, I don't want it, why would I want it? No, that voice again! I missed him again, he sounded so close, like he was right next to me. But now I looked at the dark crystal and I just stared at it and looked deep inside it, at the dead unicorn horn resting still while the blackness stirred and whirled around it. Wait. No. It looked like the black liquid was also turning green and purple and it started to bubble “Yesssss.....come closer.....clossssser” from within the cracks in the rock a black ooze started to trickle from within and spurt like a fountain “Come to me......my cryssssstal” I leaned in closer and the black, green, and purple began to twirl around the horn and it shattered the crystal shell and I saw the horn clearly.

It was red from the tip down but the base had a hint of black but I could also see where it was broken from the owners skull, perhaps this was the owners magic still leaking and pulsing even after death. Whoever owned this was very powerful for their magic to linger on and it was getting stronger and was leaking out from the tip and into the stone now. The black ooze had covered the rock entirely and was oozing around my hoofs and covering the rest of the burnt area but not touching me, but now I didn't care, for the horn pulsed and drew me closer and now I felt my hoof rising to it and when my hoof was close to any ooze it crawled away so I only touched stone. Just mere inches away from the horn, my hoof now lingered just above the horn “Yes.....yessssss.......Yesss!” I lowered my hoof and finally rested it against the horn and when I did the menacing looking magic exploded from the rock and the black ooze circled around me, trapping me in a shell with the crystals now surrounding me and the horn hovered in front of me. The crystals provided the only light as if the sun reflected through them still and I could see a form taking shape from the horn but the shape was made of shadows “ha...ha..ha..Ha..Ha..Ha..Ha...HAHAHAHAHAHA! Yes! You have come at last.....my...new...crysssssstal....slave!” With that the voice finally had a form, a form of shadow and the blood red horn which glowed with the dark magic. The magic erupted and the black ooze lunged at me and swallowed me whole and my whole body went numb and my mind blank.

Time moved as sluggish as the black ooze that has eaten me and it seemed like forever until I heard the voice again and when he spoke the area around me turned into a light hazy gray and his shadowy form and blood red horn walked toward me but the closer he got his horn started to reveal a crown that dawned about a face that menacingly smiled at me “Hello my new crystal. My name is King Sombra and you are the poor soul who had found my horn. After my shameful defeat in MY CRYSTAL EMPIRE against those insolent FOOLS who dared use my precious crystal heart to destroy me after my one thousand year imprisonment!” His anger exploded around him as both his dark magic and the black ooze swirled around him and various shapes formed, most likely of the ones who he spoke of. “What do you want of me, King Sombra? Why did you choose me?” Another menacing laughter erupted from within the shadows and the oozing forms and dark magic soothed and retreat back into him “Why you ask? Because, my dear new crystal, I have seen your heart and your fears and I enjoyed them. The fear of rejection of your fellow ponies because of how you look and act. The fear of laughter and humiliation because of the lack of a cutie mark. The fear of loneliness yet being afraid of asking for company. So many fears, so much sadness, so much pain. That is why I chose you, my dear....Grey Mane. Oh yes, I even know your name but soon it wont matter.” “Why wont it matter? I still do not know what you choose me for!”. Another amused chuckle quietly erupted from the King “I need a new body, my shadow form can no longer be sustained since my original body has now been destroyed, thanks to those meddlesome ponies and their pet dragon! I will not only reclaim MY EMPIRE, but I will also conquer ALL OF EQUESTRIA! Starting with the defeat of Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and this new princess who has claimed my THRONE!”

Once more the dark magic and black ooze erupt from within the King but taking no form and only as random spells in the air but quickly calm down and slink back to the King once more. Once he calmed down he picked up a evil laughter “You may struggle if you like but why suffer even more in your already painful and dreaded life? I will win in the end, my magic will bring out your fears and I will break your spirit. But as I said before, I like you and your fears and I would rather have you....unspoiled. Besides, if you willingly give me your body your mind will meld with mine and you will survive and we can take revenge on all those who have wronged us both.” The Kings form stepped forward towards me and with each step the dark magic left a flaming hoof print in his wake and the black ooze slowly crept up and swirled around my hooves, just waiting to strike and devour me once again but most likely the King kept it at bay for the moment “So, what will it be, my crystal?” But before I could answer the Kings eyes brightly glowed green and my own eyes were drawn into them and I saw all my fears all at once but they were actually happening, all of them laughing at me, humiliating me, rejecting me and hating me over and over again “No, no, NO! Stop it! No, please stop it! Please!” my eyes began to sting when my tears began to flow “Why?! Why do you hate me so much? Why! I just want to fit it! Why can't you be my friends? Why? WHY!” I began shouting and repeating these sort of things as my heart shattered into thousands of pieces “Please! King Sombra! I beg of you to stop this! PLEASE! I don't want to see this anymore! I never want to see this ever again! PLEASE STOP IT!” I fell to the floor and collapsed and even though I felt myself slipping and falling asleep I still saw these nightmares unfolding and taunting me and just before I fell it all stopped and I was wide awake and standing again like I had never moved and in my confusion all I heard was his laughter once again but I could not think or say anything and just listened to his echoing laughter.

After what seemed to be endless hours of his laughter I finally gained the will to speak “Why? Why did you show me that?” “Why you ask? Don't you see? If you let me in then we can make it so that no pony in all of Equestria will ever laugh at you or hate you. No now and not EVER!” The dark magic swirled around me violently and flashed images of my fears again then the black ooze splashed over the images and then they changed from them laughing to them bowing and smiling and mouthing the words “We love you” Is this real? I thought to myself, can anyone truly love me? But before I could think another thought the images all melted away into a pool of dark magic and black ooze and both images of bad and good mixed together and swirled around in a vortex until both dissipated and I was left staring into nothing “Well, what do you think my crystal? How did you like seeing that possible future?” “Possible future?” “Yesssssss, tis a possibility if you let me in, if we become one, if we do this together, my crystal” I began to think of living my life without fear, without being hated, without being alone. “Do you really want me King Sombra?” A small chuckle escaped from the shadow of the King “Yes I do, my crystal. Yesssss.....I......doooooo” My mind was a flurry of images and thoughts and even though a small nag at the back of my mind told me to say no, I chose not to listen and I said “Then, I accept you, my King” and I took a small bow to my new King and to my new self.

Instantly the black ooze was no longer held back in check and struck my legs and climbed up and over my body and it stung like fire but I did not yell out and soon my whole body was covered from head to tail in the black ooze and I felt my body change. I felt my bones crack, my muscles rip, and even my skull was splitting apart and I had no choice but to yell out in pain and agony, it was nothing I could ever imagine and even though I did try to yell my voice was also lost and just for a split second the pain subsided and I blacked out but the very next second came something even worse, everything that broke was being reformed and morphed into something else and the pain of feeling my body transform was even worse than it splitting apart. My body went numb and my only thought was of the pain that I could no longer feel and after a few nightmarish minutes everything stopped and I finally felt my body but now I felt some new things. My body seemed to be taller and my legs seemed heavier and stronger, even my mane felt thicker. “What did you-” I stopped speaking as soon as I heard a different voice come out of me but it was strange because I sounded just like him, I sounded just like his disembodied voice. I was about to speak again but I stopped when I saw the Kings head smiling at me as his eyes surveyed me “What is it my King?”. He stopped immediately and stared at me and the black ooze formed an oval shape in front of me and when the object formed the ooze dripped off and revealed a mirror and I saw my new body. I still had my gray colored body as before but that was the only thing that stayed the same as I saw a thick, muscular body with a long and thick flowing black mane, I even had a horn upon my head now and when I started looking at my new head and face I stared because they both seemed familiar. But before I could think of why, the Kings face slowly phased through the mirror and drifted closer to me and I finally knew where I had seen the face before, it was the Kings face and the horn was the same one that was sticking out from the rock!

“Why do I look like you?” “BECAUSE YOUR BODY IS NOW MINE!” and before I could react his whole shadow jumped into me and I felt something pushing me but my body did not move yet I did and with a slight struggle I felt as though I fell off a cliff but instead of falling down I fell forward into the mirror and I closed my eyes to brace for the impact but it never came. I kept my eyes closed until the feeling passed and when I did open them I was welcomed to his now maniacal laughter and I saw my new body right in front of me laughing but I could tell I was not laughing “What did you do?!”. His answer was his continued laughter but I also noticed the black ooze forming another oval shaped object and just as before the oozed dripped off to reveal another mirror in front of my now turned body and I saw not only my new bodies reflection in the new mirror, I also saw my old bodies reflection in the old mirror “WHAT DID YOU DO?!?”

Now the new body turned and faced me and I saw that the eyes were of the Kings and the horn was ablaze with dark magic “Whatever do you mean, my crystal? I got you to say yes to allow your body to become my new body! I must thank you for easily saying yes, I would not of enjoyed taking over a damaged body but in the end I still got what I wanted and you will get what you want, my precious crystal” “What do you mean! How will I get what I want! I thought you needed me! Why?!” “But I did need you, my crystal, I needed your body to reclaim my body! And of course you will get what you want, I have placed your soul within that indestructible mirror and I will leave you where you found me. Now you will never hear and see any pony ever again! No pony to hate you, no pony to leave you, and no pony will kick you out of your new home! Isn't that exactly what you wanted, my crystal?”.

I was aghast and speechless and once again I felt tears began to flow from my eyes as I slowly realized his betrayal and that I should of listened to myself and should of never have trusted him. I slumped to the ground and stared at King Sombra as he smiled at me and while I stared the black ooze surrounding us melted away and revealed the forest where I found him. But now the rock was void of any steam and the horn was gone and from what I could see all the crystals had shattered and were slowly melting into the ground and disappearing, all but one. In front of the mirror a single blackened crystal stood and King Sombra could tell that I was puzzled and he simply performed his dark chuckle “You shall stay in that mirror for all eternity and your world is now whatever is reflected but you shall have no need to eat or sleep and I shall leave you one gift” His horn glowed and his dark magic shot into the crystal and made it glow “This crystal shall show you my history and will allow you to see through my eyes as I enslave all of Equestria! Thank you, my crystal. Thank you and goodbye” I struggled to speak but I found no voice and then he was gone and I was left all alone, again. After I fully realized what was going to happen I stared at the dark crystal and it glowed again and I began to see the history of King Sombra and all of his evil deeds. At the end of it I finally found my voice as I stared in horror and looked ahead to the closest town “What have I done?”

To Be Continued.........

The Shadow Of King Sombras Darkness

8 Years Later........

Hundreds upon hundreds of crystal ponies slaved away in the Empire below, the men pushing the carts filled with crystals of all sizes and colors that shined in the blackened skies, the women forced to shaped and carve the mined crystals into tributes for their dark and evil King, and the children were chained into machines and whipped to ensure they turned and continued to fuel the furnace to allow the crystals to me shaped and formed. Their cries echo but to fall upon deaf ears, who have given up hope and are content to their lives of pain and torture, and to the ears of the King who simply smiles with joy. Bodies lie scattered, of the living and the dead or those close to dying whose shallow and deathly breaths go unnoticed by those who still have the strength to work but are forced to work harder for every fallen body. In he darkness and vile of the kingdom their it only one who smiles and laughs and that honor belongs only to King Sombra.

“Yesssssss, yeeesssssss my crysssstal sssslaaaaves. Work for me, slave for me, die for me, for I am your KING!” and with that final word his horn erupted and the dark magic spewed forth like a shockwave that surged through out his Empire and shocked every pony it came into contact with and with it carried his dark will and presence as an incentive to keep working. With whatever energy they could muster they pushed themselves even harder as to obey his dark will, with a few falling to the ground with only moans and blood to answer with. The King smiled at the renewed energy but the smile soon gave way to an evil smirk as the King hatched an idea even more sinister.

With his dark magic surging again, he cast a voice amplification to allow all his subjects to hear his cruel and terrible words “My dear crystal slaves! I am most happy that your spirits remain high and that you continue to work hard for your beloved King! But I think you can do even better still and double your efforts! Try not to disappoint me my cryssssstal slavessss, or else I shall have to throw the children and elderly into the furnace to keep that stoked......AGAIN! HAHAHAHAHAHA!” With those words the already frightened and tired ponies pushed themselves to their limits for the King, for it was one thing to hear children cry about working too hard but to hear them scream while they burn was something nopony could ever unhear and never wanted to witness again.

The King continued to hysterically laugh while another thought sprang into his devious mind and he surveyed his Empire only to notice that the bodies that lie strewn about had grown in number again and with that revelation he stomped his hoof and summoned his two crystal abominations to his side. “Clear the streets of those bodies and bring me those who appear strong and breath. BURN THE REST!” and with that he stomped his hoof again and the two mindless slaves began their work to gather dead and dying to burn and the barely living to be transformed into more abominations.

With his body collection order in effect the King returned to the throne room and took his place upon his seat of power to which he was greeted by his enslaved and brainwashed mistress. With her at his side, his view settled on his wonderful Empire, and his plan always in motion he let forth another round of insidious laughter. All of a sudden his shadowy head floated up and grinned in one direction and was followed by “All of this will come to pass upon all of Equestria thanks to you, MY CRYSTAL!”

