The Other Side Of History

As Princess Twilight Andromeda Sparkle's energy tears through him, he grits his teeth but lays himself bare, his magical and physical defenses entirely lowered as the powerful magic of Veritus wraps itself around every cell of his being. He feels it pooling within his body, most significantly at the base of his horn, throughout the folds of his mind as a new and unpleasant sensation, inside every single cell of his vocal folds, and his heart. His fur still bristles with residual arcana as Twilight collapses onto her belly once the spell is cast, panting heavily from exertion and several beads of sweat rolling down her face. A wince crosses over her visage, briefly, as salt stings at the burn on her cheek.

Surprisingly enough, she hadn't limited his ability to teleport. While he likely could overpower such a spell with enough time - the magic of a teleportation cancellation spell is not as ancient and binding as Veritus; he has no hope of removing Veritus without the blessing of the original caster - she could disable his ability for long enough to incapacitate and imprison him. It seems she truly is interested in hearing what he has to say.

The dragon procures a handkerchief from the same magical pocket dimension that ponies keep their bits within, carefully wiping the sweat away from Twilight's face and patting her uninjured cheek gently.

"Twilight? A-Are you okay?" His voice is even higher than Sombra had originally thought. A small pang of guilt strikes through him at the thought that he had muzzled such a young creature.

Eventually, she regains her stamina enough to pull herself up into a sitting position, forelegs wobbling slightly before she locks her knees upright. She gives Spike a small, comforting smile, nuzzling into the claw petting her cheek with a nod.

"I'm fine, Spike. Just...sit and rest, alright? We've both been through a lot so far today. It's time for us to listen to why we've been through a lot."

He perks up slightly, whipping out a blank scroll and a freshly-inked quill. "Should I take notes?"

She smiles fondly. "Yes please, my Number One Assistant!"

Her expression eases into one of apprehensive interest as she looks back towards King Sombra, who looks somewhat surprised and only a little bit shaken by the powerful magic that she had just unleashed upon him.

"I assume you'll be wanting to test Veritus' effectiveness upon a pony like me."

There's no accusation in his tone, but the phrase 'pony like me' still brings an apologetic wince to her face. "Y-Yes." A pause. "I'm...I'm sor-"

"Stop."

She blinks.

"Do not apologize to me. Not before you've heard what I have to say. You seem to be under the impression that Princess Celestia's recollection of my kingdom's history is entirely incorrect, or mostly so. I shall allow you to draw that conclusion for yourself, but until I have given my perspective on things, don't assume that I am not a monster. I have continuously refused to deny your accusations for that reason, Princess Twilight."

As she wracks her brain for evidence of his statements, she finds that he's right. Though he had been amused, confused, and even angered by her words, he had not once refuted her claims. She's beginning to think that, perhaps, casting Veritus might not have even been necessary.

"...fair enough. I'm still going to apologize for attacking you before saying a single word to you. Whether you're a monster or not, I should have made that judgment before blasting you." She chances a small smile, and receives one in return. "Now, let's start with a simple question: Where are we? Be specific."

"We are at the top of the Crystal Empire's castle, which is located in the center of the empire. This is a gravity-flipped dimension, only accessible via an hours-long trek or a short slide when combined with the use of a gravity spell. This is where I hid the Crystal Heart away when I cast the spell to hide the Crystal Empire over one thousand years ago." The sharp green tingle of Veritus vibrates along his vocal folds and echoes throughout his voice as he speaks, throat glowing with the magic.

She nods. Certain parts of Celestia's retelling of the empire's history were objective facts, and this seems to be one of them. Now for something a bit less certain.

"What is your full name?"

He cocks his head at her, somewhat surprised, but answers willingly; Veritus causes untold agonies for anypony foolish enough to attempt resistance - not that it stopped past criminals from trying - but he consented and will continue to do so. He has no reason not to.

"King Sombra Umbral Obsidian." His muzzle quirks up into a sardonic smile. "It is a bit of a tongue twister. You can see why I cut it down to simply 'King Sombra.'"

Another nod, along with a polite smile in return. "If it's any consolation, I know the feeling. It's a good lead into my next question: What is my full name?"

"Princess Twilight Andromeda Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship."

Satisfied, and feeling restored enough, now, to unlock her knees, she shakes the feeling back into the lower parts of her forelegs before folding them so that she can lay herself upon the crystal ground, horn glowing as she casts a warming spell so that her underbelly doesn't freeze. She tilts her head towards King Sombra to invite him to do the same.

"I suspect the retelling of an entire empire's history will take quite some time. Royalty to royalty, I think it would be in both of our best interests to get as comfortable as possible."

He nods in response, following suit and laying down on his stomach. The cold doesn't seem to affect him.

