Tirek and Sombra

Sombras POV

The sky was a typical hellish orange and the ground below was dry and cracked, covered in his dark crystals. His crystal slaves labored away in the mines. It's been only a few days since he regained his kingdom from those pathetic equestrian ponies, and yet, it feels like he's been ruling for hundreds of years.

He wore his usual frown, for he wasn't satisfied. He was never satisfied. Why? Because he always felt he was lacking something important. No, it wasn't his phylactery. That was another matter entirely.

He sat there, writing his book titled 'Fear Enslaves All', which would surely make anypony depressed. It contained and rationalized all of his thoughts and feelings on the world. He was quite the bookworm in his spare time, and he intended to utilize it in his conquests of spreading fear and despair.

''You're Majesty!'' called out his captain of the royal guards, panting from exhaustion. His diamond armor glistened in the damned suns light. He took off his helmet and bowed, like how an obedient 'dog' would.

The unicorn formerly known as Shining Armor, was now his temporary right-hand. King Sombra brainwashed him into becoming his servant. But not before reading his mind to understand everything he needed to know about the present world. He anticipated the day Shining would face off against and hopefully corrupt his own sister, Twilight Sparkle. Bastard deserved it for sacrificing himself to save his friends and family from Sombras wraith.

King Sombra never turned his head to the voice, only waited.

''Somethings infiltrating the Crystal Empire! It's in the east fields!''

The King closed his eyes and focused. As he focused, he began to see in countless points throughout his kingdom. The crystals he generated had many uses, thanks to them practically being an extension of his soul, mind, and body. One of the most common being a visual connection to his own eyes. He could see through the dark crystals and see for himself, what went on, and where.

He scanned through thousands of his 'visions' in the eastern field. A good twenty-three of the visions finally caught a glimpse of the creature.

What King Sombra saw was an elderly pony covered with a hood. It had a white beard and wore a nose ring, but it also had a third pair of limbs in the form of arms and hands. And glowing yellow eyes. Those eyes! They looked familiar. Has he seen this thing before? He wouldn't be surprised.

The King lost all of his past memories, ever since he became a master of alicorn magic, three hundred years ago, before his one thousand year imprisonment. He eventually created a new personality for himself. He deduced it as amnesia, due to his own dark influence causing the same effect among his subjects.

He remembered is oldest memories, since they were technically his first. His horn glowed, triggering the single dark crystal embedded at the center of the ceiling in his throne room. Purple bubbles erupted from it, then it projected an image. The Kings thoughts and memories for all to see.

'RRRRAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!! roared an image of a younger and very angry Sombra. ''WHY!!! He had nothing now. It was gone. Whatever it was, it was gone! He couldn't accept that. He wouldn't! He charged his normal unicorn horn, causing purple bubbles to form on it. But due to his intense anger at the world, these bubbles spread through out his body and consumed him. When it was done, he calmed down. He felt, different. He opened his eyes, looking at his reflection on the crystal. Whatever the white crystal was there for was forgotten about. What he would never forget though, was his horns new appearance. It was red and curved. What happened? ...It didn't matter. What did matter, was satisfying his new thirst for power.'

'That was one-thousand and three-hundred years ago. Soon after, he calmed down, and gathered his thoughts. He was still angry, but he forgot what he was angry for. As time past, he became less and less angry. So much so, that he became aloof and distant.

He may have forgotten his past, but he was still as brilliant as ever. Some ponies knew a little about him, allowing him to regain his name, but they feared him for his appearance. Not that he cared. He needed to understand the world and it's many races and societies he'd forgotten. So through out his history, he's observed the behavior of his fellow equines. Trying to find out what drove the common pony in life. Citizens, royalty, and solders! Earth pony, Pegasus, and Unicorn! He studied and learned from them all. Even other races such as the griffins or dragons were studied.'

King Sombra continued skimming through his memories.

You desire to live, because you fear death.

You desire friends, because you fear loneliness.

You desire civility, because you fear vulnerability.

In the end, it was all the same. He concluded that all were ultimately motivated by fear. And in some cases, enslaved to it. Yes! Fear enslaves all. That was a truth, and like any other truth, it was cold and harsh. Over time, he became less and less caring. As an enforcer of truth, it was his obligation to enforce this fact. And what began as an obligation turned into undying loyalty.

Indeed, it was a depressing way to view the world. But King Sombra wanted facts, not fantasies.

His eyes widened slightly, with his irises and pupils shrinking a bit. King Sombra closed his eyes, blocking out the urges, 'Crystals! ...Hearts!' before calming down and breathing in. He sat there, meditating. 'Corrupt them ALL!' The King sighed. These compulsions where getting repetitive.

He concentrated on his crystals, and began to feel them. He felt all of his symmetrical crystals and how they felt so perfect, then he felt all of his jagged crystals and how they felt like a mess. Each one represented his state of mind; his symmetrical crystals represented his refined and aloof state of mind, while the jagged crystals represented his crazy and animalistic state of mind. Being extensions of his being and thus his mind, King Sombra had a telepathic connection to his crystals.

The jagged crystals roared 'Submit to the darkness! Forget Everything!'

Whether Raw Sombra was referring directly to Refined Sombra, he didn't know, nor did he care.

'I will rule this la-' was all it could think, as the King slightly narrowed his eyes in concentration, causing said crystal to reform into a symmetrical shape. With it's only thoughts ''...''

King Sombra was not the same one who sieged the Crystal Empire. That was but an animal acting completely under the control of alicorn magic influence. Conveniently, Frostbite appeared and channeled all of the Kings memories back into him. Allowing him to regain the pony who all but decayed from existence in his ice prison. Yet he still felt its influence, calling him. He held far too much dignity to behave in such a mindless and barbaric manner, and ever since then, he's been slowly erasing the pointless monster that he was from existence.

He was cut out of his thought process, upon sensing the hooded figure through his crystals. He closed his eyes again to observe.

He witnessed this creature hide behind one the his crystals, before approaching one of his guards. They both had a heated exchange of words. What the King witnessed next was quite possible the most interesting and alarming thing imaginable. The hooded pony opened its monkey-like mouth wide and, like a leech from hell, began to drain the guard of their magic, and worse, his small yet potent amount of raw alicorn magic blessed upon him by Sombra himself. How dare it! Then the hooded ...thing jumped him, grabbing him with those monkey like limbs of his and strangling the guard. The creature then bulked in size a bit. When it was done, it snapped the guards neck.

It then looked to said guards hoofprints, which lead it to gaze upon his kingdom. King Sombra couldn't see much of his mystery guest, but that sinister grin it wore upon gazing at his empire, told him all he needed to know.

He ended the vision.

His captain asked ''Permission to kill him, sir?''

Simply killing somepony was considered a mercy to King Sombra. He preferred to either fill his enemies hearts with despair, or corrupt his enemies to his side. He found a bit of satisfaction in the later. The more pure and innocent something was, the more satisfying it would be to corrupt it.

Besides, he was short on minions. That and other reasons were why he spread rumors of recruitment. After all, why waist such potential?

Also, there was something about this thing that was ...familiar.

King Sombra walked out to his balcony. He looked to the east, were the creature was. With an emotionless yet authoritative tone, he stated ''Fear enslaves all.''