“NOOOOO!” I sat up in a cold sweat once I was awake and my eyes darted around the never changing scenery of the forest to try and calm myself that I was not in a land of fire and death. With my ragged breaths I very, very slowly began to calm down and collect my senses and finally after a few long minutes I was steady before I let out a tired sigh as his mind raced and thought about another horrible memory of King Sombra he was forced to endure during his imprisonment in the mirror. Unfortunately true to his word, the King had made it so he did need to eat or sleep but his body grew tired like normal but with no means to restore itself and so while he did not sleep every now and then his body collapsed and he went into a sleepless dream but the dreams were only more memories of King Sombra during his days ruling over the Crystal Empire.

It was strange how accustomed he had become to all of this during his eight years thought this was not always the case. During the first four years he had become mad and deranged due to the horrible memories and sleepless days and some days he had even thought that he himself was King Sombra and had laughed at their pain and suffering. But during the fifth year his mind broke again and his madness turned back into sanity though he was not entirely back to his old self, but his new self had more awareness and insight and had a kinder heart. He had laughed at the thought that through seeing the ultimate evil and going through sheer and utter madness that he had found within himself a deeper sense of kindness.

Though it also made him sad that even though he acquired this new kindness he would never be able to use it but he could not complain since it was he who had unleashed this evil upon Equestria during his time of weakness and heart ache. Greymane sat down in his usual spot which was right across from the reflective edge of the mirror that separated himself from the mirror world and the real world and stared at the magical marks that eerie glowed around the mirrors edge. At first he had no clue as to what they were but after a few days of experimenting he had gathered that as another part of the Kings cruelty that they were the days he spent in this prison, fortunately after a while the smaller digits shimmered together to form bigger numbers which was a relief in that he did not have to count hundreds of singular slashes. He looked for todays newest slash mark and had found that exactly on this day was his eight anniversary of imprisonment and his twenty forth birthday “Happy Birthday Greymane”.

After that he quietly hummed to himself the song his mother would sing to him on his birthday, her the 'Gift of Music' she would call it, which lasted a couple of minutes and brought to him a small smile. Once he was done humming he opened his eyes and stared into the real world again and began his daily ponderings, which was usually just a million questions that would never be answered but there was one that usually came up often. When he was thrown into the mirror the King said that along with his memories he would also show him conquering Equestria through his eyes so as to see what his foolish mistake had wrought to the world, but strangely he was never once shown these visions. He figured that maybe the King had forgotten to activate it or something but it was another thing he was silently thankful for because if he had to witness both the old world and the new world being enslaved his mind would probably have never recovered.

During his thinking he glanced up to the sky and thanked Celestia that it was a nice sunny day out today, the one thing he had learned was that he could not change things in the mirror world so if it rained or snowed he could protect himself or make anything to shield his body from the elements. The only time things changed in the mirror world was if they changed in the real world, but once again due to his quasi-immortality he never got sick and never died due to hunger or sleeplessness so even though he had to sit through the winter with snow burying him he was always fine in the end. But that did not stop him from trying to seek out some sort of shelter that already existed so as to make his imprisonment a little more comfortable.

A small chuckle left his mouth at the thought of being comfortable then a thought came to him, he has not made a birthday wish since his first year in the mirror and while it would only serve as a slight amusement from cycle of madness he decided to go ahead and make one. While he could not physically change anything in the mirror world, he had accidentally found out during a rainy day that the mirror on his side could fog out and he could touch and clear the fogginess from the mirror and it was his first sign of hope and almost everyday for a year he would constantly fog up the mirror and write messages. Though he had to learn how to spell backwards after realizing that it would probably be reversed in the real world, but after that year he had once again given up hope and stopped writing messages but would doodle once in a while before the Kings memories would strike again.

So for his birthday wish, he spent a few minutes fogging up the mirror before drawing a cake with twenty four candles and when he finished he took a second to gather his thoughts and his wish before saying “I know that I do not deserve such kindness for my actions and that I should be granted nothing for my crimes but still....I wish.....I wish” a few sniffles and a tear or two slowly came up while the foggy cake was slowly vanishing “I wish to be saved” and with his wish he 'blew out' his candles and watched as his cake and candles slowly vanished and was left staring at the real world again. “Please, save me” was all he could say before more tears rolled down his cheeks and into the ground before disappearing since nothing could change in the mirror world.

…...“Hello? Is some pony there?”......

To Be Continued...

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait for those actually reading this -laughs- I just had a lot going on with my job and life and blah blah blah. That and I am horrible at finding the write time and inspiration to actually write again (WHICH SUCKS BTW cause I could of written like 4 or 5 chapters by now) But anyway, here is chapter two of The Kings Shadow! I was originally gonna make this chapter all about King Sombra and how he turned into the evil King he is but I decided to simply give bits here and there in future chapters. So anyway, WHOSE VOICE WAS THAT IN THE END?!?!?! -Que dramatic music- Stay tuned to find out!

P.S: This is like the shortest thing I have written story wise (I have other non-pony stories on my DeviantArt) like ever! I was going to make it longer like I usually do but I thought the cliffhanger would be a better ending for something like this -shrugs-

Enjoy!!!

A Reflection Of Grace Or Despair

…...“Hello? Is some pony there?”......

Greymanes eyes shot open at this foreign and unknown sound, a voice? Maybe it was going to be another bout of madness or a new memory of the King though it was a strange way to start one, perhaps he was growing too comfortable in his prison. He sat still and closed his eyes as he prepared for the onslaught of hellish nightmares and blood curling visions of the mad Kings past, wonder if it would pick up where he left off or would start anew. After a minute or two or stillness he slowly peaked one eye open and saw the mirror reflecting in front of him, the same grass, same blue sky, same glowing marks that showed his time while imprisoned, and no blood or fire or screams.

Strange, maybe it really is him going mad again and hearing voices once more though why now was the question. Perhaps the hope and wishful thinking snapped his mind again or something but if he can reason with himself like this than he must not be mad or insane like before but if not then what?! It couldn't be that his birthday wish came true could it? No, that would be impossible due to the Kings magic hiding the area his mirror prison was in and even without it the place was in a part of the forest that nopony would ever look in.

He sighed and sat up and slowly trotted up to the mirror and layed his head and right hoof against the reflective service and closed his eyes and breathed a heavy sigh as to the ridiculous thought of being rescued. Slowly thinking that his wish will never come true a few tears began to trickle down his muzzle only to disappear since they don't exist in the real world, he had long given up hope and it was foolish to have started again. He deserved to be here to atone for his sins about unleashing King Sombra upon all of Equestria again and all thanks to his stupidity and fear, how he had easily let that rancid King dissolve his mind and plague his heart with lies and sludge.

If only his home had not burnt down then he would of never of had to leave and search for a new home then he would not of had to come to Ponyville and hear them all say those things to him and made him doubt himself in the first place. He was perfectly happy being alone and fending for himself, to be the strange grey pony on the outskirts of Canterlot, to have no one know about him to even think about him or care. No family, no friends, not a single soul to pay him any mind and allow him to carry on his life without regrets or pain or suffering because of the thoughts of others, to simply have and be nothing.

Well in here he has nothing now but if the King ever tells of his resurrection then history will know of him to be the weak minded fool who unleashed the evil King and sank the world into darkness. Even those three fillies he met by his house a year after the events in Ponyville would probably only see him as a monster who lived in the Everfree, the small white unicorn, the orange pegasi, and the yellow earth pony with a red ribbon in her mane. The whole world by now thinks of him as such a terrible monster who made a deal with the devil and set him free and yet here he is, wallowing in his prison and crying his eyes out over some imaginary voice that gave him a sliver of hope.

“Hello?! I can hear somepony crying out here! Where are you?!”

Once more Greymanes eyes shot open and his eyes started moving like crazy to try and find the source of this new voice, was it really real? Was someone really out there looking for him? But how? Why? It didn't make any sense, how could there be someone out there to look for him? How? How? HOW?!

“Where are you?! Please say something!”

This time the voice was starting to get quieter and farther away. No! With whatever sliver of hope he had left he slowly lifted his hoof off the mirror and tapped it softly at first again and again. He could not believe it still, somepony had escaped the reign of the King and was here!

“Hellooooooo?! Where are youuuuuuuuu?! Say something! Anything!”

Once again the voice was drifting further and further and now his hoof pounded on the mirror with new hope but his voice had left him when he needed it and at most he could barely let loose a quiet “Help”. Withing the next few minutes his hoof was moving at speeds which even surprised him as it smashed against the magic mirror and with each growing minute his voice slowly grew until the third minute when it sounded like a stampede was traveling across the reflective surface of his prison door and his lungs burned as he shouted “HELP!” over and over again.

Nothing.

No sound, no voice, no incoming hoof steps to come to his aid and rescue, and the slightest ray of hope which sparked his soul was vanishing into the darkness along with his spirit. His hoof felt raw as it stopped its assault and his throat was hoarse and sore from the sudden outburst of hopeful screaming and his face was drenched from the downpour of tears ranging from sadness to happiness and then to devastation. Though a fire was ablaze in his throat he continued to voice his call of “Help” to the now long gone savior.

THUD

His head fell upon the surface as his tears renewed their strength and vigor as his heart broke and spirit shattered as his birthday wish become wasted and once again it was his fault. If only he had spoken up sooner and done something instead of wallowing in self pity and doubt, if only he had shouted sooner, if only he had smashed harder and louder, if only he.....if only he.....if only he had not been a fool. But here he was, alone and sad and without hope. He leaned more into the mirror and allowed his tears to flow and resigned himself to his fate once more.

“Hello? Are you the pony I heard earlier?”

“GASP” with this sudden new voice piercing his solitude he fell away from the source and rolled away before weakly standing up on his legs like a new born foal. Once his legs seemed to be able to stand on their own he slowly raised his wet face back to the mirror, half expecting it to be some sort of trick or phantom produced by his jailor but instead of some crystal pony with blood shot eyes and broken bones or a fiery servant of the vile King stood a normal pony.

Well, not exactly a normal pony per say, this was an Alicorn mare with lavender fur and a two striped mane who stood only a few inches shorter than me and stared at me with purple eyes that studied my ragged form. With no reason to keep up my appearance while ensnared in the mirror my black mane had grown wild and long and my tail dragged behind me while my fur was a mess and had no sense of style or reason and grew over every other part of my body. I was a total mess in her eyes, a stranger, a beast, a prisoner, a monster.

But neither of us broke eye contact as we continued to stare at each other for what seemed like forever but not as long as my imprisonment and just as I was beginning to muster the courage of thought and reason to talk she had the will to break the silence first by asking “Are you alright? Why are you out here all alone in the Everfree Forest? And why are you crying? Come closer!”

With those words he had simply obeyed since his mind was blank with confusion and shock and he slowly shuffled his way forward until he was just in front of the mirror and sat down. With short ragged breaths he slowly gained his thoughts before he spoke “I.....i-i-I am alri-igh-ight”

A small smile tugged at her lips “That is good to hear, but why are you all alone here in the Everfree?”

“Because I must be for what I have done and here I must remain for my sins” his head slumped forward and a frown had crawled forward.

“What do you mean? Who are you?” she asked next and she tilted her head to the side in curiosity.

Greymane gulped and stuttered for a bit before he answered with “My name is Greymane and this is my prison for all eternity”

Her eyes went back and forth as her mind raced through her thoughts “Greymane, Greymane, Greymane” after another few seconds of thinking her eyes went wide with realization “It's YOU! We have been looking for you forever!”

He flinched at this and he turned his head away in shame and prepared for all the new curses and foul words towards his character.

“Yes! You are the one that the girls saw during Discords invasion nine years ago! And who Fluttershy and the Cutie Mark Crusaders saw a year later! We have all been so worried about you!”

With this he slowly turned his head back up to the mare but with a look of shock and complete and utter confusion while his mind thought 'Worried? Why would she be worried about me?'

“Oh my goodness! This is SO wonderful! I cannot believe I found you! And in the Everfree of all places!” during her little rant she had begun doing a small victory dance in place with a grin a mile wide plastered on her happy face.

Still dumbfounded with shock and confusion, Greymane re-found his voice and asked “Why?”

Her dance slowly stopped and she straightened out her body before dawning a face of confusion as well “Why what?”

“Why would you be worried about me?! You should be furious with me! You should want me dead!” he said with a growing load voice.

The mare gasped at this and slowly stepped forward to him “Why in Equestria would I want you dead?!” he face now molded with a look of shock, confusion, and dismay.

“What do you mean?!? It's because of me all of Equestria is enslaved!” his voice boomed now.

“Enslaved?!Now your not making a lick of sen-OOF” she sputtered as her face smooshed into the mirror that led into my world “What the hay?” she replied as her hoof came up and tapped the surface multiple times.

With that Greymane calmed down a little “This is where I have been, this is my prison” he declared.

The lavender mare continued to poke the mirror all over until finding the edge to which she walked forward while skimming the surface to find the wall to this “prison” but instead when she looked around she no longer saw the grey stallion. With this startling revelation she darted her head back and forth to see him appear and disappear again and again before coming back to the front and she began to study just what she was seeing. “What is this? Where are you?”

“I am where you are but not where you are, I am in the reflection of the world, in this mirror world while you reside in the real world” he calmly claimed.

She waved her hoof and she could see her own reflection as well as the boulder behind her and the trees, the grass, and clear blue sky. She could see everything behind her except for him “But how is that possible? How can you be a reflection with no body?”

