A Broken Crystal

Sombra continued to work on his old, rusty metal desk.

He had a very determined way of sorting his papers and projects, on the left side there were books about dark magic, on the right manifacture documents. Currently he was trying to develop a spell which would stop his stuttering. It was so annoying trying to talk normally and always end up with his tongue tangled. He worked troughout the whole night, and the sunrise already began when his head fell on the desk. He fell asleep, exhausted by the whole night's work.

The loud knocks woke him up. Someone was calling him loudly. Sombra stood up, streched and looked trough the peephole. Outside there was a  light brown crystal pony mare. She seemed impatient.

"Hello? The chariot is here , sir", she said.

"I am c-coming right a-away", said Sombra and went in his bedroom. He opened the closet and quickly teleported his best suit on himself. He slept trough the whole day! How is that even possible? He surely wasn't THAT tired....

He just went to comb his mane when he looked himself in the mirror.

"Horseshit!" he whispered.

His pupils were vertical, his teeth grew and his horn became twisted and red. His cutiemark, a black crystal in red and purple fire, started to fade. That was new.

Anyway, how could he forget to put a new illusion spell?! This day is just getting worse and worse. It will take at least a quarter of a sunhour for the spell to start working. He casted the spell, only to be shaken by another rough and loud sound of the mare's voice calling him.  He had much more sensitive ears than other ponies.

"Sir, are you all right? We need to..."

"I'll be there, just give me a few moments...." Sombra interrupted her.

He opened the magical door in a hurry, almost failing the incantation. The pony changed much faster than Sombra expected. His eyes were now completely blue, with no iris or pupils. A small, weirdly shaped horn started to grow from his forehead, and so did the insect-like wings from his back. Green and grey armour grew around his stomach, and the flesh on his hooves melted, leaving  empty holes behind. If the crystal pony changes during his visit to the Queen, who knows what he'd be capable of.

Sombra removed the nightmare spell. The pony fell down, starving and exhausted. He won't have to eat food anymore after the transformation, so why bother?  Sombra's horn and eyes flashed purple as the green ooze and liquid wrapped around the pony, in a shape of a cacoon. That should slow down the transformation, and the liquid inside would be like air. Once in the cacoon, the pony slowly closed his blue eyes. It was funny, it seemed almost as he was sleeping. The best thing about dark magic was the multiple  variations of spells. Dark magic was like a mirror to normal magic. When an unicorn would invent a new normal spell, the same, but a bit stronger, twisted spell would become possible as dark magic. And opposite. The only difference was that while "translating" the dark spell into normal, the result would be weaker.

Sombra went out of the room. He looked himself in the mirror once more. His horn was now staight, but that was all. He took the darkest eyeglasses he had, quickly painted a cutiemark on his flank, and opened the door widely.

"It surely took you long", said the mare, frowning. She had a cyan coat, bright yellow mane and orange eyes. The stubborn look in her eyes frustrated Sombra, he wondered what would ger worst fear be.... It would be such fun listening to her screams...

He got out of his daydreaming when the chariot, pulled by two pegasi, moved and started to bounce. Sombra touched his teeth with his tongue. He used a different spell for changing the their shape, and they were almost fully normalized.

He looked around himself. The chariot was white with golden decorations, the seat was comfortable with three soft pillows, all white as snow. The two windows on the each side of the chariot were wide and clean. Trough them Sombra could see the sky full of clouds. It was the end of autumn and leaves were flying all around, dancing on the last warm winds. Kind of a calming atmosphere. Sombra could let himself fall into slumber. But there were just too many things to worry about, too many plans...

The crystal pony fillies and colts were playing outside. Sombra couldn't be sure if the game was tag or hide-and-seek. Few colts standed aside, passing a colorful, patched ball to eachother. Sombra never got the point of that game.

He just looked outside, with his thoughts far away. They were already in the "Rich Squares". Huge houses with large gardens and many flowers in front of them. Sombra recognized Rubenius's house.  It was probably the largest. Rubenius inherited everything from his parents. With his brain, which was the size of an almond, he would never be even close to this. They almost passed the Rich Squares, and the castle wasn't far.

They were now in front of the gates. They led to an enormous garden full of crystal fountains and the most exotic plants. The castle itself was in all colours. It looked like a huge, soft rainbow made of crystals. When the crystal pony guards opened the gates, the garden shone in all its beauty. It seemed like heaven.

In front of the very castle stood the Queen

"Welcome", she said.

If this is heaven, Sombra thought, then she is the God.