If I Should Falter
Written by iAmSiNnEr
His empire was falling.
The king snarled, his magic spluttering in the weak light. The Princesses were almost upon him. He had to act. He had to buy time. Time for himself, time for his empire.
Striding up to the balcony, he could see the great army of Equestria on the horizon. Pegasi were everywhere, swooping down to knock his soldiers out whenever possible. The enemy unicorns had erected a barrier against his troops, rendering their attacks useless. Most importantly, it rendered his attacks useless.
At the head of the masses, there stood the two alicorn princesses. The Alicorn of the Night, Princess Luna, was yelling instructions and felling many of his troops herself. She was a deadly force of nature, her blade whirling and spinning to meet spells in midair. The Alicorn of the Day, Princess Celestia, stood behind her sister, casting her own shield.
Sombra gnashed his teeth. His army was depleted. More than half of it had already been defeated, or their helmets forcefully removed. Once those helmets were off, his spell was removed from them, and they joined Equestria’s army, making the enemies’ ranks swell. They didn’t see his glorious vision. They couldn’t. They couldn’t comprehend it.
But now… it was not the time for reckless actions. Nor was it time for him to try to force the Equestrians back. He wasn’t powerful enough for that. Not yet. Slamming his hoof on the floor, he tilted his head back and roared in anger, his eyes glowing an iridescent red for a second. Lowering his head, he sighed. He had no other choice. Even if he was going to suffer, the alternative was...repulsive to him.
Stomping to his throne, he used his magic to collect the spellbook that he himself wrote from the seat. Levitating it into the air, he proceeded out of the throne room and down the hallway, towards the top of the castle. To cast the spell he was intending to use, he needed a catalyst. And what better catalyst to use than the Crystal Heart?
As he strode up the staircase, Sombra briefly glanced at the bedroom door of the late Princess Mi Amore. His eyes raked over the crystal, noting that the hinges seemed repaired. He snorted. Wishful thinking on the maids’ part, repairing the damage he had wrought. It didn’t matter in the long run, anyways. She was gone. Her stain on the weakness of the empire, removed. He should have had it simple, once her death happened. He should’ve been able to bring the empire to new heights.
But the princesses were as meddling as ever. Hearing that one of their allies had been assassinated, they had immediately gathered their army to lay siege to the Crystal Empire, to ‘regain’ it for Princess Mi Amore. He alone knew the truth. That they wanted the Empire for themselves.
Sombra shook his head before continuing his journey. Once he reached the top of the stairs, he pushed open the door to step onto the platform that was situated at the peak of the castle. He placed the spellbook gingerly on a stand that was right in front of the Crystal Heart. The Heart itself was dark, the love that it once held sapped away once Mi Amore had died.
Lighting up his horn, he weaved his spells into the very air. Casting a spell onto the door, he made sure that whoever tried to enter the platform would have to face their greatest fears. Using transfiguration and illusions, he pushed against the very fabric of reality, creating an extremely long staircase from the door to the platform that technically didn’t exist. Lastly, he cast one final spell onto the area around the Heart, just in case someone did manage to get past the rest of the traps. The final was just the failsafe, pushing the door downwards.
A loud cheer could be heard, his final general falling. He winced as he felt the connection to the general snap, and his final link to the battlefield was gone. He had barely any time left. He trotted up to the Crystal Heart, his armored hooves clinking on the crystal floor. Lowering his head, he lay his horn against the artifact. Was there enough magic left for what he was about to do?
Humming a low tune that he remembered from the dredges of his memory, he summoned what little love he had for the Empire and channeled it into the Heart. The Heart glowed a sinister black, absorbing his twisted love for the Empire that he had ruled with an iron hoof. It had enough magic. Enough for one final salvo. He returned to his spellbook, glancing at the requirements and steps.
A thousand years. Could he withstand that? He knew he would try. But a thousand years. Even as powerful as he was, he was still mortal. He wasn’t an alicorn. Not yet, at least. Sombra’s eyes flicked from word to word, reading through everything. If he was to go through with it, he couldn’t make a mistake. A mistake would mean his death.
But how would he survive a thousand years? Even if he could evade the princesses, his mortal body would eventually die. He would be forgotten. And when the Empire finally returned, the princesses would be free to build it back into the weak country he had hated. He cursed. Steeling himself, he readied the spell, even if it was just to spite the princesses. Deep inside of him, he knew he wouldn’t be able to find a way to survive a thousand years. He wasn’t immortal, unlike the princesses.
The princesses. He blinked, his mind running through possibilities. He knew that a powerful being had terrorized Equestria once. What had the princesses done with it? Seal it away for a long time. Could the seal last for a thousand years? His eyes flicked to the distant sight of the two princesses heading towards him. He smiled.