Greymane hung his head low and bit hit lower lip “Through dark magic cast forth upon me by an evil unicorn King”

With this she made another loud gasp “King Sombra?!?! He did this to you? But why?” her face now displaying concern and worry.

“Why? So I can remain here and watch Equestria burn under his reign and become enslaved under his rule. Since I exist in a place where I should not I do not eat, I do not sleep, and I cannot die. I can only watch through this mirror. I cannot change anything in the mirror world, only when something changes in the real world does it change in the mirror world. I have sat here for 8 years and endured the cold of winter and the harsh rays of sun and though my body should of withered long ago I remain. As per my punishment and reward by the King” Greymane lifted his head and held it there to look at her as she soaked in this new information.

Her mind raced as she absorbed this information and while normally she would be giddy that such a complex spell exists she was also horrified that this poor stallion had been forced to endure such torture but the few key words he had been saying have been bugging her and she is acting on them by asking “Why do you keep saying it is a prison? What did you do to be imprisoned by King Sombra?”

With a heavy heart and a long drawn breath Greymane prepared himself for the eventual words “Because eight years ago, I was the one who set King Sombra free from that rock behind you. I was the one who struck a deal with him, to allow him to inhabit my body as to have revenge against all those who did us wrong. But he tricked me and he had summoned this mirror which housed his soul and when I gazed upon it his soul invaded my body and transformed into his old form but as soon as the painful transformation was complete he expelled me from my body and into this mirror. He then told of his eventual betrayal and his plan to conquer and enslave all of Equestria and that my reward would be to live in this mirror, unable to die for all of eternity while I watched the world burn” before he could take his next breath he was stopped by his own tears that swelled up again and he had to catch his breath “and....and that is why.....that is why I am here. So suffer for my foolishness, my weakness, and my stupidity and here I must remain. Forever more”

The mare sat there wide eyed and mouth aghast as she processed this new, disturbing information. It was because of him that King Sombra had returned, which now perfectly explains how he returned so quickly and had recovered just as swiftly. It also could explain what happened to him shortly after his return and why they were able to subdue him. Should she leave him here, just as he said he was now in a perfect prison for his crimes and admitted to it freely. She took a glance over to the stallion and though she was angry as soon as she had her eyes upon him she only felt sadness for him. To be alone, unable to eat or sleep or feel anything for eight years and thinking he had doomed his home must of drove him mad with guilt and to see him breaking down shows that he is sorry and feels regret. Taking a moment and a collective sigh she trotted up to the mirror to sit down and rest her left hoof against the mirror “Greymane”

He winced once more as she interrupted his thoughts while he looked up to meet her in the eye “y-y-yes” he shakily replied

“I am going to go to Canterlot and report everything to Princess Celestia and I and going to ask to have you released from this prison. I am sorry that but I am going to have to ask you to wait a little bit longer before coming back to the real world. I really am sorry but this spell is too complicated and I do not have extensive knowledge on dark magic to reverse it without harming you” she declared to the stallion with a hint of kindness peaking on her face.

Greymane looked at her with even more confusion “But why?! Why would you do this to the pony who released that evil upon Equestria! Why would you help a wretch like me?! Why? Why? WHY?!” he honestly pleaded.

What happened next shocked Greymane to his very core as she began her reply with a warm smile “Because no pony deserves this kind of cruelty. And while I am not sure I can fully forgive you, I am willing to help you” after that the mare withdrew her hoof, turned around, and began to charge her horn as bright sparks began to burst forth “I will be back, I promise” and with that she disappeared in a flash of magic and once again Greymane was all alone.

He could do nothing but stare blankly into the open space that once held a lavender Alicorn mare who was now on her way to Canterlot to inform the one and only Princess Celestia about him and what he had done. But could he really be set free? Would he be free? But does this mean that King Sombra failed? Just what has truly happened these eight long years? “I never even caught her name” he sighed as his mind raced once more with a million questions and right before he shut his eyes he noticed a small bit of purple writing upon the mirror which read 'My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle and I will return, I promise'.

He read the little note over and over again and another hundred questions popped up about their being another Princess in Equestria but for now he lied down in front of the mirror and feigned the motion of sleep to relax himself while he thought of the millions of new questions buzzing around his mind but only one mattered to him. Only one questions that made him stir and become restless.

“Will she keep her promise?”

To Be Continued...

Author's Note

Hello all! Again! So yeah, after I wrote that short chapter (which was cut short to add the element of SURPRISE and cliffhanger) I just had the urge to finish the rest like I originally wanted to. So here it is! And guess what?! Its long! Muahahahaha! Had fun writing this one and I cant wait to write the next one! Hopefully you all like it as well!

Enjoy!!!

Breaking Through The Looking Glass

Screaming. Endless screaming pounded the ears of the two Princesses who had just momentarily arrived into The Crystal Empire, but the screams were not the only thing to greet them upon arrival. The smell of something burning invaded their nostrils and made their fur stand on end and if not through sheer willpower would make them heave the contents of their stomachs. But the sight of the empire in all its 'glory' would forever stain their minds and makes the screams almost seem pleasant in comparison.

As they surveyed the land they saw countless horrors such as the multitude of bodies that seemed to be dead or dying littered on the ground while the one who still stand simply walk over them or even stomped on them while continuing to work. They saw children chained to machines and being forced to keep them alive while most likely their mothers and fathers slaved away working on things those very same machines brought forth. Yet the ones who had work remained silent and they could tell by their eyes that they had given up hope and simply worked while the ones on the ground tried to rise and cried out for help only to be met with silence or another hoof to their bodies as the workers walked over them in silence.

One particular scream caught both of their attention and they fixed their eyes upon a stallion whose front right leg was missing and bleeding and screamed for help as his body was being dragged away by some sort of crystal abomination that looked like somepony has carved a crude pony body out of crystal then gave it life. But out of all the horrors they have witnessed this new sight gave way to a nightmarish sight, for the abomination dragged the screaming stallion to an open furnace and easily flung his bleeding body into the fiery inferno and quickly closed and locked the front while the dying screams of the stallion rose and rose until it slowly died out.

Tears rolled forth from both of the Princesses eyes as their minds tried to wrap themselves around everything they have witnessed but before they could act they were greeted by a new sound, the sound of maniacal and dark laughter that seemed to echo throughout their whole bodies and sank into their minds. They quickly turned their fearful heads towards the source to find a dark and evil looking unicorn wrapped in gleaming silver armor and a flowing red cape with a horned crown atop his smirking face. Clinging to him was a black furred unicorn with a teal mane who starred at the King with half-lidded soulless eyes and with his leg wrapped around her to keep her close he continued his horrendous laughter while starring right at the two hovering Princesses.

“WELCOME Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to my wondrous Empire! Are you impressed and awestruck at all its glory and beauty!” the King shouted as his mouth continued to smile in ill-fashion.

“As Co-Ruler of Equestria and the Princess of the Sun I, Princess Celestia, ask you to stop this madness at once King Sombra!” the white furred Alicorn Princess demanded.

“If thou does not stop this insanity at once then I, Princess Luna, Co-Ruler of Equestria and Princess of the Night shall be forced to stop thou by any means necessary!” the blue Princess declared as she slowly began to prepare her magic in her slightly elongated horn.

The only response to their demands was even more laughter but while he laughed he shoved the teal maned unicorn mare aside with force and he slowly but boldly walked towards the two and summoned his magic to create a pillar of stone that rose him from his spot until he was face to face with the two Princesses “If you cannot see the beauty of MY EMPIRE then you shall become my new Cryssstal SSSSSSSLAVESSSS!” as soon as he shouted he charged his dark magic and began shooting dark blasts of magic at his new objects of desire.

The two Alicorns flew and dodged most of them and had to summon a magic force field to fend off the rest. Princess Luna simply roared a battle shout and began to summon her offensive magic while Princess Celestia flew up and shed a few tears that the negotiations had failed “I am sorry King Sombra but your actions against the ponies of Equestria cannot be forgiven and by my light I shall defeat you.” as soon as those words left her mouth she summoned the power of the sun and a pure beam of sunlight enveloped her entire body. Her magic formed golden battle armor over her entire being and her once flowing multicolored hair ignited into flames and roared with power and heat and her once peaceful demeanor was replaced with a fearsome warrior whose power radiated like that of the sun. Once the sunbeam lifted her golden armor gleamed in the fiery rage of her mane and by the desecrated burnt lands of the Empire below and with one more magic charge her eyes glowed yellow and she looked right at you and charged while yelling “NOW BEGONE VILE SHADOW!”.

Greymane snapped back to reality and began to pace back and forth with a cold sweat while his adrenaline rushed and his heart pounded in anxiety as this latest vision of King Sombras past. While he continued to pace he slowly started taking deep breaths as he had learned to do in the past to ease the burden and after a minute or so he had stopped pacing and sat in front of the mirror and continued to breath deeply until he felt his heartbeat slow back down to normal. Once he was feeling normal he finally opened his eyes fully and saw that it was now dawn and his vision had taken him all night and into the morning and with that realization he slowly looked forward through the mirror to see if Princess Twilight Sparkle had returned but was greeted with the same forest that surrounded him all his life.

He sighed and hung his head low before he quickly glanced at the message she left him before she teleported away ' My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle and I will return, I promise', when he tore his eyes away from the message his heart had mixed feelings about this recent development and this latest vision. First he thought about the vision and how he had never seen this one before, he had seen every other vision multiple times before but this new one had finally picked up where the others left off but he also thought that it was a weird coincidence that he was about to meet Princess Celestia for the first time and then he gets a vision showing her rage and power.

But now that he knew who that was he now knows that he had seen her once before and that was when he had seen her fly into Ponyville before he was imprisoned but now all he could see her as was the raging warrior about to strike. He shook those thoughts aside as he focused back on the message then back to Princess Twilight Sparkle and his spiked for a moment at the thought of hope that he would be rescued and he allowed himself a brief smile of happiness before he smothered it. No, he most likely would not be rescued, especially by Princess Celestia who saw and battled King Sombra at the height of his domain and was most likely forced to due battle with the King once more thanks to him.

Even though his mind was telling him to give up and giving him thousands of reasons why his heart just kept pounding on and telling him to believe in the lavender Alicorn and trust her to fulfill her promise. Maybe Princess Celestia would not free him but perhaps Princess Twilight would instead, she had listened to his story and she could of just left him there without a word but she had promised him herself and even left a message to remind him, so either she was cruel or truly wished to free him. But with his luck, either option was up on the table and he could not blame her for doing the first one.

Many similar thoughts rampaged throughout his mind and he debated on whether or not either Princess would come and free him or simply leave him in his perfect prison for his crimes against Princess Celestias subjects and her rule. While his heart continued to hope eventually his mind won over and he hung his head in sadness and rejection as he slowly gave up hope that she would come back or would even bother to free him if she did return but no matter what negative outcome he promised himself that he would not get mad or upset at their decision since he knew his crimes and accepted it long ago. With his thoughts clouded by darkness and shame he closed his eyes and slumped his head against the invisible glass and sighed sadly as his mind began to wonder and a single long tear began to fall.

THOOMP

The sudden sound surprised him but he remembered it as the sound of Princess Twilight teleporting away yesterday but now it was most likely a return trip, his eyes sprung open but he did not remove his head from its spot as his eyes darted the same green grass as his mind exploded at the new possibilities but before too long he heard two different sets of hooves walking towards him and now he was sure that Princess Twilight had returned as promised and most likely with Princess Celestia in tow. His heart lept for joy inside but he dared not show such emotion in this delicate situation as the two sets of hooves came closer and closer until they stopped and from his spot he could see the golden hooves and white fur on his right while lavender fur stopped on his left.

His body refused to move to meet them both and his body trembled in fear and sweat began to glisten in grey fur and the very same sweat dripped off his body but disappeared once it hit the mirror world grass and his breathing became ragged. He knew he should greet them or say something but as soon as he saw those two sets of hooves his body was locked in fear but his mind was absolutely clear of any thought and simply held the image of those same hooves he stared at. Seconds pass without a word and very soon a minute had pass in silence but it did nothing to calm his nerves or mind, just the fear of the unknown poisoned his mind like the King had down to him many years ago.

“Please raise your head Greymane, you have nothing to fear my little pony” said an unfamiliar voice whose words just seemed to explode in his mind but only due to the fact that they instantly calmed him and filled his body with warmth and just seemed to erase all his worries and woes. As his body ceased to tremble he took one long breath and slowly raised his head but as he did a small sliver of doubt spread in his mind and as he continued to raise his head he kept his eyes averted down.

“Please Greymane, look at me. I only wish to look into your eyes and see you” the voice pleaded in a sadder tone and with any courage he could muster he took one more breath as he slowly moved his eyes up until he saw the smiling face of the pure white Alicorn with multicolored hair which flowed in the wind, the golden crown that sat on her head along with the other golden accessories that adorned her tall and lanky body. But it was her purple eyes that had him captured, they were beautiful as they just seemed to go on forever but held many emotions that swirled like a whirlpool but at that moment they were an odd combination of happiness and sadness.

“Hello my little pony, I am Princess Celestia and it is an honor to finally meet you” her soothing voice called out and as she finished she placed a single hoof upon the mirror and gave a smile so warm is felt like the sun was shining on him after a rainy day and filled him with a warmth he had not felt since his mother died. With his own hoof he brought his up and met her own upon the opposite side of the mirror and tears flowed down his face and a smile blossomed upon his face as he continued to stare at her.