"Veritus' effect on your throat didn't sound too pleasant, but I recall from my lessons with Princess Celestia that if you attempt to lie or withhold the truth, it...it won't be pleasant, so I don't think I need to demand that you begin to speak. Whenever you're ready, you can begin."

A smirk crosses his face. She's found a clever loophole for the spell; by allowing him to choose when to speak the truth, Veritus won't buzz through the cells of his throat with every syllable he utters. The expression quickly fades, though, as he begins to sort through his memories and prepares to relive them for the Princess of Friendship.

The Crystal Empire was once a beautiful, thriving kingdom. If you think it's beautiful now, try to imagine it as it was in its prime. Crystal Berry bushes were planted in nearly every garden of every house, Crystal ponies pranced about in the streets with their foals, and laughter rang through the air alongside the birds' songs in the sweetest melodies you could ever imagine.

There was a reason for this, naturally. Several reasons, of course, for an empire's success rests not upon a single ruler, nor a single citizen, but upon the citizens as a whole and how well their ruler leads them with compassion and kindness. My love for them was reflected back towards me a thousandfold, perhaps more, and I cherished it with all of my heart and soul. I knew that I had to return it in some way.

That's where the Crystal Heart comes in. As you may or may not know, the Crystal Heart's main purpose was and still is to absorb, amplify, and return all of the love and light within the Crystal Empire. It was...it was magnificent, in its prime. It glowed so brightly that nopony could stand to look at it for longer than a few moments without special darkened glasses, and those were always in short supply, despite my best attempts to dispense them at top speed, because all of my subjects desired to look upon it as often for as long as possible.

Soon, our glorious kingdom's happiness and wealth became known far and wide. When I say that the love our kingdom was soaked in was the source of envy for many other kingdoms, I say this not merely from vanity, but from genuine pride for how strong and how well my subjects had embraced unity. We were as one in our contentment, and that contentment was our downfall.

King Garrote was the ruler of the largest military gryphon kingdom at the time, and he had heard of the Crystal Empire and how prosperous we were. He cared not for our happiness; he knew only that we had good trade relations with other kingdoms - never wondering what contributed to our large production abilities or how we had forged such strong alliances - and he wanted our wealth for himself. He had heard of our Crystal Heart, for we were, of course, proud of our Heart. How could we not be? It was and still is such a beautiful thing. Its abilities to not only take in and make use of such a pure and powerful source of energy, but to amplify it and return it still amaze me to this day, over one thousand years later, and though we did not brag about it, we happily told those who asked about the source of our happiness.

It took him but a few months to amass enough soldiers from neighboring gryphon kingdoms to an amount that was easily double, if not triple my empire's entire population. Many of my ponies had never known war, or fighting beyond the occasional tavern scuffle, schoolyard fight, or play wrestle. Even my royal guard only had weapons because I felt they deserved the honor of wielding such symbols of power, of strength.

We were woefully unprepared, and it showed when the first wave of soldiers landed. They crushed the Crystal Heart's shield easily, and I watched as my first beloved Crystal pony was eviscerated before my very eyes. Sometimes I can still taste that tiny colt's blood, when my nightmares are worst and my mental defenses are weakest. His name was Honeysuckle Nectar. He was a wonderful gardener.

...

Ahem. Soon after, I went up to my balcony, and announced that we were at war. We needed soldiers, and fast. All of my subjects were fearful, but they were loyal, and many of the able-bodied younger ponies were quick to approach the castle and ask me for instructions. I was only able to give them the briefest of training, with my royal guard assisting the groups I could not personally see to, but they were effective enough for the first, smallest group.

The next wave was three times as large, and they were armed with their own brand of magic. I had never seen anything like it. They spoke in a language I didn't know, and laughed as my beloved subjects choked to death on the poisonous green gas that leaked from their open beaks. I know, now, that it was the work of runes and sigils they had painted onto their feathers; a rawer, more physical form of magic than the type that we ponies possess. We had no chance of countering it, for it was too foreign and new for us to study and deflect so rapidly.

The war went on for years. My soldiers fought bravely, but the gryphons' weapons grew more and more advanced with every increasingly large wave. Every new contraption brought more destruction, more death, more of my beautiful subjects' blood staining the streets, and as my most trusted advisor pushed my last-resort tactic upon me during a particularly horrible battle...

...

...I gave in.

Those helmets that you studied are called SOM-72s, and they were devised so that my Crystal Ponies could take lives by the hundreds without ever having to remember it. The armor should have protected them from anypony's weapons, and that was my fatal flaw. Any pony's weapons.

They would have been safe if gryphons hadn't been attacking us.

The SOM-72s failed, as I'm sure you can deduce. While the more advanced armor gave my ponies a stronger, fighting chance - it even seemed like they might prevail against all odds, for a short while - the gryphons beat them down eventually. Whether it was through sheer force of numbers or because I was woefully unprepared, I will never know and if I had the chance to go back and find out for myself, I would not take it.