It would work. He knew it would. He just had to let the princesses banish him, seal him away, whatever they could do. He knew they abhorred killing. Even the younger one, the warrior, had been known to follow the older sister’s lead on their enemies. They wouldn’t kill him. He still had his chance.
Sombra made his decision. He would do it. One thousand years. One thousand years, when Equestria was weaker, less aware, he would return. He would wreak his vengeance upon those who had dared to defy him, those who had dared to oppose him.
Lowering his head, he cast the spell. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the two princesses jerk in the air, his spell beginning to take effect on the Empire. The two of them were suddenly barking orders, the army retreating out of the Empire. So, they knew the spell. It didn’t matter. They couldn’t stop it.
Throwing his head back, he roared to the skies, his horn lighting up with a bright red, casting the light across the entire platform. Shadows trailed from his eyes and horn as he released the spell into the sky, the effect immediate. Before his eyes, the Empire started to fade, tugging at the memories of the world. Slowly, the walls and floor turned transparent as they vanished, bit by bit.
Sombra cast a teleportation spell to get himself out. It wouldn’t do to be banished with the Empire. He would come back in his weakened state if he let that happen.
He appeared in front of the Equestrian army, his eyes scanning through their ranks with disdain and hate. He heard the beat of wings. Looking up, he saw the two princesses descend upon him, their horns lit up in an array of colors. He couldn’t fight them. He wouldn’t be able to beat them. Not that he was planning to.
The two sisters landed on either side of him, their eyes shining with fresh hate as they watched the Empire vanish from sight, banished, for a thousand years. The younger one’s mouth moved, and his world vanished in a crescendo of pain and light as they cast a spell on him. He felt his soul burn, his very body melting away as he was, too, banished.
But he was not subjected to a thousand years of painless nonexistence. He felt his essence scream. He felt his soul writhe in pain as he was thrown as far North as possible. Suddenly, it was cold. He didn’t have eyes to see, yet he knew he was trapped in ice and snow. Where else would he be?
Sombra struggled against the pain. Voices assaulted him, demanding that he bring the Empire back. To dispel his spell. He refused, even through the pain. He would persevere through the torture. He had nothing to lose.
Still, the voices pelted his very mind, growing louder in a crescendo. He screamed soundlessly as his soul burned, even through the cold. He had nothing. He couldn’t move. Instinctively, he tried to cast a spell to stop the pain. He found that he couldn’t. Foolish of him. How could he, when he had no physical body or horn to do so?
Sombra gathered whatever he could of himself together. He pushed his limits, even as he hurt the entire way. He would endure. He would stay. He would push past the boundaries. He would show the princesses that he, King Sombra, did not care about what they did to him.
For he was the one true king of the Crystal Empire.
One thousand years were almost complete. And yet, his soul and essence still smoldered, burning away at his very existence. The voices were no longer there, yet he could still hear their echo.
He still was being tortured. But the pain was an old friend at this point. After a thousand years, he was used to it. Sombra barely even noticed the pain at this point. On the brink of his victory, he wouldn’t care. He couldn’t care less about what he physically had to go through.
He reached out for the surface, his senses improved over time. At first, he couldn’t hear anything other than the voices. He couldn’t smell. He couldn’t feel. But the spell the two sisters had cast on him had weakened. Weakened to the point where he was almost strong enough to break out.
Contrary to the spell, he had grown stronger. Festering in the ice, his strength had only grown, accumulating within him. He had no physical body to speak of, yet he knew this was true.
He had persevered. He had withstood everything that the princesses had thrown at him. Through the centuries, he had plotted. He had planned. He knew that if he was to be successful at regaining his former glory, he had to be prepared.
At some point, he had wondered why the two sisters didn’t kill him. After a century of pondering the question, he knew. If he had died, the Empire would have died along with him. The spell was linked to him, the banishment lasting forever.
He had laughed, then. Laughed in the face of death. His determination had only grown, knowing that he could last. That he would be free one day. The spell the sisters cast on him wasn’t as strong as his will. Sometimes, he reached out for the world, trying to break free. It never worked, but it eventually would. He knew that to be the truth.
Time was a concept he no longer understood at this point. He only remembered that he needed to wait a thousand years for his Empire to return. For his reign to resume.
Sombra stretched his imaginary limbs as he felt the spell weaken for the very last time. Reaching out with his senses, he felt the spell dissipating as his own spell faded. It had been a thousand years. He was ready.
Roaring, he gathered his essence together, forming a smoky body. Bellowing with all his might and power, he broke through the ice, emerging onto the surface. As his twisted form billowed into the sky, he laughed. He laughed, the sound spreading. A thousand years he had withstood the ravages of time. For a thousand years, he had persevered through the pain. He laughed to the skies, and his face split into a toothy grin.
King Sombra had returned.
Author's Note
I felt like evil sovereigns weren't given many viewpoints in the contest, so here you guys go!