His mind once again shattered but in a good way as all previous thoughts of malice and ill will about the identity of Princess Celestia vanished and even the raging warrior he saw in his vision gave way to this shining beacon that offered him a genuine smile and filled him with hope beyond measure. A slight movement to his left cause him to shift and look at Princess Twilight who was also smiling and had a few tears rolling down her face and collected on the real world grass as she gazed upon the scene and Greymane couldn’t help but smile even wider a the sight of her. She had kept her promise to come back for him!

With a shaky voice he began to say “I am sorry Princess Twilight, but I had thought you would not return. But I am happy to be proven wrong. (He turned to face Celestia once more) and it is 'hick' it is an honor to meet you and I....I....” his voice cracked as his cries took over for a moment before he spoke up again “and I am so happy that you came”

A small chuckle escaped Celestias lips “Of course I came, I could not afford to ignore something as important as this” she replied with that warm smile of hers but even though he was happy he was slightly confused at this statement.

“Im-important? How am I important your majesty?” before Princess Celestia could answer he quickly turned his head to Twilight “Did you tell her everything I told you yesterday? Because” with that he dropped his hoof and looked back at the ground “With everything I did, I should not be somepony of importance unless for punishment”.

“Of course I told Princ-” Twilight was cut off by Celestia “Punishment?! Why would I ever punish you for?” Celestia said with nothing but pure concern and worry.

Even though she said it worryingly all his emotions came boiling up “BECAUSE of me King Sombra escaped! Because of me hundreds or thousands of ponies had to face King Sombras cruelty and evil! Because of me he gained a physical body! Because I was weak and sad and angry and lonely and a fool I had fallen for his false words and let him loose! Because of me.....because of me.....” his emotions had won over him and his tears boiled over and took over all words and left a silence as his words sank in.

“I know” was all Celestia responded with.

With those two simple words it snapped Greymane out of his sad state and made him look at her with much confusion and with a few sobs he finally spoke” Then why am I important? Why did you come back for me? Why dont you hate me!” Greymane had unintentionally shouted that last part but his confusion had taken over his manners.

“Because Greymane, everypony is important. No matter how small or big a role they play. A filly, an elder, an office worker, a miner, a popular model, a lonely stallion, a Princess, or even a homeless mare. They are all important and you are no exception in my eyes. Yes what you did was wrong but your actions were not done out of malice or hatred, they were manipulated by a pony whose heart was shallow and black and he twisted your regrettable experiences in life to serve his dark plans. You only wanted somepony to simply be your friend and he used that against you. I am sad that we had not found you sooner to help and to allow this to happen. For that and everything that was done to you I apologize and hope you can forgive me” after she was done she bowed before him with a few tears sparkling in her eyes.

Greymane was speechless as his mind once again wrapped around her words that bounced around in his mind and for a long minute he sat in silence before he realized that he left Princess Celestia in silence with her of all ponies bowing to him! “P-p-p-please Princess Celestia! You do not need to apologize to me! I never blamed you or any pony for anything. I knew what I did was wrong and I knew that it was no ones fault but my own and I thought that with King Sombra trapping me in here was the perfect punishment for my actions. Even before I knew you I could never blame you and after getting to know you now I can say for certain that you did nothing wrong. I was simply dealt a bad hand in life but since it was my life I had to play it out and live on. So please rise Princess! I do not deserve this”

With those words Princess Celestia rose from her position and offered another smile “Your certainly a wonder Greymane, usually others would be at least a little mad or upset but after everything I can only imagine you still find yourself to be humble and calm”

For a while he remained silent and thought about her words then he did something he himself did not suspect he would ever do again, he chuckled at a silly thought “Well, after going insane and regaining my sanity within eight years can have strange effects”

For a brief moment Celestia was confused but joined in his chuckle “Though I do not know exactly the meaning behind those words, I can agree with you that that would certainly have strange effects on anypony” with that she gave another short chuckle “Discord would probably be the best example of that”. After her little joke Twilight gave a short snort and stifled her laughter before Celestia continued “Now, with all that out of the way how about we get you out of your little 'mirror world' and get you back to the 'real world'”

Greymane took a step back and began to think and think and think while Celestia prepared to use her magic but before she could he shouted “WAIT! NO! YOU CAN'T!”

Taken back by the refusal she let her magic die down first before asking “Why? Do you truly no want to be free?” she said confusingly to which Twilight agreed with.

Greymane rubbed his left leg with his right “It's not that exactly but if I were to leave now I do not think I would be able to exist in the real world since I do not have a physical body. King Sombra currenly holds dominion over my body” with that he sighed and look down as he now had another reason to stay imprisoned despite all that just happened.

But instead of a gasp of realization or questions to be asked all he heard was another slight giggle from Princess Celestia as she charged her horn and a yellow glow slowly enveloped her horn “I don't think that will be much of a problem” but before Greymane could respond he saw from behind the two an object wrapped in a blanket slowly being levitated over by Celestias magic and being set to her left, his right. After she gently layed it on the ground she withdrew her magic, Greymane squinted his eyes to see what it was before his eyes blasted open in surprise and his mouth twitched before he finally spoke “That's me. That's my body”

To Be Continued...

Author's Note

Ok, so the title is a little misleading since he has not broken out JUST YET. I originally gave it this title with the intention of him breaking out but once I began writing I saw that it was getting really long and I decided to make the escape next chapter. But I really liked the title so I kept it and ill come up with a new good one next time that fits. So anyway, another little snippet of King Sombras past and another chapter! Yay! Once again I hope you all like it and please let me know what you think, good and bad. I cannot get better unless I know what to fix or not to fix!

Enjoy!!!

The Cracked Reflection Of Darkness

Greymanes eyes were glued upon the lifeless body that lay before him, just outside the reflection of his mirror, the host of King Sombra, his original body before he carelessly threw it away. Although it was clearly his body, certain aspects of it had changed over the course of eight years, some of which he could not fathom considering his former life style. The main thing he noticed first was the fact that his mane had been cut and seemed to have been kept in fashion instead of being wild and uncut.

The second thing was that his body seemed to at one point become very muscular but had died down due to inactivity, but you could still see the former strength they once held at some time. Also, though a little to his amusement, was the little detail that he saw the hooves were particularly shiny and well managed. But one other small detail frightened him a bit as he glanced up to the mouth and though most were hidden, he could see that two of his former upper teeth had become fanged and pointy.

All in all, if it were not the fact that he just knew it was his body, he would of never of guessed that it actually was his to begin with. Yet again his mind just raced as he thought of questions upon questions that he wanted to ask but he could not find his voice as he stared blankly at Princess Celestia with the face of confusion. Fortunately the Princess was not blind and came to his aid with answers, the likes of which he did not expect.

“Though I believe that the full story will be for another time, I will give you a brief explanation as to why your body lies here and without a soul to carry it.” with a brief moment to gather her breath she continued “I do not know how long it was between his revival and his initial reappearance but roughly seven and a half years ago King Sombra had announced his return by attacking Ponyville having learned that the bearers of the Elements Of Harmony were living there and in his mind the one true thing he had to fear most”.

“Although he had the body of an earth pony, he still maintained his dark magic and had succeeded in slowly controlling the ponies of Ponyville to which he held captive as to assure that the elements would not interfere or else he would do many unspeakable things to them. I had heard of this when Twilight sneaked a message to me and I enlisted the help of my sister, Princess Luna, as well as Princess Cadance, and the reformed Discord as the counter-balance to his threat. We were left in a stalemate though he had secretly began forming an army of darkness through the creatures that inhabited the Everfree Forest”.

“Fortunately the stalemate did not last long, for after two months of planning we were surprised to hear a sudden report stating that the King had begun acting strange and had began to act kinder, still cruel but showed random outbursts of kindness to my.....to 'his subjects'. We continued our detailing our plans just in case but for the next month his shadowed grip had begun to loosen and reports continued to entail his strange new behavior. Some of which, along with the new kinder side, his body seemed to slack and he seemed to lack the energy to even simply move and performing even simple magic appeared to drain him”.

“It was due to his dark magic faltering that we were able to get a foothold within Ponyville and luckily for me the King had agreed to a peace talk. A week later we had finally sat down to talk and I saw that his eyes seemed distant and his body appeared to be barely walking and withered. For a brief moment I had felt sadness to see anypony in that state and much to my surprise he had asked me what was wrong with him. Though I was appalled to help, my curiosity got the better of me as to what brought on this sudden change of heart and character, so with permission I lowered my horn to his head to begin”.

“My scan of reveled that the body was in fact not his and he had taken the body and forced the original soul out and invaded with his own. It was due to this that his body began to reject the new soul and began to wither and tried to eject his soul out of the body and in doing so seemed to infect his own soul with the original characteristics of the original. I have never seen this sort of magic work before so I cannot fully explain in exact details as to the nature of this but if I had to venture a guess the body was trying to reject his soul and when it could not, it tried to reform the new soul to match the old one”.

With a slight pause Princess Celestia took a breather and seemed lost in thought, most likely to ponder about this again but she then slightly giggled and looked at Greymane with a smile “Forgive my laughter but I just thought of something quite amazing. I think it was due to the fact that you were so kind that your body continued to act out in kindness, even with an evil soul controlling it. You may think that it was your weakness that gave way to his evil, but I believe that is not the case”.

Celestia then placed her hoof upon the mirror and leaned forward slightly before saying “It was your kindness and heart that the King tried to control but you were too strong and it was you in the end that defeated him. You saved Equestria with your kind heart.” and with a kind smile she brought herself back up and replaced her hoof upon the ground and continued her story.

“Since I had discovered that it was the body rejecting his soul which caused the current body deformations and change in personality, I had informed him of this information to which he seemed to regain his old spark for a moment as his anger exploded. He began to spout at the nonsense that his dark magic would simply give way to a simple reason as that and for an hour his rage continued to spike but his new found kindness finally kicked in and he accepted his new bound fate”.

“With his acceptance he finally released his dark magic and allowed my ponies their free will as well as the creatures of the Everfree. He also gave himself up and allowed us to imprison him and stand trial for his crimes. Of which we did and he was declared that his soul shall be imprisoned for all time or that he allow his soul to burn out and die and forever leave the body he stole. It appeared that he was going to choose to die but in the end I think his evil core could not allow himself to die so he choose imprisonment”.

“With the verdict passed, Princess Luna and I began our banishment spell to remove his soul and place it within a crystal which seemed most appropriate as his jail. Once we succeeded we heard his voice begin to panic as he said “Wait! Before I leave I must tell you of Greymanes location, it was his body I stole and he.....and he” his voice had died out before we heard his evil laughter rise up and his evil self returned to say “and his soul shall remain trapped in the forest forever!”. With that final statement we silenced the crystal jail and I placed him in a place no one will ever find him”.

Celestia sighed as she breathed a short breath “It was with the mention of your name did our next journey began. I recognized it from a report that Twilight gave me after Discords invasion of Ponyville and I informed her of the Kings final words. We called a meeting and it was decided that we try and find your soul within the forest. But with no clue as to what to look for in the massive expanse of the forest, we could not find you. Until now”.

Greymane had soaked in all this information and before the Princess could say another thing, he asked “Before anything else Princess Celestia, I must ask. During his brief reign did he....did he.....(Gulp) did he kill anypony?” he finally asked with fear in his eyes.

Celestia quickly nodded no and looked back “No, your body did not kill anypony thankfully. Though any actions he did perform were all due to his dark magic and not you. You have nothing to worry about or to be blamed for. I promise you that Greymane” she said and ended with a warm and friendly smile that he had come to enjoy.

With a sigh of relief he simply smiled “Thank you, and one more question Princess. If he left my body so long ago then how is it....well....not just bones?” he nervously asked.

“That was due to multiple magic spells, mainly ice magic to preserve and keep everything...well...fresh so to speak. I had to make sure to keep it well so when we found you, we could return you to it. Though I do not know how it looks in comparison to how it originally was, I do hope it is how you remember it” Celestia said.

Greymane gave his limp body a quick look over “Well, it looks like the King made some adjustments but overall I look.....generally the same. Though I am a bit more muscular and those fangs look a bit bizarre” he offered with a nervous chuckle.

Both of them quickly looked at my still body as to make certain my words were true and after a little while they both looked back at me before Celestia spoke up “I see, well I would not worry too much about the fangs. Many races have fanged teeth and most are used to the sight, though you might be a bit of a rarity since you are not a pony of my sisters royal guards” she glanced over my body again and looked back at him and smiled “As for your new muscles, I think a few mares might be interested with your new looks” she said with a playful wink to which Greymane responded by turning red as a strawberry due to blushing.

Twilight had a slight blush as well as she could not believe she heard her mentor say that “B-b-but that won't matter much if we do not get him out of there Ce-celestia!” she slightly stuttered in a mixture of embarrassment and concern.

Celestia simply nodded “You are right as always Twilight. So are you ready Greymane?” she said.

Greymane slowly stood up and gave his mirror world one last look as he thought about everything before he turned to Celestia “So, how will this work? I mean getting me out and returning my soul to my body?” he curiously asked.

Before Celestia could answer a very excited Twilight with a mile wide smile bursted forth “Oh! Oh! Oh! Let me! (Cough) So basically what we are about to do is a two part spell. I will mainly be focusing on breaking through the mirror, which is actually a void in space confined into a reflective surface of the real world and the same mirror is also a bottle cap that allows your soul to stay confined in the bottle void area!”.

