The Forgotten History of the Crystal Empire

by ChingKittyCat

Rating: teen
Tags: Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 4336

Why is it that not a single history book about the Crystal Empire exists in Equestria? Not even the princesses seem to remember what happened in the Crystal Empire before King Sombra came to power.

Nopony knows why, but the books retaining information about the Crystal Empire's origins have completely vanished. This was only noticed by Princess Cadence after a year of her peaceful reign. Wishing to know more about her subjects and their history, she went to go find some history books in the royal library. Nevertheless to say, she couldn't find any.

She went to the only pony who knew anything about the Empire's past. Me.

Alternate Universe tag due to the fact that this does not follow the more recent's comic's canon backstory for King Sombra.

Also, another King Sombra backstory. Whoo. As if there aren't already enough of those.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-02-16 02:10:02 UTC

The Full Story

In a land not forgotten, there were a sub-species of ponies. These ponies were known as the Steel Ponies and they were fit to live within the most cruel temperatures the northern parts of Equestria. Unlike ponies, they were carnivores. They were originally herbivores, but evolution over time made them into meat-eaters. Why? There’s not a lot of plants up north, that’s why.

The Steel Ponies were not an intelligent race. They were, by all means ‘stupid’. Their form of speak was savage, as they spoke to each other through growls and hisses rather than through intelligent words. What they lack in intelligence, they made up for in strength. More specifically, their muscles, fangs, and vicious attitude. These ponies were evolved for combat and labor. They were all Earth ponies, no horns or wings.

The Steel Ponies were a small sub-species, as most sub-species are. Much like the neighboring sub-species. The Windigos and the Crystal Ponies.

Now, Windigos were not a problem for the Steel Ponies. Steel Ponies, when cold, harden their coats to an almost metal-like form. Makes them rather slow and shiny, though (they lived in caves to avoid this). Crystal Ponies on the other hoof, could not survive the harshness of the Windigos. Windigos back then were a lot more violent, as hatred poured from both sub-species (regular ponies had already moved down the southern parts of Equestria).

Windigos especially loved to feed on the Steel Ponies. Why? Their culture was based off hatred. Steel Ponies would beat each other up for mates (only the female would do this, males wouldn’t compete) and even kill each other for the rare ice-leopard meat. Windigos and Steel Ponies had a sort of silent agreement. Windigos would get rid of Crystal Ponies and bring the Steel Ponies the meat. Steel Ponies would compete for the food and provide even more hatred for the Windigos.

The Crystal Ponies didn’t know about this little agreement between the other sub-species. Much less to say they didn’t like being killed by the cold. I wouldn’t like being killed by the cold either. So, being the smartest of the three sub-species, they devised a plan. Not a very good one, but still a plan.

The Crystal Ponies tracked the Windigos, finding the one of the bigger homes of the Steel Ponies. The Crystal Ponies were almost overjoyed to find other ponies in this place, as they had no clue about the Steel Pony’s existence. Nevertheless to say, when they offered peace and to unite the two kingdoms, they were met with a mass slaughter. The limited survivors had retreated back to a small Crystal village where they would repopulate.

It was years before anything had changed. The Windigos grew in size and population, steadily growing stronger as they declared the first Windigo Queen and King. The Steel Ponies remained the absolute same, nothing changing at all (except for the ear size, which was steadily depleting because females liked smaller ears). The Crystal Ponies were miserable for the longest while. Only the children would be happy, but that was for only a limited amount of time.

A glimmer of hope shined for the Crystal Ponies. Travelers from the South had come to scope things out. Caravans, while limited, visited the Crystal village. The Crystal Ponies didn’t know what drove them here, but they were happy that something other than misfortune had come to them.

When asked about why the regular ponies had visited, they responded with one thing. Crystals. They sought to get Crystals, a rare resource down in the south. So, without hesitation, some of the Crystal Unicorns made pillars of Crystals sprout from the snowy ground. The travelers were amazed by this, but there was a problem. Sprouting Crystals, making them appear from nowhere (or materialize) was a very hard task. It put strain on the unicorns to a point where it felt like their horns would crack.