Our numbers were dwindling. I could feel the fear and grief infecting my Crystal Heart. I could feel my ponies growing desperate and more afraid with every death wail that bounced off of the bloodstained crystal surfaces of my once-gorgeous kingdom. So I made a decision that would affect me for the rest of a life which was once mortal.

Its name was Slithar, and it was the most wretched creature I had ever seen. To this day, I doubt that I will ever see anything more or quite as revolting as it.

I saw the way that you looked at me, when you first saw me. Don't look so ashamed of yourself, for I reacted in a much worse way when I first examined my new form in a mirror. I screamed like a mare. No, more like a little filly. One that just saw a massive, hairy spider.

I look like this because I sold a part of myself that should never be sold. Not for riches, not for fame, not for victory, and not even for love.

Sometimes, though, when I think back upon when I made that deal with it, I think that there might be another universe where I didn't specify what I was willing to give up for my beloved subjects. I told that disgusting creature that, in exchange for powers that would allow me to crush my enemies with forces so terrifying that they would never dare even consider attacking us again, I would give up anything.

Anything...but my love for my subjects.

I know that pondering "what if"s is a slippery slope and at the bottom lay the sharp rocks of rumination and downwards mental spirals, but it soothes the guilt, sometimes, to know that I specified that. I was willing to do anything for my subjects, even sacrifice most of my soul, because I loved them. What good would that have been if I stopped loving them due to my sacrifice?

The war ended quickly after that. I destroyed every single remaining gryphon within my kingdom, save for one. I allowed one to survive, and instructed her to fly back to her king, to not stop for anything, and to tell him what she had seen. What she had seen me do, and what I was capable of. I let her leave with one less limb and one less eye than when she arrived. I do not regret taking any of the lives or body parts that I did.

The reason I hid away my empire for so long was, in part, to allow for us to recuperate without any chance for outside forces to intrude upon my damaged and healing kingdom. We needed time to rebuild, to recover, to support each other and power the Heart with our love and light, and we could not do that if we spent all of our time constantly looking to the skies and over our shoulders, terrified out of our wits over who would be next to attempt a genocide of my beautiful ponies.

But once the dead had been buried, and the buildings had been rebuilt, and my citizens had not moved on, but at least processed most of the events and had been told everything that I had done - I have always believed in a ruler being honest with his subjects, for a dishonest ruler is no ruler at all - we realized that...isolation suited us just fine. Nopony asked me to release the vanishing spell, and I admit, I was still afraid of what may lurk outside in those seemingly innocent green fields.

Yes, Princess, the Frozen North hasn't always been frozen, nor was my kingdom always restricted to this small section. War kills more than just ponies and gryphons.

I still don't know why my kingdom reappeared so suddenly. What I do know is that the sudden dissolution of my spell led to widespread amnesia amongst my citizens, and it left their minds weak and open to suggestion. Anything that you and your other...visitors...may have told them, they would have immediately accepted it as the honest truth. I do not say this out of anger or to incite guilt; I am merely stating that the magic at work within my empire is stronger and older than even you, Princess Twilight.

And so...that is what happened to my Crystal Empire.

When he finishes, Twilight's horn glows green with the buzz of Veritus Expellus, a stream of it jolting towards King Sombra before the energy diffuses throughout his whole form, canceling out Veritus' effects upon the king's body. Tears stream down her cheeks as she stares down at the floor, a small puddle there showing that she had started crying quite some time ago.

For a time, neither of them speak. King Sombra's breaths are uneven but soft, ragged with restrained emotion as he struggles to keep flashes of images from his past from replaying in his mind's eye. He has finished reliving events from over one thousand years ago; now he must focus on not reliving them.

"...now, I'm sorry," she whispers.

His head snaps up, blinking away the beginnings of tears as surprise begins to show. "You- you still wish to apologize?" He pauses, blinking again, this time out of confusion. "...you heard the part where I said that I was not sorry for committing mass murder, correct?"

A trembling laugh bursts forth from her chest, and she stands on wobbly legs before collapsing half on top of King Sombra.

He's prepared for an attack, whole body tensing, before he realizes that her forelegs are wrapped around his neck not in a chokehold, but...but in a hug. Tears and snot dribble into the top of his mane as Princess Twilight hugs him as though her life depends on it.

Spike walks over, clasping his claws together anxiously, before looking at the two of them with a clear, unspoken question in his eyes.

'Can I join?'

With an incredulous look still on his face, he nods slowly, prompting the dragon to walk over and wrap one arm around the king's chest as the other wraps around Twilight's back.

"Yes, King Sombra Umbral Obsidian. I, Princess Twilight Andromeda Sparkle, am sorry. I misjudged you. I grossly, grossly misjudged you."