In the desolate abyss of the Frozen Wastes there were all manner of creatures and monsters, from the massive horrorbeasts to the deadly nightmares and deceptive umbrum. The Frozen Wastes were a prison for the worst demons, that which most ponies could not comprehend. But even among those monsters, there were two that were feared.
After King Sombra was defeated by the Crystal Heart and Princess Cadence, he found himself trapped on the snowy plains, only half physical. His magic was but a fragment without his horn, but he could still wield the crystalline darkness as a blade.
For years King Sombra ruled the Frozen Wastes with an iron hoof. Nothing could contend with him let alone stand a chance of conquering him, but it was a hollow kingdom. Nothing mattered. He had lost his Crystal Empire, his magic, and even his flesh. However, it seemed that Harmony saw fit to bring him a gift from Limbo, a massive pony-like monster of blackness.
Although born from Stygian’s sense of weakness, his jealousy, and his despair, the Pony of Shadows had been split from the stallion by Starlight Glimmer and the forces of Harmony. He was not angry to have been split from his host, he was simply lost without Stygian.
The Pony of Shadows was formed of the magic from the Pillars of Equestria and of Stygian’s raw emotion, but he was not a simple beast. He was a pony of a sort, with intelligence and emotions of its own.
From the moment their eyes met they knew what would happen, and just the first attack from the former King and retaliation from the Shade shook the Frozen Wastes to its core.
Years later, their battle continued without ever having broken for even an hour.
With a fierce grin, King Sombra summoned a twisted lance of dark crystal from the ground and into the Pony of Shadows’ chest. The Shade allowed the blade to pierce him so that he could lash out with his sharp wings, King Sombra dodged and only his left hoof was severed.
Blood spilled onto the snow beneath the King's leg and the snow began to steam and melt. A black ichor leaked around and down the crystal in the Shade's chest, it corroded the snow that it came into contact with.
King Sombra slammed his injured leg into the ground and rows of crystal blades launched towards the Pony of Shadows. The Pony of Shadows snapped the lance in two and tore it out of his chest. He leapt into the air to avoid the spikes and flew forward to run King Sombra through with the lance.
Unable to effectively dodge with his injured hoof, King Sombra allowed the lance to pierce through him. King Sombra’s body crystallised and began to crack. The Pony of Shadows failed to move fast enough and was caught in the explosion of fragments that tore through and impaled him.
From a cloud of shadows and purple mist, King Sombra reformed himself. Beyond his shattered horn he was uninjured once again.
Being formed in no small part from dark magic made it nearly impossible for anything that the Pony of Shadows did to the King to have any lasting consequences. However, King Sombra could not effectively injure the blackness that made up the Shade either. For all the fragments embedded in his form, the Pony of Shadows showed no sign of injury beside the burning ichor dripping down, and King Sombra’s half physical nature allowed him to reform his body as many times as he needed.
With a howl to the skies above, the Pony of Shadows was shrouded in black shadow and the dark crystal that had been in him flew out of the cloud at the King. King Sombra’s eyes began to glow green and leak purple magic and the crystals shattered to dust when they got close to him.
The cloud around the Pony of Shadows faded, and the two nightmares stood unmoving, neither flinching at the force staring them down. They dared each other to make the first move, both knowing it would never land if they did.
With a roar King Sombra ran forward, summoning crystal blades to strike at the Pony of Shadows from every direction at once. When the Shade rushed forward and pulled King Sombra to his chest, the King realised his mistake. The Pony of Shadows disappeared into a shadow from a rock on the ground and nineteen crystal spears tore through the King. With a cry of pain he sent the spears flying out of himself in every direction and spat red blood onto the white snow.
The Pony of Shadows reformed and swung his wings in a scissor motion through King Sombra’s head. He reared up in order to crush the King’s body to the ground with his hooves, only for a needle-thin crystal to pierce his throat.
The Pony of Shadows stumbled backwards, but soon struck the ground with his hooves and steadied himself. King Sombra stood from his position in the snow, crystal sutures keeping his head on his shoulders.
Again the two stood a few paces apart, glaring at one another. King Sombra had wounds clear through his muzzle and neck with only his magic keeping him intact, and the Pony of Shadows dripped ichor from the hole in his throat. Even so, neither one was any worse for wear.
Although the Pony of Shadows boosted impressive magical skill, he preferred attacking with physical might. The hole in his throat kept the Pony of Shadows from releasing another howl, so he settled for using his wings to cut into the ground and throw up a mist of snow around him.
