Twilight panicked. The black crystals around her got higher. She heard the sound of shattering crystals, followed by screams. Oh no, she thought. The Crystal Heart was destroyed. Next, she heard hoofsteps. The crystals around her lowered. Before her stood none other than King Sombra. She felt angry. "What do you want from me?" She wasn't afraid. Sombra let out a deep, menacing laugh.
"I want, a queen."
Many years later
Sombra walked through the halls of his castle. Twilight, as always, was beside him. She was never really away from him. A lot had happened in the years between. Without Twilight, Equestria needed a new defense. Discord was released and reformed by Fluttershy. Sombra didn't try to take over the rest of Equestria. As the two walked through the castle corridor, Twilight spoke. "Sombra." Sombra was shocked. Twilight hadn't spoken to him in a year. Actually, she may not have spoken at all for a year.
"Y-yes?"
"Do you love me?" Sombra thought. It should have been a simple question. After all, he married her. Still, he didn't really feel any emotion when he was near her.
"No, I suppose not. Do you love me?"
"I did, once. When you first captured me, I was angry with you. One day, after a particularly unsettling fight, I was more upset than ever. Eventually, you came to me and apologized. For a while, I loved you." She paused. "Until one day. You seemed to have gone mad and started torturing me to no end. After a while, I just decided to keep quiet." Sombra was shocked. Now that he thought about it, he had loved her then.
"Twilight, I-" she put a hoof up to stop him. She walked away, staring at the ground.
Twilight walked into her room. She always tried to avoid Sombra. Memories flooded back to her from when it happened. It seemed like it had been so long. She nearly shuddered at the thought. Her veins felt like they were filled with lead, sparks of electricity felt like fire as patches of her coat burned at the tips. The worst part was when she looked at Sombra, he seemed, happy. He looked as if he was enjoying her pain. For the split second the spell stopped, she ran. One of the castle servants, Crystal Shard, came into her room shortly after and gasped in shock when she saw Twilight. The lilac mare was a crying mess. Parts of her once lovely coat were now scorched and had become black. She grabbed some water and cream and tended to her burns, asking what happened. Through thick tears, Twilight explained what happened. "Please, don't tell anypony."
"I won't," Crystal said. To that very day, she had kept her word. "Is there anything else that's been bothering you?"
"Not really. Can you go?"
"Of course. Remember, you'll make it." Crystal closed the door. She was perplexed as to why this happened. All she knew was that if this continued, something awful would happen.
Sombra stood in the hallway, speechless. The more he thought about it, he came to the horrifying conclusion that Twilight was right. He had gone insane. He looked at his hooves. "I don't believe it, I've become a monster. Again." He heard somepony let out a menacing laugh.
"Become? You are a monster. You always have been." Smoke flew from his curved horn and manifested itself into a pony. It looked like him, except even more terrifying and shadowy.
"No. Leave! You have no control of me!" The figure let out another chuckle.
"I am you."
"That's not true. You are an illusion, nothing more!"
"An illusion, that is a part of you. You cannot escape me, no matter what." The figure turned into a dark red shadow. It encircled Sombra.
"Why do you haunt me?"
"You created me. I need to maintain my existence somehow."
"I don't even know where you came from. How could I have created you?"
"I am dark magic. You've created me over all these years, fueling me with your hatred and anger." The figure smiled evilly. "And to this day, I've gotten stronger. I can take physical form just as you can. Face it, you are a monster and you will never be anything else!" Sombra was horrified. This was what he had become. This was what his anger and hatred was like. "And don't even get me started on your wife. I'm surprised you didn't enslave her or kill her right then and there. After all, you said so yourself. You don't love her." Sombra was speechless.
"The only reason I don't love her anymore is because of you!"
"Me? I am only a manifestation of your anger. You allow me to become stronger every day. Your own actions did this."
"Well, it doesn't matter! I still control you!"
"You can't. I will always be there. You can't even control your emotions. Remember, no matter what ponies say, they still hate you. And they always will." The figure faded away.
"What is wrong with me?" He finally realized something. He was evil. He had to fix this. Somehow.
Sombra knocked on Twilight's door. No answer. He knocked again. Still no answer. He opened the door. Twilight stared at the floor. "Twilight?" He didn't think he'd get a response.
"Yes?" Sombra was shocked.
"I wanted to apologize for what I've done. You must hate me even more now."
"No. I don't." Again, he was shocked. "When you first imprisoned me, I hated you. For a while I loved you. Now, I don't hate nor love you. I have hope for you. I knew that someday, somehow we would love each other again. I just didn't know when."
"Twilight, can we, possibly start over? I don't know what happened to me then and I doubt I ever will. I've come to my senses and realized that I was a terrible pony. Please, can we love each other again?"
"I would like that." And for the first time in a very, very long time, Twilight smiled.