The ponies didn’t care though. They took the Crystals and headed back down South to get their riches. Of course, the Crystal Ponies were paid. They were paid in fresh food and spices. Whatever their heart desired, really. Soon enough, that Crystal Pony village became a boomtown. Buisness was everywhere, despite the absolutely piss-poor conditions thanks to the Windigos.

The Princesses who were recently elected to take control of the Sun and Moon had visited the town along with their adopted father, Starswirl the Bearded. Starswirl sympathized with the Crystal Ponies, as they too had dealt with the Windigos in the past. Not but a couple years ago. So, he made a proposition. He would need to find a way to repel the Windigos with some sort of magic. Love. Love in a pure, concentrated form so that it may be weaponized and used to repel the Windigos and any evil that may use hatred and fear as their weapon.

The young Princesses proposed that the Crystal Ponies should make a Crystal Symbol, something that meant a lot to them and then pour lots of magic into that object in order to make it into an enchanted weapon. Starswirl agreed with this and told the Crystal Ponies that they should make this symbol as soon as possible.

It took a week or so to find the right thing. A Crystal shaped like a heart. One of the finest unicorn Crystal Crafters (by the name of Crystal Hammer) put their metaphorical heart and soul in order to make the Crystal Heart look just right. The Crystal Heart was given to Starswirl the Bearded, who later called upon Clover the Clever, Smart Cookie, and Private Pansey in order to seek their experience. They had repelled the Windigos once and Starswirl trusted them to do it again.

Clover the Clever, being the only unicorn of the three found the Crystal Heart to be a rather interesting idea. To weaponize love would be a hard task, but they would attempt to do so. He had a love for his friends and they had a platonic love for him too. Thinking back on moments they had spent together as friends, Clover charged his magic. He gathered those thoughts along with the pure happiness and love from the Crystal Ponies in the village. A large heart of cyan flame spread from his horn as the stress from conjuring such advanced magic began to set in.

With a sweat covered brow, Clover the Clever guided to the flame into the Crystal Heart, as the once regular crystal item absorbed the magic of friendship and love (mostly love) into its Crystal interior. The Crystal Heart had been enchanted.

The Crystal Ponies were overjoyed. For as long as they could remember, the Windigos had plagued them and killed them for food. The Crystal Heart was placed in the middle of the village, its radiance and luminosity growing as the Crystal Ponies danced about. However, all was not well. Clover the Clever, while an advanced unicorn, couldn’t handle that much stress on his horn. It had cracked and fallen off. He was taken to one of the local inns for a deserved rest while the Crystal Ponies celebrated his victory.

It was not an hour later before the Windigos had arrived for their daily murder. This time, the Crystal Ponies were ready. Fear in their eyes and love in their hearts, the Crystal Heart spun. It unleashed a wave of love and friendship upon the Windigos, as their screeches of pure agony echoed throughout the mountains (and some say you can hear it if you visit the Crystal Empire). This had done a lot more than they had expected. Cracks of cyan covered the Windigos before vaporizing them into nothingness.

A festival was held that night, as the sky (which was always clouded) finally dispersed, allowing the onlookers below to see the aurora filled sky. Tears of joy were shed that night, as the snow from the village began to disperse. Heat began to flood in (but this was only because it was summer). The ground was covered with rock and ice, though. It was better than snow, they supposed.

The Crystal Ponies, armed with weapons and their Crystal Heart, began to explore their hemisphere once more. Starswirl began to do research on the animals here while the young Princesses stayed in Canterlot and were taught by their Mother.

The Steel Ponies were discovered once more, their malicious and savage way of living making them seem a most evil species. The adventurers and researcher made a camp nearby a large cave where a decently large amount of them lived. That night wasn’t exactly a good one.

Some Steel Pony females, looking for a good time, found the camp.

The females of the species could be seen as desperate, thirsty, constantly wanting a little bit of ‘fun’. They were the dominant gender in the species. They chose the mates, then they’d kill their mate after they were done. After that, they’d eat their mate. Cannibalism was a natural thing for the species, being developed due to the lack of food and high birth rates. To be fair, there were a lot more females than there were males.

