Dark Horse: A My Little Pony Story

The ponies were suddenly transported back to the Crystal Castle, the home of the Crystal Heart. They observed as a menacingly-cloaked Sombra skulked closer and closer to the beaming crystalline heart. He pulled out a burlap sack, fit for fitting a large crystal heart. He thrust it over the magical artifact, capturing it. He pulled it from its resting place and sealed it within his bag.

A voice unexpectedly broke the silence of the dark night. "Even now, it's not too late for you, Sombra. You can return the Heart and walk away."

Sombra turned around to face the voice.

"Princess Amore!" he recognized. A bead of nervous, guilty sweat dripped down the side of his face. "What are you doing here?" His confidently mischievous demeanor was visibly weakened by the arrival of his most esteemed role model.

"Somepony needed my help, so I came," she calmly stated.

Sombra violently shook his head, refusing to abandon his mission.

"I don't need your help!" he shouted.

"Then why did you believe I was talking about you?" she posed the question.

Sombra clenched his teeth in annoyance. "You have no idea what I've been through, Princess."

"Then tell me, Sombra," Amore graciously pleaded. "Don't make a mistake you can't take back. You don't have to be one of those monsters."

Sombra was taken aback. "One of those...?" he stumbled backwards, offended and confused. He stepped back forward, confrontationally positioning himself in front of Princess Amore.

"You know what I was all along and you never told me," he seethed. "You knew why the Crystal Faire made me sick. You knew, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did," Amore confirmed.

Sombra's eyes widened with shock. "All those years of suffering. And you knew why because you made it! You made the Crystal Heart to hurt me!" he anguished.

"Not you, Sombra," Princess Amore sternly corrected. "I saw that you had the potential to be better." Sombra gritted his teeth as she spoke, boiling with anger and frustration. Sparks of dark magic sizzled out of his horn, involuntarily. "I see it even now," Amore continued. "You can choose-"

"ENOUGH!" Sombra shouted. Crackling magic erupted from his horn and engulfed the princess. The princess was suddenly encased in a black, obsidian-like crystal. She stood deathly still, preserved as a dark, shadowy statue. Sombra looked upon what he'd done, a look of guilt and betrayal displayed on his face.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he spoke to Princess Amore's statue. "Why?"

The audience of observing ponies gasped in horrified disbelief. They watched as something inside of Sombra changed forever. His eyes became soulless, his stance became hauntingly confident. The old Sombra, the one with a conscience, was gone. A scared crystal unicorn watched from the sidelines, horrified to watch her best friend disappear in front of her.

"Sombra, what have you done?" Radiant Hope spoke from behind Sombra.

Sombra viciously smirked as Hope rushed towards the petrified princess.

"It's okay. I can fix this!" Hope panicked. "Come on, Princess, snap out of it. Just a little healing spell and we'll be right as rain."

Sombra chuckled maniacally. "Everything is right, Hope," he laughed. "Everything is finally the way it was meant to be."

Hope turned towards her best friend, desperate to believe there was a shred of his innocence left.

"Run away, Sombra," she begged. "Get away before they come for you. They'll hurt you."

"You don't get it, Hope," Sombra spoke. "We'll be the ones doing the hurting from now on. You and me, we're the powerful ones. We can rule as King and Queen."

"Oh no. Sombra, what are you talking about?-"

"You remember, Hope, don't you? How they teased us? How they tormented us? How they made me writhe in pain?" he growled.

"Sombra..." Hope began to stumble backwards in fear.

"Now I've found my power and you're on your way to being a princess. I will bring them under my hoof. I will find my people. And you can rule by my side."

Fear and tears were apparent in Hope's eyes. "But... this is Princess Amore's castle. We can restore her. We can bring her back. I can help you, Sombra."

Hope took Sombra's hoof in her own. He yanked it away quickly, unwilling to succumb to her kindness.

"Restore her? Help me?" Sombra evilly laughed. "You've got it all wrong, Hope. I don't need help anymore. And as for Princess Amore, she's not the saint you think she is. Inside she was..."

Sombra stomped his hoof on the ground as hard as possible, shattering Princess Amore's stone statue into pieces. The pieces clinked hauntingly onto the ground.

"Broken," Sombra finished.

Radiant Hope took in the situation with pure horror in her eyes.