Without any warning, the Shade leapt from the mist. Only to be speared on and lifted by two crystal lances. His jaws opened in a silent cry of pain. King Sombra placed his hoofs on the lances and pushed them apart, ripping the Pony of Shadows in two and drenching himself in ichor that seared his skin.
For all their combat, the King had never been covered in the Shade's ichor, and his scream was not silent as his skin melted and bones charred.
For a few minutes the Wastes were silent, the two of them were gathering power. The two reformed their bodies and each stood ready for another strike.
Their battle was glorious, endless dancing of crystal and darkness. And then it was broken, and King Sombra’s flesh and horn were restored by an ancient evil that wanted to use him to conquer Equestria.
His restoration by Grogar's hooves led to King Sombra conquering his Crystal Empire, it was shameful how little it resisted him. He forced the so-called Prince and Princess of the Crystal Empire to kneel in front of him, and he claimed the Crystal Heart for himself.
When Element bearers arrived and dismantled his efforts, he realised that the Elements of Harmony were just crystals. He deceived the ponies into thinking that he was dead or banished and followed them to the Tree of Harmony, shattering it in seconds.
Having the Crystal Empire back had felt almost hollow, so he thought that perhaps having all of Equestria would fulfill him. When found that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had fled, he claimed their land for himself.
He now had everything: Equestria, the Crystal Empire would be his once the moment he went back to reclaim it, no other nation would be able to hold him back for long with the alicorns out of the way, and he had even defeated the Elements of Harmony. But even so, King Sombra could not find any real pleasure in his new kingdom. He could not guess what was missing, in his own time all that he had needed was the Crystal Empire. Still, he could only feel that the entire world would not satisfy the emptiness within.
The King's thoughts were broken when the six ponies charged into his throne room, this time with the Spirit of Chaos at their side. King Sombra could not bring himself to fear or even care about what Discord might do to him, so rather than try to manipulate him King Sombra simply lashed out with his magic.
The truly surprising part was that his magic actually brought the God of Disharmony down. Now confident that nothing could possibly defeat him, he had dominated both Harmony and Chaos after all, King Sombra summoned a crystal throne and sat down. He had been hoping that Discord would provide him with a proper battle.
When the ponies manifested the Elements of Harmony from within themselves, King Sombra finally knew fear. He had barely survived when the Two Sisters used them on him, and even that was only because of his curse on himself and the Empire. He had managed to dodge the magic of them in the Empire that evening only because the ponies had used the crystals as conduits, and controlling crystals was his specialty.
Despite knowing that his death was all but certain, the King's fear was not of dying, but of not meeting the Pony of Shadows again. In those moments as his flesh was torn away and his bones were disinterested, he wished that Grogar had let him stay with the Shade in the Frozen Wastes, even if it meant being trapped forever.
“Pony of Black Crystal. You awaken,” A deep, distorted voice pierced the fog in King Sombra’s mind, and opened his eyes to the Shade standing over him.
“Pony of Black Shadow,” The King responded. “I did not know you could speak.”
The two were in a field of white snow, but King Sombra could see damaged fragments of dark crystal and slight discolouration below the fresh snow. They were in the Frozen Wastes, in the centre of their battlefield.
The Pony of Shadows stepped back and allowed King Sombra to stand before he answered.
“Since the moment we met, I have had no reason to speak. Our battle was quite… preoccupying.”
King Sombra inspected the Shade as a pony, rather than as a foe. For the first time since they met, he viewed the Shade as another in the same situation that he was in. The Shade was unnatural in appearance, with a horn and wings unlike what a pony would ever have, but he was also strangely elegant in that defiance of nature.
He already knew what he wanted from the Shade, the same thing that he had enjoyed before Grogar intervened.
“I am King Sombra of the Crystal Empire, umbrum lord and champion. Do you dare face me again now that I have my horn and magic once more?”
The Shade stood silently, gazing at the King. Eventually he flared his deadly wings and spoke.
“I am the Pony of Shadows, born of the greatest blackness of ponykind,” The Shade's mouth twisted in what almost appeared to be a toothy smile. “And that horn of yours only means that I need no longer hold back.”
The second he was finished speaking a black aura surrounded the Shade's twisted horn, and a beam of black magic shot out at King Sombra, who responded by summoning a dark crystal wall between them. And when the beam shattered it he dodged and followed up with a blast of crackling magic.
Their battle, their dance, was perfect. A strike, a dodge, a riposte. Blow for blow and step for step, no two creatures could ever understand each other better than they knew one another in the midst of their battle. They were captured in the throes of combat and passion; enveloped in the warmth of love.
For it must be love to make Sombra's heart beat so wildly. And what else but love could make him feel, for the first time in his life, whole?