Multiple ponies were defiled in their sleep, some woke up in the middle of it. The other mares in the expedition were left alone, though. The unlucky ones who slept through the process got their throats ripped out and bodies devoured. This included Starswirl.

The females on the expedition were enraged by this, as they went to activate the Crystal Heart (which was charged). Upon activation, the Steel Pony females attempted to run before they screamed as their bodies were ripped apart by love.  This was an important detail and was written down by the remaining researchers.

It was thought that the Steel Ponies were corrupted by the Windigos, or just had pure Hatred inside of them. This could be redeemed, but it’d take a long time, they thought. So, they approached the entrance of the cave. Crystal Heart in hoof, they entered the cave. They were met by growls at first, but it soon began to become deathly silent. The Steel Ponies eyed the Crystal Heart as the researchers were given a respectable amount of personal space. The researchers searched the cave for one thing. Babies. Children, whatever.

Within the darkest crevice, the smallest hiding spot, they found one. A female with a dark coat, almost black. All these Steel Ponies were very monotone. Black manes and gray coats on all of them. Anyways, the child was taken (by magic, she would not move any other way). She was a scared thing, didn’t like to be near the Crystal Heart whatsoever.

With that, they left the Steel Ponies. For future endeavors, it seemed.

When the Steel Pony child was brought to back the village (which was turning into a city, actually), she was put on display. The research notes were put up for everypony to see. Nopony really cared all too much for a decent while.

Within the time frame of the expedition (which took a couple months), the Crystal village was beginning to loose business. Crystals were becoming even more common in the Southern parts, as the unicorns down there were beginning to conjure up their own crystals.

Some immigrants managed to wander into the city on some occasions, but they were getting bored. They said that the Crystal City was a bit too boring compared to the grand city of Canterlot. It needed something that can be seen through the harsh winter blizzards (they’re in the north, they’re going to have blizzards with or without Windigos).

So, it was decided. To be more upstate and cool, they would elect a King and Queen in order to rule over the soon to be Empire. The King was a Crystal Unicorn while the Queen was a Crystal Pegasus. The King was a rather interesting guy, and by that I mean bat-shit insane and an asshole. He wasn’t always like that, but as soon as he felt that crown on his head, he knew exactly what he wanted to do and how to do it.

He wanted servants. He wanted to be pampered. He wanted a castle even more grand than Canterlot’s. He wanted to be powerful. He wanted to be respected, revered. He wanted his name to be known across all lands in all the right words. He wanted his name to be known for centuries. I don't remember his name whatsoever.

The Queen was nearly silent while he worked with the regular citizens. For the most part, he was a good king. He built farms, worked on public projects, donated to charities. Trust building things, you know. She always liked how manipulative he was.

He declared the construction of the ‘Crystal Tower’ after a year of being in power. Unicorns scowled at this, as they asked how he planned to get all those Crystals. He said his plan was simple. Dig. Dig? Dig. Dig for the strongest Crystal there was. Ice Crystal. Things only available within large cave systems. There was one place where they were recorded to be found.

His acts next were questionable. Some citizens even refused to help. Some being around five or six. There were thousands of ponies within the city. They also questioned it, but they wanted their city to become and Empire just as much as he did.

The King ordered it, by royal decree that the Steel Ponies within Mt. Des (The largest amount of Steel Ponies lived there) were to be captured and used for construction. They were to be numbered and bred for labor. That’s exactly what happened.

Though vicious and armed with bred-in weapons, the Steel Ponies were no match for the technologically advanced Crystal Ponies. The Crystal Heart was ultimately the thing that made the Steel Ponies succumb to how shall I say.. Slavery.

They were kept in the same cave, although they were forced to wear large crystal braces around their necks. These braces seemed normal, but they were magically enchanted to send out multiple different punishments if anything went wrong. It also sent out a loud beeping sound if anything was wrong with the slave. It would notify guards (who had built a large wall around the entrance of the cave in order to keep the slaves in) and everything. It was great.

Minecarts were built along with cart tracks. Guards would occasionally wheel themselves down the tracks if they were bored or needed to get somewhere inside the mines quickly. The minecarts were usually just used to transport the Crystals that were dug up.