"Restore that," Sombra taunted.

Tears streamed down Hope's face, she began to uncontrollably sob.

"They were right about you all along!" she wailed. "You are a monster!"

She stormed away from him, leaving him in the night.

"I am not just any monster, Hope," he called after her. "I am the King of Monsters!"

The flashback ponies faded away, leaving the time-traveling group alone in the streets of the Crystal Empire.

"Now you know 'why', Chorus," King Sombra spoke through the silence. "You all know."

"Did you actually... kill Princess Amore?" Chorus fearfully questioned.

"No," Sombra clarified. The group sighed in relief. "I couldn't bring myself to truly destroy her. But only I know where the pieces of her are."

"So help us find her," Twilight intervened. "Help us find and restore her. You don't have to be the 'King of Monsters'."

"I don't think you're understanding, Twilight," Sombra coldly replied. "I'm not here to 'make amends'. The Crystal Empire may have retrieved the Crystal Heart, but when I have all of Equestria on my side, they won't stand a chance. I'll raise my umbrum family from the ground. I'll save them all."

"Is that really what you want?" Ginger Blush chimed in.

Sombra stomped his hoof on the ground, shaking the earth. "It's who I am."

Prose cautiously stepped in. "It's not who you have to be," she stated. "The princess said it herself, you are capable of being more. You're capable of being better."

"I agree," Savoir Fare humbly added. "I'm not an expert in magic or 'umbrum', but I believe a magical princess when I hear one."

"We can all help you, Sombra," Prose offered.

"Help me?" Sombra seethed.

"We can help-" Prose started.

"NO!" King Sombra interrupted. "I've had enough of everypony trying to fix me. THIS is who I am. THIS is what I do."

"But-" Twilight tried to add.

"ENOUGH!" Sombra commanded. Dark magic spouted out of his horn, building a cubic shape around Prose, Ginger Blush, Twilight Sparkle, and Savoir Fare. A black, crystalline prison cell solidified around them.

"Chorus!" Ginger Blush called out for help.

"QUIET!" King Sombra shouted. He blasted magic towards the cell sending it speeding it down the street until it disappeared from view. Chorus could hear his friends desperately clamoring as they were driven away.

"Sombra! What are you doing?" Chorus worriedly shouted.

"They were never supposed to be here anyway," Sombra grunted.

"Those are my friends!" Chorus cried. As the word 'friends' left his mouth, a question surfaced in the forefront of his mind. "I need to ask you something, Sombra."

"What?" Sombra impatiently snapped.

"When Hope got that letter from the princesses, why weren't you happy for her? Why did you run? It seemed like you loved her," Chorus imposed.

"You seriously didn't piece that together?" King Sombra scoffed. "You should know better than anyone what happens when the princesses take notice in a unicorn with powerful magic, I mean, given your current company and all."

Chorus remembered the inspiring story of Twilight Sparkle's rise to princesshood. A realization formed in his mind.

"She was gonna become..."

"A princess," Sombra finished his sentence. "Just like she saw when we looked into the Crystal Heart."

"That's when you thought your vision was sure to come true," Chorus comprehended.

"Now you're getting it," King Sombra sneered.

"Just because hers came true, it didn't mean yours had to as well. You choose who you are," Chorus tried to get through to him.

"You sound just like everypony else," Sombra jabbed.

Chorus feared he was quickly losing Sombra as he tried to reason with him.

"I just- I..." he stuttered. He knew he probably only had one more chance before he joined his friends in the crystal cell. "Why did you bring me here? Why am I here if you don't need me to help you? If you're happy staying how you are, why bring any of us into your past?"

Sombra squinted his eyes at Chorus, not appreciating his tone of voice.

"I only have one regret from my past," he admitted.

"What is it?" Chorus prodded.

"I loved Radiant Hope, and I let her leave," Sombra lamented.

Chorus racked his brain trying to figure out how that was relevant to their current situation. A realization settled into his brain as he figured out what exactly he was doing in Sombra's past.

"Are you... asking me out?" Chorus asked.

"No," King Sombra scoffed. "I'm asking you to come with me. We could rule together."

Chorus was shocked at how serious Sombra's tone was.

"Sombra, we just met tonight," Chorus pointed out.

