Julius Sombra

"Welcome to Tartarus."

…

Those were the words that were spoken to me by the warden at the time of my arrest when I was placed in my 4x4 cell at Tartarus. At one moment, I was standing next to my father as he ruled over the Crystal Empire; the next, I am in this cell serving my life sentence.

"These cells are reserved for those who committed level two crimes," he explained. "You will have interaction with fellow prisoners at designated times. Any attempt to escape is futile, so don't even try it."

With those words, the warden departed flanked by two of his guards. All I could do was just sit in here, day after day, thinking of what could have been had Celestia and Luna not interfered. But, at the same time, I had to remember that I was hurting other ponies in addition to killing a princess. I didn't choose to kill or hurt anypony, but I had no other choice because I was the son of a king, a king that was now banished from the empire. I needed to escape, I needed to free my father's spirit and return him to his rightful place.

The only question, was how to escape?

…

I would eventually get my answer when another prisoner was led into the cell next to mine. He was a creature that was half-pony and possessed a beard that was mid-length down from his chin. After he had been given the usual speech from the warden, I went over to the wall separating our cells and decided to talk to him.

"Psst, excuse me?" I whispered, trying to attract the creature's attention. "Do you know how to escape from here?"

The creature was somewhat bewildered to hear this and came over to the other side of the wall.

"If only that were not impossible," he replied in a growling, nasty voice. "If I had all the magic in Equestria and had it not been for that traitorous brother of mine, then I would find a way."

"Your brother betrayed you?" I asked. "How?"

"He ratted me out to the princess ponies and that wizard pony who used his magic to defeat me," answered the creature. "Among others."

Almost immediately, I couldn't help but feel nothing but sympathy for my fellow prisoner. He had an ambition, just like my father and since I failed to help my father, I needed to help him in every way possible.

"What is your name?" I asked.

"I am Tirek," replied the creature. "Lord Tirek and one day, I will take all that should have been mine. What is yours?"

"Sombra," I said. "Julius Sombra II, son of his majesty, King Julius Sombra I of the Crystal Empire."

"So you are Julius' son?" he remarked, much to my impending confusion. "I happened to be a very good friend of your family. Your grandfather was friends with my pathetic excuse for a father who forbade me from seeking out my goals. I would tell you more, but it just too painful to talk about right now."

"I know how you are feeling and I am sorry that you are in this situation," I sighed. "It's very clear to me that we need to get out of here and restore our ways of life. You need to absorb all the magic and I need to restore my father to his rightful throne."

…

Just then, I heard voices coming from down the hall and went to the bars to take a listen to what was being said.

"We cannot find any trace of the empire," said a guardspony to the warden. "Nothing and not even the Crystal Heart is to be found."

"Impossible," cried the warden. "There is no way that the Crystal Empire could disappear like that. Unless…"

I knew at that moment that they were going to interrogate me. But, at the same time, how I was I supposed to know that the empire would just disappear? Unless the strange chanting that my father made before he disappeared had something to do with it.

"Sombra!" barked the warden as he came walking towards my cell. "We just learned that the Crystal Empire has simply disappeared and we think that your father has something to do with it. Where is the empire?"

"How should I know?" I remarked in a panicked voice. "My father was probably…"

Before I could finish my sentence however, the warden drew out a small dagger with his magic and placed it at my throat.

"I warn you, colt," he snarled, "If you lie to me, I will kill you right here and right now and I won't care if the Princesses punish me for it."

I will admit though that hearing this made me feel very amused and I couldn't help but chuckle slightly to myself.

"Is that so?" I laughed.

"It is so!" snapped the warden. "Your father, King Sombra I, had something to do with this and if you are trying to save his hide…"

"He has no hide," I interrupted. "I saw the Princesses banish his spirit with my own two eyes, so if you are trying to talk to my father face to face, then it's probably going to be more than a little impossible."

However, the warden was not convinced at all and he roughly pulled his dagger off of my throat.

"Why should I waste my energy talking to you, Sombra?" sighed the warden, backing away from my cell. "You've only been in here for a few days and as far as I am concerned, you are serving a life sentence. I can question you at any time I wish and like I said, escape is almost impossible here, so don't even try to weasel out of your way out off it. Cerberus is trained to kill any prisoner who tries to get away."

To prove his point, the warden produced a spell that showed the three headed guard dog standing right at the gates.

"See what I mean?" laughed the warden and he walked away.

…

Almost immediately, I knew that the warden was more than likely bluffing at the fact that there had to be a weakness. There had to be a flaw in the system and I had to find it.

"Don't believe everything he says," said Tirek, who had overheard everything that was said. "I know for a fact that there is a way to escape. If we join forces, then we can find our freedom. Shall we join forces?"

I had no hesitation to this offer and I saw Tirek's claw extend through the bars of his cell reaching around to mine. Extending my hoof, we mutually joined forces and together, for the next 1,000 years, we waited for the right moment to escape from the hellhole we were in and extend our revenge on those who destroyed our freedom…