Now something new had been added to the Steel Pony’s list of things to fight over. Crystals.

The way things worked in the mine were the following:

Don’t have the least amount of Crystals at the end of work.

Don’t attack guards.

Don’t object to being taken from the mines.

The rest was up to the slaves who worked there. Nevertheless to say, cannibalism was higher than ever considering the fact that food was even more limited than before.

Females would be devoured as soon as they delivered the baby, and if that baby was unlucky, they would be consumed as well. The carcasses of the males recently used for mating reasons were fought over, as the females grew even more vicious to keep their prize.

The population dwindled over the years of hard labor, as the slavers began to skinny from the lack of other ponies to eat. They became exhausted as every day was the same. Bang at the walls with pickaxes before something fell out. Well, only the lucky ones got pickaxes. Others got nothing.

Everyday in the mines was the same. For the children, it was hide. Hide and hope to never be found by the adults. If you were found, you were eaten. Only the smartest children would survive the game of Hide and Seek. More often than not, they would hide inside the minecarts and underneath all of the crystals.

Much less to say, they would be thrown out by the guards. The guards wouldn't kill them, but they would give a couple whip marks on their backs. After their punishments, they'd usually be eaten by the adults. After they caught the drift, children would stop hiding in the crystal carts.

As the mines expanded and grew even deeper, the construction on the Crystal Tower began. The King was now growing old from age. The project had been going on for plenty of years now. He decided that he would cast a forbidden alicorn spell onto himself. It was only fabled, but he knew it probably existed. The Princesses used it.

It was known as the Immortality Curse. It could only be used once and cannot be used on anypony else but yourself. You must go into the curse knowing that you will live forever. That age will not affect you, but physical damage will. So, after years of searching, one group of hired explorers came back with a totem. A totem that had such a curse written on it. All he needed to do was read the words on the page.

His Queen begged him to not do such a thing. He would be left all alone and sad. She had bared him many a child, but he would never see her again if he did this. He didn't listen to her and the curse was casted. He was to live forever. He could kill himself whenever he wanted, and that was when he felt like he had fully succeeded in his role as King. Until he knew that he was going to be remembered.

Every year was like the last. The Queen eventually passed away from old age, leaving her King alone just like she said she would. He was left alone with five children. He never paid much attention to them, as he was too busy growing his Empire.

One problem arose in the Empire. A very long time ago, a child of Steel Pony origins had been brought to the Empire due to an expedition. This child had grown into a proper pony and was now trying to stop him. They grew a mob. They protested. They started to tear down statues dedicated to him.

This mob was tiny compared to his army. Which is why he decided to sick half of his army onto this tiny mob. They were all apprehended and thrown into the Crystal Dungeons. This caused controversy, as if there wasn't already enough of that. Eventually, the Crystal 'Empire' regained the Princess's attention.

A visit was planned and a visit was made. They attempted to stop this King from using slaves to up his Empire. They warned him. He didn't listen. The Princesses had the rest of the year to get rid of the King, but they were busy dealing with Discord. The Discord Fiasco took a very long time. Multiple years.

During that time period, the King was just about finished his Empire. The Empire was very large thanks to the Steel Ponies. It had a snow-flake like design. The Crystal Tower was at the very center of the Empire. It reached into the sky. The Empire was almost complete. The homes just needed to be made, along with the very tip top of the tower.

That's when something finally went horribly wrong.

In the mines, a savior was made. A Steel Unicorn with a curved unicorn horn. Powered by his hatred, he created one of the largest families of unicorn magic. Dark Magic. It was based off his own hatred, pain, and suffering. Pain and Suffering being almost the same thing, but you get it.

This unicorn, this incredibly powerful unicorn destroyed the entire barricade that had kept him and the other slaves inside of their cave. They finally were free. With the scars of slavery on his back, this unicorn stormed off towards the Empire. News of the slaves escaping only arrived as soon as that unicorn did.

The massacre had started. Civilians were first. Then it was the army. The army was a bigger challenge for the slaves. In fact, it was such a big challenge that a mass genocide occurred and the very few Steel Ponies remaining had been killed. All of them. Except for one. That one was surrounded and outnumbered.