“The next part is the tricky one and Princess Celestia will be handling that part. Which is basically her using her magic to contain and grab your soul and keep it grounded while she removes you from that void and back into the main reality and slowly insert your soul back into your body! I've never seen such a feat of magic performed before, oh this is going to be so exciting and educational!” Twilight explained with a happy glee and bounce in her step before realizing that while exciting it was also dangerous for Greymane. With that thought she glided back down to the ground and coughed and slightly blushed before saying “That is basically what we shall do”.

Princess Celestia held up her hoof to her mouth and tried to block her laugh from seeing her student get caught up in her little moment before returning to the task at hand “It is as she said Greymane, but know that we both are quite gifted at magic. I also promise you that everything will be alright and we shall do everything within our power to return you home, safe and sound. Are you ready?” she asked with a warm smile to let him know that he could trust her words.

His answer was a simple nod and he closed his eyes and breathed in a good breath to prepare himself, to which he heard both of their horns begin to charge up with magic and with a slight spark of a horn he winced as he felt his body go numb and he slowly blacked out.

Celestia grasped his soul the instant Twilight had shattered the glass separating the two worlds and she gently glided his soul through the void as it collapsed behind him and melted into the ground and vanished. “Twilight, grab his body and gently move it closer to me” she asked to which Twilight nodded and obeyed. The lavender Alicorn once again charged her horn and made it focus on Greymanes body and gently floated it up and over as the blanket fell to the ground under it. She got the body to where she assumed Celestia had wanted it and slowly lowered it and place it on the blanket.

Once the movement was done Twilight glanced up and saw the golden glow around Greymane but she could see through his body 'So this is what a soul looks like outside the body' Twilight thought to herself before returning to the work at hand.

Celestia thanked Twilight and began working her magic to merge his soul back into his body, she carefully performed this since she had never done this type of magic before but what happened next surprised her. When the tip of his soul hoof touched his body his entire being vanished as it was sucked into he body and for a brief second his body flared to live and just as quickly went back to a neutral state. Both Princesses looked at the body and stared and hoped it worked.

After a few minutes of inactivity Twilight began to grow worried “Princess, is he....is he” is all she was able to get out before falling quiet. Celestia did not answer but she got closer and lied her head on his chest and listened for a few moments before smiling “Worry not, I hear his heart beating normally. He is alive” she declared. With that Twilight seemed to lose strength in her legs as she collapsed slightly to the ground in relief.

“How long do you think he will be-” Twilight began to ask before a load gasp erupted forth from the now lively body as it began to look around frantically and taking shallow breaths. Both Princesses arose to their feet and took a few steps back to allow him room to recover.

“Easy, easy. Just breathe Greymane, just breath” Celestia quietly said, like a mother trying to calm down her child and repeated those words again and again until she saw him slowly regain his senses and composure. After a few minutes of heavy breathing, he sat down and just stared at his hooves and around him and in a few moments he closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath through his nostrils and smiled. He kept his eyes closed and just breathed the same way before we saw tears start to form.

Both Princesses looked at each other in concern and were about to ask before hearing “I can feel. I can feel the suns warmth again. I can feel the air cool against my fur. I can smell the air and grass and the trees. I can hear the forest as the leaves fall and dance in the air before landing on the ground. I can feel the dirt under my hooves. I.....I.....I feel alive” he explained in a tone that was the happiest Celestia and Twilight had ever heard.

But just as soon as he said that his legs wobbled and he collapsed on to the ground, the two Alicorns quickly rushed to him to see if he was alright but they saw him smiling and breathing “Are you alright Greymane?” Celestia asked.

With a few more deep breaths Greymane spoke up “Ye-yes Princesses. Just a little (Breath) overwhelmed is all. That and I feel really weak all of a sudden” he replied groggily and slightly winded.

Celestia nodded and smiled “Yes, I suppose your body will be a bit in shock. We will get you to a hospital and get you some food and rest soon. Just relax and let us take care of you. Your home now”.

With those last words he gasped but just as quickly smiled faintly “Thank you Princess Celestia. Thank you Princess Twilight. Thank you both so, so much. Thank you” Greymane continued to thank them until he passed out but right before he did they both heard him say ever so quietly “Thank you for keeping your promise”.

Both Princesses simply smiled at each other and charged their magic for a three pony teleportation spell and in the blink of an eye all three left the forest and zipped to the hospital. The spot in the forest grew quiet once more but now a bright shine of light illuminated the area that once held the silent prison. Now it was just another spot in an endless forest, just a normal plain area that holds no importance and most likely never to be found again.

Author's Note

Hey! Well now we know what happened to King Sombra, defeated by kindness by the very one he betrayed and tricked. But fear not, I think the King still has a few tricks up his sleeve to keep Greymane entertained. What will happen next? Read the next chapter and find out now!

Enjoy!!!

The Magic To Heal A Poisoned Soul

Darkness, everlasting darkness that knew no bounds stretched out forever before his eyes. No matter where he looked, no matter how far he ran, no matter what he did all he found for him was darkness that enveloped his whole body and left nothing to be seen. Even though he knew his body ran, he could not see it run or see where he tried running to. He had lived this feeling before when his sanity had left and gave way to madness.

But he still felt his mind as his own yet since he knew of this feeling he began to worry that he was about to fall into insanity once more. His fear overwhelmed him as he felt bile begin to rise in his throat but he willed himself not to heave as he knew that he could not give into this darkness. But as time wore on he felt himself begin to slip as he started to lose hope as to how to escape this void.

He did not know how long he had been in this darkness for, time seemed to stand still as the entirety of nothingness consumed everything as his mind wandered. Before he awoke to this new nightmare he had just escaped his prison that King Sombra had tricked him into, all thanks to Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight. As soon as he thought of those two, the darkness seemed to grow lighter into a dark gray before a lighter gray and all the while his vision of objects seemed to return as he could now make out the faint outline of his own body.

But just as quickly as the new light came it vanished into the unseen horizon before even that disappeared and as soon as it did his fears swelled up and his breathing became erratic and short as his eyes darted the familiar darkness once more. In his mind he was about to ask what was happening but much to his horror a familiar voice echoed out of the darkness to answer his unasked question.

“Oh my dear, dear Greymane. Did you honestly think you could get rid of me? My darkness has tainted your soul, body, and mind and no matter how many times you purge my precious darkness, it shall return and ruin you. You may have escaped one prison but you shall always be enslaved. Enslaved.....FOREVER” just as the voice had said those last words his head emerged out of nowhere and shouted into his face, imprinting his vile and evil face into his mind once more.

“No, no, no, no, no” he repeated these words out loud again and again and did not stop as his mind was aflame in horror at his words. He felt his bile rising again as his mind spun and his eyes darted back and forth as his fear overwhelmed all senses and state of mind and being. Behind him in the unseen space dark blue smoke started to form out of a small hole that appeared to have punctured the darkness from the outside and began to roll over him and spread.

From that same out small white glowing dots bursted forth and enveloped the dark void and soon the dark blue smoke started to form into clouds as the white dots transformed the darkness into the night sky and glowed as the newly formed stars shined. Soon his vision returned and he could see his form once more but now he could see that his fear had him shaking as if he were in the an earthquake.

Though his vision had returned, he was still blind to his new surroundings as fear still consumed his senses, but that would soon change. From the hole that gave birth to this night, came a new figure that spewed forth and began to gently glide behind Greymane before landing right behind him. His fear slightly gave way and allowed him to turn and see this new thing that had snuck up on him but unfortunately his eyes were still adjusting and all he could see was a dark pony figure.

The vision was a dark as the night and he could see a pronounced unicorn horn and mighty wings spread out beside the bodies form but his fear gripped him before his mind could react. His fear told him it was King Sombra come to torment him again and before his mind could correct the fact that the King did not possess wings his body shot up and began to ran opposite of the new being. His mouth continued to utter the words “No” over and over again as he ran.

The nightly beings wings began to beat in the air and its form rose and started to chase after him before a concerned voice cried out “Wait! Stop! We did not mean to frighten thee! We only wish to help calm thy nightmares! We want to help!” but the voice fell upon deaf ears as the fear stricken stallion continued to run for his life from an imaginary enemy.

“We did not wish to hurt thou but we must act before thou hurts thyself!” with those words the nightly shades horn began to glow with blue as its magic slowly enveloped his form and caused him to stop dead in his tracks. The being flew over him and landed gently in front of him before speaking again “We are sorry but we needed thou to stop so we could help thee!” the voice cried out in concern.

But the beings eyes fell upon a fear stricken face and before it could ask a question Greymane answered with “No! NO! NO! Get away from me King Sombra! Please! No more! Stop! PLEASE! STOP! No, no-”

} - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - {

“-NO!” Greymanes body shot up from the hospital bed suddenly without warning as his voice continued to shout out his last words, while his body was drenched in sweat and his eyes darted around as to find King Sombra again but to no avail. His body started to move to run but he fell out of his bed and landed on the ground with a loud THUD but this did not stall him for long as he shakily got up and began to move his body while searching for the King, his face frozen in fear.

Much to the surprise to everypony else in the room to see him spring from his sleep suddenly then start shouting and moving violently made them step back in concern and worry. Before any of the five other ponies could react to help Princess Luna, who had been standing beside him as to enter his dreams directly before being knocked down and away, Princess Celestia had taken a step forward and her magic began to radiate towards him to calm him down, which worked for after a few moments his breathing began to regulate and he stopped moving but had backed into the corner of the room.

His eyes began to focus on Princess Celestia who was smiling warmly at him but her eyes stared at him worryingly and his mind began to refocus on his surroundings. He finally remembered that she was bringing him to a hospital to check up on him after his soul gained possession of his body once more after eight years and he began to calm down but that was before he heard a voice that was almost equally as terrifying to him as King Sombras.

“HEY! Watch it pal! You could of hurt somepony!” the voice belong to a cyan colored pegaus with a rainbow mane who floated above him with an angry looking scowl but just as quickly he heard a voice he recognized.

“Rainbow Dash! Darling, please get back here at once! Before you....scare....him” the white unicorns voice slowly died down as she looked into his eyes which screamed in horror and began to water.

“NO! Please! Don't hurt me!” Greymane shouted as he slumped to the ground and covered his head with his two front hooves, he also kept his eyes open but stared at the ground “Please, just leave me alone.”

All he heard were seven gasps before an eerie silence fell upon the room, he heard a few different voices try to speak up before going silent once more. It was broken with a long groan and the sound of hooves standing as Princess Luna finally recovered and spoke to the group “You were right sister, this ones dreams were indeed infected by the last of King Sombras magic. I had finally broken through before his mistaken fear of me being the vile King overtook him and forced him awake.” the Princess of the Night said while rubbing her sore jaw.

Before Princess Celestia could respond she heard the slightest whimper and the sound of crying and immediately turned to him and saw that a his body was trembling with fear and her heart grew heavy and her mind was crying for him. The others saw this as well and their faces grew sad and some began to tear up as well while others looked away in shame and sadness. This continued for a while before Twilight finally decided to hopefully stop his suffering.

She slowly trotted forward with delicate steps to him and turned around to face the others before sitting next to him and draping a wing over him to try and comfort him “Shh, shh, shh. It is alright Greymane. I....I know that you are scared but you do not have to be anymore. They will do nothing to harm you, they are my friends and I trust them with my life. It is all going to be alright, ok?” Twilight said in a soft tone to try easing his tensions.

It slowly worked as his body stopped trembling as his tears stopped and began to take deep breaths to calm his nerves and gather his wits. He felt her wing on him and felt the small bit of warmth spread over his back which also greatly calmed his mind, finally he allowed himself to sit up straight to look at the lavender Alicorn “Th-thank you Princess Twilight. I....I am sorry. The nightmare I woke from had me in a panic then hearing their voices again after all this time” his voice gave way as he grew silent and hung his head.

Twilight looked at him with a frown and pulled him closer with her wing, which surprised him, before speaking “It is alright, we were worried about you when you started to groan and mumble in your sleep and started to thrash about and you spoke a few words in your sleep. Princess Celestia had asked Princess Luna to calm your dreams when we heard you speak of King Sombra” when she said his name he slightly flinched and looked down again.

“She fought for a long time to break through the last remnant of his dark magic in you and during that time I had decided to gather the girls to let them know we found you. We all felt terrible about you and wanted to apologize and explain why we all said and did what we did. But only when you are ready, ok?” Twilight said in a soft tone.

After mulling her words over a bit in his mind, he took a few deep breaths before he nodded his head and raised his head. When he did he saw once again the four main ponies who had said those terrible words to him all those years ago, the four that made him question himself for the first time, the four that made him believe the dark Kings words to allow him to access to his body. His eyes momentarily shrank when he saw them but he now noticed that they had color to them now instead of being gray.

“Let me introduce you to my friends, the rainbow maned one is Rainbow Dash” Twilight said.

“Yo! Sorry about yelling dude, we were all kinda on edge and you really sca-*cough* surprised me when you woke up out of the blue! Um, I don't think you saw me during the Discord invasion. Glad you ok now though!” Rainbow said with a grin on her face as she quickly did a backflip in the air before landing.

Twilight rolled her eyes but smiled before moving on “The orange mare with the stetson hat is Applejack!” she said and presented with her hoof.

