A single tear traced on the face of the reformed king. Though, reformed might be the wrong word. He regained his sanity thanks to a few ponies. Who were all conveniently in this room.

Twilight Sparkle, whom, at the finishing of the king's recounting, took a sudden and intense interest in her hooves. Rarity, who now held a hoof to her mouth. Applejack, with her hat to her chest. Rainbow Dash, looking at the saddened king with a look of horror. Fluttershy, who was crying after hearing his story. And Pinkie Pie, who was twitching.

"I... I had no idea, Sombra..." Twilight spoke up.

"It's... It's in the past, princess. Maybe I had overreacted," Sombra replied, wiping a tear off of his cheek.

"OVERREACTED!?" Rainbow Dash said, shaking herself out of her stupor, "You reacted EXACTLY like you should have! That wasn't right!"

"Was it anymore right to do what I did, Dash? It would have been one thing to just kill the ponies involved, but I forced them to suffer, I killed them in the most horrendous ways imaginable... I FORCED THEM TO SACRIFICE THEIR CHILDREN TO ME! Is that any more right then they were?" Sombra replied.

"Normally I'd disagree with Rainbow on this kind of thing, but I can't. Not on this matter, sugar cube..." Applejack said in a somber manner.

Sombra was surprised at hearing the element of honesty say that.

"I could have gotten the attention of the princesses... I probably should have." Sombra replied, tears threatening to spill over.

"You shouldn't beat yourself up over it, Sombra... I know that I'm usually scared of everything... But if I had been forced to watch them do that to Angel bunny and Harry... I might have mentally snapped and gone genocidal-maniac-bent-on-revenge as well..." Fluttershy said, her eyes miles away from this conversation.

This caused a near collective dropping of jaws. It was one thing to hear anyone else say that, but the embodiment of kindness? No one was prepared for that.

Pinkie just continued twitching.

Rarity spoke next, saying, "Oh! Dear Sombra, losing not only your loving wife, but a child you had with her, in such a terrible way too! The sister's would have more than understood, seeing as one nearly killed the other over depression!"

"Be that as it may, marshmallow, it wasn't nearly the extent I had dished." Sombra smirked as he saw Rarity recoil at her nickname. This caused a weak giggle to resound around the table.

"Pinkie... Are you okay?" Sombra asked, genuinely worried for the pink party pony.

Pinkie continued twitching. Both at the story, which had set her eyes to twitch, but in a series of seemingly random ways. When she spoke, there was no joy in her voice. Had anyone noted this, this might have scared them worse then Sombra's story.

"There's a doozy coming..."

No sooner than she had spoken these words, did a terrified and frazzled looking unicorn come barging into the throne room, where the seven had been sitting.

"Twilight! They've got Cadence and Flurry Heart!" Shining Armor said in a rushed manner.

"Shining, calm down. Who's 'they'" the princess of friendship replied.

The next words would send a shiver down their collective spines. They would deflate the party pony's hair. The sentence would set on Rainbow's face a look of steeled reserve. The princess of friendship would be shocked into silence, and Rarity would return her hoof to her mouth. Fluttershy would look terrified and Applejack would be mirroring Rainbow Dash. The king would be reminded of the story he just told, reliving every minute of the horror.

"The Crystal Ponies."

Author's Note

Ah... A new story. I happen to enjoy it's concept.