"Well, it's not exactly easy to meet ponies when you're the King of Monsters," Sombra grumbled. "Just come with me, Chorus. I don't know when a chance like this will arise again."

"Sombra, I..." Chorus stumbled ever-so-slightly backwards. "I can't. My friends... and all those innocent ponies. These ponies don't deserve this, Sombra."

Sombra's expression became cold and distant.

"These ponies are not innocent, Chorus," he insisted.

"Not everypony is perfectly innocent, I know," Chorus reasoned. "But I can't support what you're doing. I've seen you grow up, Sombra. I know there's a part of you deep down that agrees with me."

Sombra's eyes darkened.

"This was a mistake," he muttered. He turned his back to Chorus and began to walk away. Chorus saw that the world began to crack and crumble around him. Sombra's flashback world was quickly ending.

"Sombra, wait!" Chorus called.

It was too late. Reality collapsed around him, and Chorus tumbled into a familiar grassy ground. Ginger Blush, Prose, Savoir Fare, and Twilight Sparkle stumbled into the garden as well. Everypony had been transported straight back to the garden. Judging by the position of the moon, it appeared no time had passed since they departed. King Sombra was nowhere to be seen. The ponies all stood up from the ground, discombobulated from the transition.

"Chorus!" Prose called. "Are you okay? What did he do to you?"

The entire group gathered together, reunited again.

"Nothing," Chorus said. "He just asked me out."

The group silently stared at Chorus's claim.

"He... asked you out?" Ginger Blush asked.

"Why would he do that?" Twilight Sparkle added.

"You saw how he was with Radiant Hope," Chorus addressed the group. "He wanted her to rule with him. He asked the same of me, but of course I said no."

"What?" Ginger Blush asked in disbelief.

"Why would he ask you?" Prose investigated. A quizzical, suspicious look appeared on her face.

"Well, it's a funny story actually," Chorus nervously chuckled. "I actually met him earlier tonight. We talked and we... danced together."

"You danced with King Sombra?" Prose questioned, baffled.

There was a brief, uncomfortable silence.

"I didn't know he was King Sombra at the time," Chorus clarified.

"How would you not know?" Ginger Blush asked.

"Why wouldn't you tell us?" Prose tacked on.

"I didn't know what to do! I didn't know he was going to ask me to rule the world with him!" Chorus defended. The stress was building inside of him.

"And you didn't think to try to free us from the prison cell he trapped us in? We could've helped, you know," Ginger Blush pointed out.

"He wouldn't have listened to me," Chorus asserted. "In case you haven't noticed, he kicked me out of his flashback too."

"Why do you sound so combative right now?" Prose contended. "We're on your side, you know."

Ginger Blush took a deep breath. "Let's just all calm down and start this entire conversation over."

"Calm down?" Prose guffawed. "You think I need to calm down? I'm not the one who hid a huge secret from everypony this entire night!"

"I agree, he should've told us, but-" Ginger started.

Chorus interrupted her, his tone of voice irritated and aggressive.

"I don't have to tell you guys every little thing that goes on in my life! I just thought for once I was experiencing my own romance, which you two clearly aren't short of tonight," Chorus maintained.

Savoir Fare and Twilight Sparkle shared an awkward glance with each other. He was talking about them.

"I can't believe you guys right now!" Prose disappointedly broke. "I'm going to solve this issue myself. We're on a tight schedule and none of us are on the same page. Come find me when you're feeling reasonable."

Prose stormed away from Chorus and Ginger Blush. Twilight Sparkle awkwardly followed behind, uncomfortable from the tense environment.

"You're not gonna stop her?" Ginger Blush asked Chorus.

"Why would I?" Chorus retorted. "She's clearly made up her mind."

"You know, you're making me a little upset right now, Chorus," Ginger Blush warned.

"Yea, well it seems we're all upset then," Chorus snapped back, giving into the stress of his situation. "Join the party."

Ginger Blush shook her head and furrowed her eyebrows. "Goodbye, Chorus. I'm not taking this from you right now."

"Fine, leave," Chorus spoke, unable to control his anger and frustration. "You wouldn't be the first," he finished, referencing Prose's recent departure.

Ginger Blush silently walked away, frustrated and disappointed. Savoir Fare followed her away, unsure of what else he was supposed to do.

Chorus stormed out of the garden, alone.