Said mare stepped forward as she grabbed her hat and lowered it over her heart “Howdy Greymane. I jus wanna say that I'm awefully sorry 'bout the way we treated ya all those years ago. While I'm normally very truthful with ma words, Discord had turned me into a liar and every time I spoke I lied. But as soon as we all got ourselves back ta normal and such, we tried to find ya but couldn’t.”

“Especially after all the nasty things we said, after what I said” she stopped for a moment to catch her breath “I'm happy that Twilight was able to find ya and I hope that we can be friends in the future” Applejack finished with a sincere smile before putting her hat back on and stepping back in line.

“Thank you Applejack, next we have my good friend Rarity! She is the white unicorn and curled mane” Twilight introduced.

Once again said mare stepped forward but with a long face “Hello deary. As she said, I am Rarity and I would like to formally apologize for my uncouth behavior to you! When Discord invaded, he used his magic to turn my normally generous self into a greedy, ill-tempered brute! I shudder at my actions and am highly disgusted that I would use such foul language at any pony! When I came to and we all realized what we had done, we desperately searched for you to apologize be like Applejack said, we could not find you high or low.”

“So once again, I am so sorry that we treated you like that and I do hope to be friends with you. Oh! I know! Once all this is over, come over to my shop and I will make you a few new outfits for you free of charge!” Rarity said with a slight spring in her step as she began to imagine all the kinda outfits that would work with his color and build.

Twilight smiled and giggled at her friends new found inspiration “One step at at time Rarity, one step at a time” she said as the unicorn finally calmed down and blushed slightly and nervously giggled before stepping back in line. “Next we have-”

“Hi there! My name is Pinkie Pie! And I wanna say I am SOOOOOOOO sorry for being all groody and snoody and gray and stuff! Not that being gray is bad! Just when we were gray and stuff we were all opposites and instead of throwing you a 'WELCOME TO PONYVILLE PARTY' I huffed you off and spoke all those mean and nasty words! I really didn't mean to say those thing! I would never say something that did not make a pony smile! Especially one who I have not met yet! And when I became my pink self once again and remembered you I....I...”

Pinkie finally calmed down a bit and her poofy mane started to deflate and flatten and her demeanor grew slightly dark “I am so sorry Greymane. When I remembered how sad and rejected you looked as you ran while we all laughed. I got so sad and I really wanted to find you and say I'm sorry. I really hope you can forgive me and one day I want to be your friend and make you smile” she finally said and when she finished she gave a smile which made her hair slightly poofy again but not all the way yet as she stepped back.

Twilight gave a nod to Pinkie for mostly controlling her normally wild and unstable self before continuing with her introductions “And finally we have Fluttershy, the yellow Pegasus currently hiding behind Princess Celestia” she leaned in closer to whisper “She is very shy and timid and usually speak very softly, so this might take a while. Sorry”.

The pink haired Pegasus was still hiding and shaking behind the Princess of the Sun before purple magic slowly enveloped her body and slowly floated her to the middle of the room where everypony else stood to speak before dropping her gently. Fluttershy squeaked a bit when she realized she was front and center and kneeled down while her body was shaking. Her timid voice finally broke through “He-he-hello there. M-m-my name is Fl-flut-fluter-*Gulp* Fluttershy”

He could barely hear her and without thinking took two steps forward to try and hear her better to which she immediately flopped to the ground and started covering her head. But after a few shakes she stopped and took a deep breath and through wobbly legs she stood and gave her best to speak normally.

“I-I wanted to say that I....I-I” she started to say before her eyes started to burst with tears “I am so sorry! I-I am so ashamed that I said anything to nasty and terrible to anypony! I would never, ever, ever say that to anypony, but when I was under Discords spell I became something awful and drove you away. I desperately wanted to find you and say how sorry I am!” she finished with tears in her eyes.

After she was done speaking she took a few steps forward and nuzzled under his chin for a second or two before backing up “I really am sorry Greymane. I hope you can forgive me for everything I did. I would also really like to be friends with you and make it up to you anyway I can” she quickly added before drying her tears and stepping back in the line.

Before Twilight could speak, Princess Luna stepped forward “Hail Greymaine, tis I, Princess Luna and I would also like to apologize to you as well. Eight years ago I had noticed your nightmares after your experience in Ponyville and I tried my best to break through and encourage you not to give up” she had spoken before Greymane gasped and interrupted.

“Were you the voice I always heard when I had a Nightmare?” he had asked to which she nodded and gave a small smile.

“Indeed twas I who tried to give you pleasant dreams. Even though I could of forced my way in, I prefer to gently help my subjects overcome their fears but you were at times beyond my help and could not interfere without causing further confusion. But today I had to force my way in to help vanquish the last of King Sombras dark magic that held sway in thy mind.”

“It must of either been place on your soul when he banished you to your 'mirror world' or lingered on in your body when we expelled his soul. I know not what he said to you in your dream but I can say for certain that it was all false and only tried to drive fear back into your heart. For what purpose I cannot say but I needed to interfere before any more damage would be done.”

“I would like to apologize for the forceful entry into your mind, but mainly for not helping you sooner. If I had done so then maybe you would not of been swayed by the Kings deceitful words. I hope thou can forgive our sins” the Alicorn princess finished by bowing her head to Greymane before rising and taking her place by her sisters side.

Greymane sat there in silence mainly due to shock, for eight long years those four ponies had been a great nightmare to him, almost as big if not equal to King Sombra and now here they were, giving their apologies to him and even offering to be his friend. But before he considered their words he needed to ask a question first “Before I say anything else, there is something I need to clarify first. In all your stories you said that....Discord had made you become opposites of yourselves. What exactly do you mean by that and who is he?” Greymane asked.

Princess Celestia stepped forward to answer “Well, simply Discord is a draconequus and the god is chaos and disharmony. Though a few years ago, after the downfall of Lord Tirek he has officially been reformed but eight years ago he had escaped his stone prison and fell upon Ponyville and cause havok. The only things that could stop him were the Elements Of Harmony, the most powerful magic in existence. The bearers of the elements are Princess Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy here and as such he needed to make sure they would not use them against him.”

“To do this he had separated them and forced them to become the opposites of themselves and in doing so made them unable to use the elements against him. During that time is when you found yourself in Ponyville when they were their negative self’s and unfortunately were the object of their foulness. But it was not their fault as I know that they would never of done that normally. This is how they are and this is how I hope you will get to know them better as.” Celestia concluded.

Greymane now realized everything and was thinking on how to proceed, now knowing that those four were also tricked into doing something they would never do and though they had said things he could never forget, he was willing to forgive them. Taking a long breath he finally sat straight and looked at them and offered a small smile “I do forgive you. I forgive you all and I want to say thank you. I grew up mostly alone and have never had anypony else beside my mother give me the time of day or do anything for me out of kindness or otherwise.”

“But when you four and him said those things to me, it had made me realize maybe why I was alone and had broken my heart and weakened my mind. You were the objects of my nightmares and had continued to be these past eight nine years. But now hearing you all here today and knowing why it happened makes it easier to understand and accept. I also offer my apologies for not realizing the truth sooner and I sincerely hope that we all get along in the future.” he said and offered a full bodied bow.

They were all taken back by his words and the bow but before anything else Pinkie and Fluttershy had been the first to move. Fluttershy moved her hoof under his chin and raised him up “Oh, please don't bow to us! You should not do that. But are you sure you can forgive us? F-forgive me?” she finished by looking at him with heart filled eyes.

Greymane rose and nodded “Yes Fluttershy, I forgive you” before he could say anything else she quickly wrapped her hoofs around his neck and hugged him and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh thank goodness, I am so very happy. Thank you” she offered with much happiness in her voice and just as she released him from her hug Pinkie Pie stepped forward next.

“A-are you really, really, really sure you can forgive me for making you sad and frown?” Pinkie asked as her hair was in a mixture of slighty poof and straight down while she wore a sad face.

“Of course, I really, really, really forgive you Pinkie” Greymane looked away for a moment before putting on a smile and turning back to her “I-if you want, you can officially throw me that 'Welcome To Ponyville Party' you were talking about earlier” he offered with a nervous chuckle.

The second he had said those words Pinkies hair seemed to explode in poofiness and random streamers with confetti as her body seemed to hover in the air as her mouth grew wider and wider with a smile and she just seemed to radiate happiness and ever her tail was twitching. She landed with a solid THUNK as she moved around the hospital room with blinding speeds “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!ThisisamazingandsuperfuntabulousanddidIsayamazing!Icantwaittothrowyouapartywhenwegethome!YAY!” was all Greymane could hear before he lost her in her words as she continued to talk at speeds matching her movements.

But just as quickly she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a hug as a few tears trickled down her cheeks “Oh thank you Greymane, I am so happy!” she had exclaimed before forcing herself back into the line. As she did she hiccuped and a single piece of confetti came out of her mouth and landed on the floor. With that every pony in the room, including the Princesses, bursted out into laughter.

With that any tension in the room had died out, of which Greymane was quite happy to be rid off. As his laughter died down he felt himself growing tired and his legs started to give way. But right before he fell to the ground his body was surrounded by blue magic that levitated him up to his bed and tucked him in. He gave a embarrassed chuckle and rubbed the back of his head “Th-thank you Princess Luna” Greymane said.

With her own little chuckle, she replied “No, thank you Sir Greymane for being so kind to not only the elements but to us as well. It does truly amaze me that after all that has befalling on you that you still hold a kind heart and open mind.”

Greymane slightly blushed “Y-you don't need to call me Sir. I don't think I have earned that title from the Princess yet.” he said as he rubbed his hoofs absentmindedly.

The six girls chuckled as well as the Alicorn sisters before Celestia spoke up “All right my little ponies, I believe it is time we depart and let him rest”, to which they all agreed with.

Rainbow fly up and ruffled his hair and wore a big grin “See you around Grey!” and she flew out of the open window and into town.

“Thanks again partner for forgiving us and all and if you ever have a need for some apples, then call me up and Ill give you the best darn apple feast ya ever done seen!” Applejack boasted but ended with a smile as she departed.

Rarity came up next and levitated a gray scarf up and around his neck “Here you go darling, I happened to have an extra scarf with me just in case and I do not want you getting cold! Be sure to stop by my shop when you get out for those outfits! I will be sure to have you looking splendid for your future here in Ponyville!” she waved her goodbye and left.

Pinkie Pie was still talking to herself about his party before coming up and giving one more hug “Oh! Here!” she dug into her mane and pulled out a chocolate cupcake with gray frosting “I also happened to have some cupcakes with me and this one matches your colors and so you should have it! I'll be sure to have your party ready to go and its going to be SUPER FUN TABULOUS!” she once again gave a mile wide smile and bounced out of the room giggling.

Fluttershy smiled at Pinkie Pie before hovering beside him with her wings and gave him a brief nuzzle and a hug “I really am thankful that you are ok and that you were able to forgive me...us. When you get out, maybe I can introduce you to my animal friends. That is if you want to and if your not busy or anything like that. Well if you don't want to that's fine also and.....umm.....oh dear” she nervously bumbled and blushed.

Greymane smiled and held her hoof in his “I would love to see your animal friends” he said.

Fluttershy squeaked as her smile returned and she gave a small bow and flied out the window and back to her home.

Twilight came up next “Take all the time you need to recover, I'll be coming back to check on you and updating the Princesses since we do not know the full extent of the magic used to bind your soul back into your body. So just in case anything goes wrong, the nurses have been told to let us know immediately if anything strange or abnormal happens. Oh!” she said before quickly teleporting back to the library for a moment and back “Here! Have you ever read Daring Do?” she asked before levitating the first book up to him.

He took it in his hoofs and looked at the cover and began to read the back description “Nope, cannot say that I have. But it sounds good, so when I wake up again I will give it a read” he offered with a smile as he set the book next to him on the stand.

She grinned as she did a small victory dance at converting another pony into a reader of Daring Do “Its a good read, both me and Rainbow love it! Well, have a good rest and hopefully we shall see you up and about soon enough!” she gave a final node before teleporting back to the library once more.

Celestia finally trotted over and stood next to him “Thank you again Greymane for finding it in your heart to forgive them. See, I told you that your kindness was strong within you” she said with a warm smile before leaning close to him to whisper “And from what I heard from one or two of the girls while you were sleeping, they liked how muscular you looked. So far that’s two for three!” she said as she once again gave a playful wink as he blushed.

She giggled before turning to her sister “I shall be returning to Canterlot. Hopefully things have not been too chaotic with me being gone for almost two days. I will see you at Sunset dear sister” she said before disappearing in a golden flash.

Finally only Luna was left as she trotted to his side “We wish not to give you ill news but we must warn thee that though we are most confident that all traces of King Sombras dark magic have been eradicated, there might be a small chance that he could still invade your dreams. But fear not! Now that we know you are here and what to look for, we shall make sure your dreams are a pleasant one! Now we must depart.” but before she did she leaned in and gave Greymane a quick kiss on the forehead “Just remember what we said all those years ago, be strong. Pleasant dreams my dear Sir Greymane” she said with a slight chuckle as her body disappeared in flash of blue.

With that he was finally all alone and the energy just seemed to drain from him as he laid back and slowly closed his eyes but a small smile found its way up as his senses finally left him and he hopefully was going to have his first real sleep with a pleasant dream.