You can imagine what happened to the rest of the army, I don't need to say it.

When the last Steel Pony alive (there were other caves of Steel Ponies a long time ago, but they died of malnutrition) arrived in the old King's throne room, he didn't even give the King a second to talk. Dark Magic was casted and the ex King soon became decorations for the walls.

The old King's children were slaughtered next. There was only one who managed to run from the Empire and escape the Steel Pony's wrath.

The next months were a bit of a blur. The New King had announced himself to the public. Using his Dark Magic, he casted a large forcefield around the Empire. It was to make sure that no Crystal Pony was able to leave. The New King also decided to get rid of any pegasi and unicorn. He ordered his newly brainwashed guards to get rid of them.

Within a couple days, only earth Crystal Ponies were left in the Empire.

Thus began the Redemption. The New King decided that the Crystal Ponies were to pay for their sins against the dead. They were forced to mine, just like he had. They were whipped and tortured. Some could call it Tartarus on Equestria.

While that went on, the Crystal Empire became a blackened place. The Crystal Heart was stolen away (though The New King showed great fear towards the object while transporting it) and placed atop the Crystal Tower. The love and light from the Empire had dissipated. This caused the Crystal Ponies to return back to a depressed state that they had once been in a very long time ago.

The New King, however, was having a busy time as well. He decided to place multiple curses on the Empire and to place traps just in case somepony wanted to get to the Crystal Heart. He built these things himself. Even when the guards offered their help, he refused. Maybe it was due to the fact that he didn't know regular Pony Speak. He just hissed. Lots of hissing.

Despite his problems with speaking, he was able to rule over the Empire. Y'know what he wasn't able to do? Talk to the Princesses when they finally returned to the Empire. They noticed the new ruler and the new conditions.

They had to breach the force field in order to talk to The New King. He was not the civilized type. No, he did not want to talk to the Princesses. When he saw their figures enter his throne room, he was confused. Ponies with both horns and wings? What were they saying? He didn't know.

The Princesses recognized the armor he wore. It was the same armor that the older king used to wear. They asked him if he inherited the throne. He answered with a hiss. They asked him if he had a name. Another hiss. They asked him all sorts of questions. Hisses. Obviously they weren't going to get any answers, so, the Princesses decided to grant him temporary speech and understanding of their language.

"Answer us. What is your name."

"Sombra. King Sombra."

"Why are you doing this, foul demon?"

"They have killed us. They have done the same to us. It seems like a polite thing to do, paying them back for it."

"You can stop this. You can come live in Canterlot. I'm sure that if you-."

"No. I cannot. I seek vengeance. They require redemption. They must repent for their sins. Until the old generation of Slave Masters has been fully removed, I cannot release them. I am to make sure that this does not happen again."

"You are to release them. They have done nothing wrong! The King before you was the one who caused all of this! If you don't stop, we will be forced to take action against you!"

"No. They must forget. They are to forget that they have enslaved us. It will stop them from doing so in the future. If they are to repeat forgotten history, so be it. If you are to kill me, so be it. I want to make sure that if they do repeat this, it is a very long time from now. So that they can be stopped. I will not allow you to stop me from making them forget."

After that, the Princesses left. They would come back the next week in battle armor, but that was next week. King Sombra knew they would come back rather soon, so he put precautions. To speed up the process, he casted a Memory Scar upon his slaves and guards. He would make sure that if they do remember this era, they would only remember this point in time. They could not remember anything before it.

The Battle of King Sombra was fought and won by the Princesses. King Sombra was banished to the ice and he took his Empire with him. In a final second, he activated a trap using his magic. His Empire was also banished beneath the ice.

His slaves were frozen in time, but he wasn't. King Sombra wasn't given the gift of sleep. Rather, due to his banishment, it granted him immortality. I personally believe that one of the Princesses accidentally slipped up on their banishment and made it so he couldn't age, but that's just me. It's also a possibility that if one is banished, the aging process is stopped completely.

The rest of the story is recent history.

"D-Does help you, Princessss..?"

"Yes, thank you."