Author's Note

Phew! REALLY LONG chapter! Didn't expect it to be quite so long but hey, sometimes when you start writing you just cannot stop! So with this Greymane finally knows the truth of what happened and why. But will he be able to start a new life in Ponyville or does the King still have a few more twists and turns for him? Stay tuned next time!

Enjoy!!!

Madness Descends Upon A Broken Heart

It had been a week since his return to the real world before he was released from the hospital, but it was time well spent in Greymanes eyes. True to her word, Princess Twilight had stopped in at least once or twice every day to check up on him and was happy to report that nothing was worth mentioning though a bad nightmare had caused her some concern but was quickly cast aside as Princess Luna vouched for him. Other than that he went through physical therapy to get used to his old but new body and he had found it surprising to walk with strong, muscular legs.

During his first day, he was told to do a simple couple of jumps and due to him not knowing his own strength had jumped so hard that he put a hole in the ceiling before crashing back down. He had immediately thrown his hooves over his head in self defense because he thought the nurse would yell at him or do worse, but much to his surprise she had only laughed before helping back up to his hooves. “Don't worry, we were warned that you might do something like this while during your physical therapy” Nurse Redheart replied with, accompanied by a smile.

He felt much more relaxed that she had been kind to him during his time and always encouraged him and helped him when he fell, literally and metaphorically. So this process repeated throughout the week but he did not receive too many visitors but was told by Twilight that they thought to keep things slow during his rehabilitation, to which he was thankful for because it would take some time before he felt comfortable around so many ponies. But one other small detail had become another interesting challenge to cope with, his new fangs.

He had scarred the original nurse who had come in with food and had offered to feed him but when he opened his mouth she had seen the fangs and ran off screaming and leaving a mess of spilled food on the ground. After a few minutes the doctor came back and apologized for the nurses behavior and promised to find a much more qualified nurse, to which Nurse Redheart certainly was and he was glad that she was.

Greymane had asked why the nurse was scarred of him and he had learned that during her childhood, a bully had scared her senseless during Nightmare Night and the fangs he wore had scared her the most and from then on she was afraid anything with fangs. He immediately apologized and wished to have her know that he had not meant to scare her, thankfully Nurse Redheart helped with this and during the third day the nurse came to visit and while she avoided looking at his mouth, she also apologized for her unjust rejection and thanked him for being kind.

After that, there were no more surprises and his therapy went well and by the time he was released he had gotten used to normally walking but was told to carefully test out a full run so he knew how to control the transition from run to walk. Just as he was about to leave Nurse Redheart had found him and gave him a quick goodbye hug “If you ever feel bad or need to ask anything, find me and I will always take care of you” she said while wearing a warm smile and had watched his body closely as he walked off, but he didn't really notice her stare.

His walk did not last long as he stopped in the middle of the clearing and just closed his eyes and let his senses free to explore everything around him. The feel of the grass on his hooves as the slight breeze ran its cool fingers through his mane, the warmth of the sun as it bore down on his fur and drove away any chill that had sneaked into his inner body, the sound of grass rustling and leaves dancing in the wind. Though he had felt the same thing sitting at this spot in the mirror world, this felt different and right to him and he made him smile and happy to know that he was finally free and able to live his life.

He was so lost in thought and feeling that he did not notice three mares plow into him and caused them all to twist and bend into each other at odd angles. As soon as the dust from the crash settled the three started to shout and argue “Hey! Move your hoof! Your kicing my face!” “Oh yeah, well your jabbing my stomach!” “Would yall quit it already! Oof! Sweetie Bell! Could ya kindly GET OFF MA TAIL!”.

The three voices continued to bicker back and forth until the unicorn finally spoke up “THATS ENOUGH!” her voice squeaked as her horn exploded with magic and a light green aura surrounded them all and forced them all apart before releasing them “Jeez your girls, that was....how would Rarity say....uncouth! We are so sorry about that si-” she had said before stopped mid sentence as her eyes fell upon Greymane. All of a sudden she gasped and hurried to pick up the other two.

“Girls! Girls! Look! It's him!” the unicorn had spoken to the other two before pointing back at him. The yellow earth pony squinted before he eyes shot open and stared as well while the orange pegasus face formed a huge smile and her eyes lit up. The next thing they said was “YOUR BACK!” they screamed as one voice before racing over and helping him up to his hooves.

The next thing he knew he was being bombarded with questions from all three mares but he could not understand a single word as they continued to jabber on. After a few moments he held up his hoof which caused them all to be silent “Sorry girls but with you all speaking at once I cannot understand a single word. Lets restart and let me ask you what you mean that I am back? Do you know me?” Greymane asked as he tilted his head to the side.

All three looked at each other and giggled and seemed to have calmed down before the unicorn spoke up again “Yeah, I suppose after eight years we kinda grew up a bit. Well do you remember three small fillies with our colors in the forest that found your house?” she asked while smiling.

Greymane closed his eyes while he thought back, trying to remember. He did remember that three small fillies had found his house and right after he ran away after Fluttershy had found him. He also tried to think of their colors and that’s when he remembered her name “Sweetie Bell?”

The white unicorn grinned and sprung into the hair “Yeah! You remembered!”

His eyes now open he glanced over to the orange pegasus “Your name was Scootaloo I think and you were Apple....Applebuck....Appleblue....Applebloom!” he finished while looking at the yellow pony. The two nodded and also grinned and began to do a happy jiggle. “Wow, you three are all grown up now” he added with a laugh.

“Daw jeez, now ya sound like our sisters! But I suppose I can let it slide, since it had been eight ol' years since we saw ya! And speaking of all grown up, you look almost as strong as Big Mac now!” Applebloom declared as she started to look at him and the other two followed suit and gazed over his muscular body.

“Aw man! How did you get so strong! I have been working out to get as strong as Rainbow and Applebloom as started bucking apples like AJ these past eight years and we aren't even close to you! No fair!” Scootaloo said as she crossed her front hooves and pouted. Sweetie Bell did not say anything as a small blush crept across her face as she stared at him.

“Yeah! How did ya get so strong? But I mean, I guess there ain't too much to do while stuck inside a mirror-GASP” she quickly covered her mouth but was too late as she accidentally mentioned that. The other two gasped as well but quickly looked to Greymane with looks of worry and concern before she spoke up again “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry Greymane! I did not mean ta say that! We only just learned this week what happened to ya and...and....oh hay seeds” she finished as she stared at him with worry in her eyes.

Greymane stood silent as he took a long breath and averted his eyes “It....its alright Applebloom. I know you meant nothing by it. -sigh- I did not do anything to get strong, the King used his dark magic to force my body to change to suit his foul needs. That's all” he said with a hint of sorrow.

All four stood in awkward silence before Scootaloo hovered over to him and poked his shoulder “Hey, don't worry about it. I don't think it matters how you got it but its your body now and it looks awesome! Especially your fangs!” she scooted closer to whisper in his ear “And don't look now but I think Sweetie Bell also really likes your new body” she said with a smirk and gave a quick flip in the air back to her friends side.

Greymane gave a brief smile “Yeah, I suppose. But its still gonna take me a while before I get used to the changes he did to me” he said rather remorsefully. After he said that Scootaloo wore a frown on her face as she absentmindedly flew into and knocked over Sweetie Bell, as she did her saddlebag flew open and a half finished crystal necklace tumbled out and landed in front of them.

“GASP! No! My crystal!” Sweetie Bell shouted and quickly lunged for it and scooped it up and placed it in her bag “Scoots! Be careful! I have been working on this for a while! It's my present.....for....-” she tried to finish before she looked at Greymane and saw his face had contorted into a mixture of fear and scorn as he stared at the spot the crystal necklace fell too. “Greymane? Are you ok?” she timidly asked as she took a step forward and placed her hoof on his shoulder and shook it a bit. “Greymane? Greymane?”.

“GREYMANE!”

“AHHHHHH! NO! NO! NO!” he shouted at the top of his lungs as he jumped back at her touch and began to hyperventilate and sweat poured from every inch of his body while his eyes shrank to the size of pins and darted back and forth as if to search for something. He continued to scream and shout and during this time his mane seemed to start to spike up and stand on end and his muscular body tensed up and bulged in size. Soon even his eyes seemed to narrow down and had a crazed look within them, but the one thing that stood out more than anything was that his blood curling screams slowly turned into laughter.

“AH HA HA HA HA HA!” his face now supported a twisted grin and a crazed and maniacal look as he began to survey the landscape before he spotted the three fear filled mares and his grin grew wider “Now, now, now my dear girls. Why do you FEAR ME? Do I frighten YOU? Do I SCARE you? Well do I? DO I?!” he shouted spitefully and all three nodded their heads which only made him smile before he responded with “GOOD! HAHAHAHAHA!” his laughter continued to echo throught the open landscape.

Suddenly with a loud pop and flash of purple the six Elements of Harmony appeared and began looking around with concern as they spotted the three girls first and ran to them. “Sweetie, I got your magic message. Now what is going o-” Twilight had started before her eyes spotted the crazed and scary looking Greymane now sporting a twisted gnarl and with eyes that could kill as he laughed with a voice that chilled her to the bones “Wha? Greymane? What happened?!” she pleaded as she saw her friend in a terrifying state.

But only more sinister laughing was her reply before he finally spoke “Greymane? He is dead! That fool could not handle this world! His mind snapped and his poor little heart broke when he was reminded of what King Sombra did to him and when he saw the crystal that Sweetie Bell over there dropped!” the dark voice erupted. “One more thing that he forgot to tell you was that during his lonely imprisonment, he went mad, insane even and thus I was born! HAHAHAHA!” he said.

All the girls were speechless before Twilight spoke again in concern “What do you mean he went insane? Why would go insane? What did you did to him?!”.

An ugly smirk spewed forth from his lips “Heh, well ill keep it short for you slow minded peons. He did not simply sit there in the mirror worlds for eight years, no he was tortured and forced to see and relive all of King Sombras dark memories of his life. From childhood all the way to the day he was defeated again by Princess Cadance. He saw all the cruelty and malice, all his spite and hatred, he saw as he killed and burned the weak and turned countless ponies into abominations that did his horrors for him.”

“He was forced to watch them and live them through his eyes over and over again without rest. To hear the screams as children were beaten and women whipped, to see the sick and dying ponies fall to the ground and be stomped on by the living. He even saw him personally corrupt a black furred unicorn with a teal mane named Crystal Lass into being his mistress who desired his love to live. Oh the things he did with her, its enough to make your precious Princesses manes curl! HAHAHAHA!”

“Seeing all this sometimes on an hourly basis with no rest year after year left him a shattered soul with nothing to think or feel and in its place gave rise to me! His madness incarnate! His insanity brought to life! I am the empty shell, his nothingness, and his vale of sorrow and despair! I AM VOID!” he exclaimed as he brought his two strong front hooves up and stomped hard on the ground below as his eyes seemed to glaze over in a haze and his mouth became a permanent crazed and twisted smile.

Taking in a breath he unleashed a torrent of terrible cackles that made everypony shake in fear while his eyes seemed to pierce them to their core. All nine mares stood in shock and terror as they sunk in this new information and it scared them but also made them sad that once again due to their actions many years ago that led Greymane to become this monster before them. Once again Twilight tried to speak up but her voice was lost to her and her knees started to shake as she remained frozen.

Taking the silence away Void spoke up “Well, since it seems that we have nothing more to discuss. I shall be off to drown all of Equestria in sorrow and make them realize what it truly means to be alone! HAHAHA!” he finished off with a cackle as he began to turn around and walk off.

“No.....please.....don't leave.....” a small voice finally cracked through the barrier of silence and when it hit everypony, they all looked to find that it was Sweetie Bell who spoke “Please.....give Greymane back....please” she pleaded with tear filled eyes.

For a moment his ever present smile disappeared as he began to have a confused look spread across his face but just a quick as it was gone it returned in full force “HA! You fool! If you had simply left him alone that day then Fluttershy would of never found him and he could of continued living in that house in the Everfree in peace! BUT YOU made him relive his worst memories and made him run into the forest and in the clutches of King Sombra! You have no right to demand ANYTHING! YOU STUPID FOOL! HAHA!” he declared with much conviction. “And now because of YOU and that crystal necklace you led him back to insanity! But since I am now here, I am curious. Who was it for? SPEAK FOOL, SPEAK! HAHA!” he demanded with another forceful stomp on the ground.

Sweetie Bell flinched at this as she broke down into even more tears at his words “I....I-I.....I was making it f-f-for Greymane” she finally spoke “Ever since my sister told me he was found, I wanted to make him a present as to apologize and ask him to be my friend. But now.....b-but now”. Sweetie Bells voice finally cracked and she erupted into a loud sobbing as red hot tears flowed from her swollen eyes.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You truly are a fool, to think you could win him over with a poultry little trinket such as this. Did you think with those sweet nothings you could 'bring him back to you'? Like I said, HE IS DEAD NOW AND ONLY VOID REMAINS! HAHA!” he boasted loudly as his cackling mouth hung open to allow his voice to carry. But unknown and unfelt by him, he himself had started to cry from his own eyes while he continued to laugh.

This caught the attention of the girls as they saw him start to cry and with this new development he finally snapped Twilight out of her daze as she began to formulate a plan. In the next instant she summoned a solid bubble with her magic and surrounded them all “Girls! Quickly, listen up. I think I know how we can get Greymane back!” she said.

With that all the girls regained their focus and looked at Twilight in a way to say 'Go On', to which she replied with “I think that Greymane is fighting on the inside, since we saw him tear up after Sweetie Bells words to him. I know of a mind spell that is similar to what I used on you girls during Discords invasion. But not only will it bring Greymane back to the surface, I am also going to lock Void away as best I can.” she explained.

“What?! Lock him away? Why don't you just pummel and beat this Void and destroy him or something!” Rainbow asked ill-temperately.

Twilight shook her head “We cannot do that or else we would truly shatter his mind and lose him. Void is nothing more than the evil, bad, and insane part of his brain. Void is pretty much like our opposite sides that Discord drew out of ourselves. That's why I am simply going to banish him to the furthest reaches of his mind and lock him away. When I do then Greymane will return and will never turn back into this monster.” she explained with determination.

It took a couple of seconds to allow her words to sink in but eventually they all nodded in agreement. “All right Twi, so what'cha need us ta do?” Applejack asked.

“Basically we need to catch him and hold him down to allow me to perform the spell on him. So do whatever you can to distract him while Rarity, Sweetie, and I use our magic to trap him before you girls jump on and do whatever you can to hold him down. Applebloom assist Applejack and Scootaloo go with Rainbow and follow her lead. Everyone got the plan?” Twilight said.

They all looked at each other and slowly nodded in agreement as the few of them wiped the tears from their eyes “All right, I am dropping the bubble 3...2..1. NO-” Twilight declared as she instantly dropped the bubble on the one count but was now face to face with the crazed and frightful face of Void as he stared daggers at her.

“AND JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING, HMM?” he loudly demanded as he headbutted Twilight and sent her away a few feet. Before anypony else could react he quickly centered his weight on his left hoof and swung his back hooves into the flying Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo and sent them hurdling away and knocking them to the ground. Using that same momentum he withdrew his front hoof and he spiraled over and knocked over Applejack with his body and just as he landed on his front hooves he bucked Applebloom with his back hooves and sent her crashing into Rarity.

Within the blink of an eye he had knocked out Twilight, Rainbow, Scootaloo, Applejack, Applebloom, and Rarity and only left Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Sweetie Bell standing in awe and shock. As he admired his work he roared “WHO ELSE WANT'S SOME!?!” as spittle and rage flew from his fanged mouth and when he was done his lips curled into his demonic smile once again.

Pinkie Pies mouth had hit the ground but she snapped it back as she took her front hooves and dove into her pink mane and started to dig around before pulling a small cannon almost the same size as her! She slammed it to the ground and pointed it at Void and just before she pulled the cord “THIS IS PINKIE PIE!” she yelled as she pulled the cord and the cannon shot forth a multitude of random objects such as a net and a parasol.

Fortunately for Pinkie, Void was left speechless as he tried to comprehend just what exactly she just did with her hair but just as he realized that he was about to get hit the net had wrapped around him and the closed parasol struck his gut before it exploded open and sent him flying a far bit away and he landed with a solid THUD.

Fluttershy just stared as she tried to move but was so scared when he began his attack on them so suddenly and then with the loud explosion from the cannon had left her glued to her spot, but after a moment or two she heard multiple groans from the ponies around her which brought her out of her daze and she rushed to Twilight who was the closest,

Twilight and the others were woken up with the sound of the party cannon and with Fluttershys help Twilight got back up and tried to asses the situation before asking “What happened after his attack?”.

Fluttershy quickly explained what Pinkie did and when she finished all the others had also gotten back up and regathered. “Ok, lets stick to the plan for now while he is down and has the net on him. Rarity, Sweetie! Lets go!” with a quick nod the three magic users rushed over to the still form of Void and had begun to charge their magic as the others closed in from behind.

Just as the rest had gathered they all heard a small groan escape from the downed stallion and his body began to rustle, so with renewed haste the three finally completed their spell and were now holding him down with magic. As soon as they did the others each grabbed an edge of the net and put all their weight into it and they saw the net squeeze down onto him which made him groan in pain before he started to renew his efforts to resist and fight.

“HOW dare you all! You will release me at once! I must make all of Equestria pay! I will show them the void hidden in their hearts! I will show them ALL HIS PAIN!” he shouted with vigor and spit.

Before Twilight began to charge her spell she was taken back by his last words “What do you mean his pain? Whos pain?” she asked.

“Who? WHO? Greymanes pain of course you stupid foal! Out of all the ponies in Equestria, he was the only one who could release King Sombra since he had known pain and suffering all his life! Do you know why he had such pain?! He was abandoned by his own father! Since he was not born a unicorn, his father abandoned both him and his mother and used his money and power to evict them from Canterlot! His mother was forbidden to re-enter the city and when she was taken ill by a disease, he ran by the guards and began to beg and plead for a doctor to help”.

“But thanks to his father almost all the 'regal, posh, and royal ponies' ignored him and a few even kicked, spat, and insulted him. It was only thanks to a foreign doctor not knowing the family did he agree to see his mother but a guard escorted them. But when they returned to the shack just outside of Canterlot, she was already dead. The doctor had talked the guard into allowing her to have a proper burial but when she was all she was given was a blank tombstone in the middle of the Everfree”.

“YOU WANT MORE PAIN?! WELL now this six year old boy was left all alone to fend for himself in the Everfree for the next ten years and having every pony ignore or reject him. But one day he came back from a hunt to find his house burned down and he was forced to move! After traveling the Everfree and all its creatures, what does he find? PONYVILLE that is full of hateful and spiteful ponies who drove him out and cause his heart to shatter and his mind slowly started to spiral down”.

“OH BUT IT GETS BETTER! One year later he finds THOSE THREE invading his home and calling down Fluttershy, one of the objects of his nightmares and forcing him to flee and run into the King! You know the rest, so how is that for PaIn?! You all preach love and friendship but you all are just a walking pile of lies and deceit! Now....Let.....Me.....GO!!!!” he finally finished with another spout of rage as his legs kicked and struggled.

Once again all the ponies were starstruck and left with dizzy minds but Twilight steeled herself and lowered her fully charged horn “NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOO!” Void called out in despair as her magic went to work and began to purge Void from the forefront of Greymanes mind. After five long and painful minutes of pure rage induced shouting all was quiet and his body went limp and a long sigh escaped from his calmed face. All watched in curiosity for any sign of Voids return.

For a moment they were worried that he would not wake only to be met with the sounds of crying that came from the body “What have I done?” a soft, gentle voice called out and they all happily heard that it sounded like Greymanes voice and immediately they tore the net away from him and rushed to his side. But he quickly rose to his hooves and hung his head low before yelling “STAY AWAY FROM ME!” as tears dropped from his face and collected on the ground.

They all stopped and looked to him with sad faces before he continued “Pl-please. Stay away from me. I-I-I do not want to hurt you again. I knew that a monster like me should of just stayed in my prison. It is where I belong” he said dejectedly as his head continued to hang low.

All was quiet as the wind blew across their bodies only to carry the silence that had stolen time from them all. Greymane finally stood up and began to walk in the direction of he Everfree, which caught all of their attention “Wh-where are ya heading off to?” Applejack finally spoke up as she placed one step forward.

“I am heading back to the Everfree, where all the monsters live. -long breath- I am forever grateful that you girls thought of me as a friend and showed me kindness that I did not deserve. And please be sure to tell Princess Celestia and Princess Luna that I am honored that they treated me fairly. But I have to go” he said as he started to pick up his pace before he felt something wrap around his neck.

“NO! Please! Don't leave us! Please, don't leave me” was all Sweetie Bell was able to say before she fell quiet while embracing him.

“Swe-we-eetie Bell! What are you doing! You have to let me go! I have to go!” he pleaded to her.

“No ya don't sugar cube! You are staying right here!” Applejack said as she galloped up to him and placed a hoof on his shoulder.

“Please don't leave Greymane, I would feel awful if my friend left to live in the Everfree!” Fluttershy flew over and landed in front of him and leaned her head into his neck “You are not a monster you know” she said ever so quietly.

“You are not going anywhere mister! Besides, I never even got to make you any clothes yet! How can I even think of letting you go without making you at least a dozen or so outfits!” Rarity exclaimed.

“Yeah! Besides, your our new friend and even though we found our cutie marks, we still run the Cutie Mark Crusaders and are gonna help ya find yours!” Applebloom exclaimed as she joined the others.

“Totally! And if you went into the Everfree, then you would just get way stronger and I could never catch up to you or Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo smugly declared as she hovered over him.

“And like Fluttershy said dude, your not a monster. Only cool ponies are my friends and your my friend. Not a monster, but a cool dude! So stop beating yourself up over this and cheer up!” Rainbow said as she flew over “And besides, if you left then I...we would all miss you a lot big guy” she quickly added before she nuzzled the top of his head.

“You can't blame yourself for this, Greymane. I finally understand you a bit more and want to apologize to you. I am the Princess Of Friendship yet I could not see the fact that the one pony who needed the magic of friendship the most was alone and suffering. But I swear upon Celestia that from this day forward I will offer you all my knowledge and friendship to make sure that you are never lonely again!” she said just as she teleported over and joined the hug.

“YEAH! AND most importantly! You can't leave Ponyville yet until you had my 'WELCOME TO PONYVILLE PARTY!' silly! Cause then it wouldn't make sense if I threw you a 'FAREWELL PARTY' if I never threw you a welcome party to begin with! That would just be the WORST POSSIBLE THING LIKE EVER?!” Pinkie Pie said in all seriousness as she zipped over and joined the group hug.

Greymane stood in silence as he had nine pairs of hooves reaching out and holding him and for the first time he felt a new kind of warmth inside of him and it slowly spread out his entire body and against his will forced him to smile as he gave up the notion to leave and simply enjoyed their company. “I-I don't know what to say” he meekly replied.

“Then don't say anything and just enjoy the hug ya big lug” Rainbow Dash said.

“RAINBOW” all the other girls said in unison. Once they said that they started to bicker with each other and mostly rainbow and during the middle of it they all slowly heard Greymane start to laugh before they ended up joining him as they all felt the tension just melt away.

Once they were all done laughing, they all slowly separated from the hug and formed up into a normal group but Sweetie Bell seemed to stick close by to him. Greymane was about to say something when he felt his legs become weak and he accidentally fell to the ground, to which Sweetie Bell and Fluttershy quickly rushed over to his side “Are you ok?!” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah, I just feel really weak all of a sudden, Then again Nurse Redheart said that I should avoid strenuous activity for a little while as I get used to my normal lifestyle. Guess I kinda overdid it today” he sheepishly said with a chuckle.

The others laughed along with him before Twilight said “Well, do you think you can stand? Cause we should get you somewhere to rest.”.

Greymane tried to stand but was met with weak knees and he flopped back down to the ground and groaned “No, sorry Princess Twilight”

“It is quite alright Greymane, I can just teleport you back to my library and you can use one of the guest bedrooms.” she said as she smiled down at him “Oh and Greymane, can you do me a small favor?”

He looked up at her quizzically before replying “Of course Princess Twilight”.

She sighed before asking “I would like you to stop addressing me as Princess Twilight, since you are my friend now I would prefer if you just called me....Twilight. Is that alright?” she polity said.

“Oh! Um....I-I suppose I can try Prin-, ahem, I mean Twilight” he answered back with before his head started bobbing up and down before he layed his head on the ground and his eyelids slowly started to close. “Be-before I go, I just wanted to say......thank.....you.....uhhh” he finished just as he fell asleep.

The girls giggles once more as Twilight began her teleportation spell “All right, lets get him home and-” Twilight was saying before a blue flash appeared followed by a loud POP and before them stood a very worried and concerned looking Luna.

“TWILIGHT! Where is Greymane! We must find him befo-” she looked down to find the sleeping form of Greymane “Oh, it appears that we were indeed too late to inform you” the alicorn princess said.

“Inform us of what Luna?” Twilight asked with a hint of worry

“Last night during his latest dream, or nightmare, we dove a bit deeper into his mind and we found something hidden deep within him. And it involves King Sombras dark magic” Luna solemnly replied.

“But you told us that in the hospital that you got rid of the last of his magic!” Twilight worryingly said.

Luna sighed “We did tell you the truth, there is no more dark magic within his mind or body. But due to the brief contact he had with King Sombra during their soul transfer, a small part of each others soul attached themselves to the other. So in other words, King Sombras dark magic has attached itself directly to his soul” she said with sadness in her voice as the group let out a collective gasp as they let their eyes fall upon the sleeping form of Greymane.

“Oh dear”

Author's Note

Holy Faust! AN EVER LONGER CHAPTER! Whats going on with me! And it did not take me two weeks to write! Ive just been on a writing rampage! Muahahaha! *coughs* Anyways, I wanted to do this chapter and glad I did. Only thing I did not like was the sudden POOF "Hello, Madness Here!" and I did try to think of a way to re-write it before I settled for explaining it NEXT CHAPTER! Yeah, bit of a cheat but oh well ITS MY STORY. So yeah! Recap: Greymane is out of the hospital, met the grown up CMC (who all have Cutie Marks now BTW), maybe a bit of a crush? between ________ and _______ ____, intro Void, Crystal Lass, FIGHT SCENE, Pinkie Pieness, backstory, purge and revive, emotions, more emotions, sleep, and CLIFFHANGER! Hope you like it!

Enjoy!!!