This is my account, written by my own hoof for I am the King of Shadows: Sombra.
Ever since I was a young stallion I had always known I was special albeit in a frightening way. I remember my little town where I was born to my seemingly perfect father who demanded perfection in everything his offspring did. I never knew my mother, I was told that she gave her life to give me mine. They said I got my fathers' black coat and my mothers red eyes. I wanted nothing to do with my father at all, but when I was younger I had a hard time connecting with the other foals of the town. I had a unique gift: I could talk to shadows.
At a early age I found myself conversing with the shadows of simple things: trees, buildings, statues. It was not until later that I realized that this was a thing no pony did. I remember being shunned and distanced from the town when their shadows were talking to me and I to them, many ponies considered me crazy when I would tell of their exploits and dark secrets. Eventually I was turned into a loony bin by no other than my father. Suddenly I was alone: no pony to talk to, and no shadows to converse with either. It was then I realized that something was wrong with me: I had no shadow of my own. Even against the dim lighting of the white padded rooms I could not cast a shadow on that prison.
I cannot remember the exact amount of time I had spent there. Months or years I am not sure of the time-frame, but I remember when they started their 'experiments'. They told me that I would be aiding Equestria with my talents for shadow-talking. It felt like they were ripping my mind; probing, no--Toying with my mind, trying to find the cause of my power. Looking back now, I can see their angle for my power: the shadows of their enemies would talk and tell of their plans, without the captors doing anything. They never made any progress, trying to copy my power had less than desired effects for their teams. They would come at random times, but it was always when they failed, and spent time with me, picking my mind apart looking for my secret. I once counted over 200 times they came back to me, but they stopped coming and I was left to rot in my padded room.
I was determined to leave my prison and escape and that's exactly what I did: as they probed my mind, I could feel their weak magical grip on my mind and simply added my power to theirs. The result was far messier than what I had expected: Both of their heads had exploded and painted my white room red, but after that I ran. Away from the prison, away from the town and away from my so called 'life'. Eventually I found myself in a cursed wood, where the clouds move on their own and grass grows without care. I had heard of this forest when I was young but never believed it existed: the Everfree.
Remaining there for a few days I took in my surroundings: the lush over grown trees, the various wildlife and the general 'creepy' feel of the forest. It was seemingly where I could spend my days: away from the world and its hatred. As I began to adjust I could feel a presence around me, at first it was very weak but it grew stronger and stronger. As I laid in my makeshift bed 'it' suddenly came to me: a black ominous cloud. I remember quickly getting to my feet to defend myself but instead it shocked me when it spoke:
"You are the perfect host I have been waiting for in this cursed forest: the pony without a shadow."
It swirled around me, blacking my vision completely until I saw a pair of green glowing eyes looking into mine. I asked the shadow about me being a host, the shadow chuckled.
"Of course you are: being without a shadow is a special gift. It makes room for me."
I took a step backwards in fear and asked the shadow for its' name. The eyes narrowed before me and then a quiet voice echoed in my head,
"I am the King of Shadows, Sombra."
I swallowed the lump in my throat and asked for Sombra's terms of me being a host. It let out a fearsome laugh,
"The terms? Young unicorn as I said before: you have a unique gift. Being born without a shadow is the only requirement for playing host. All shadows are bound, as the struggle of light and darkness is eternal. You are the exception. My power will become yours."
The eyes drew closer to me, as the smoke began to solidify into a shape: a pony.
"There must have been ponies who wronged you. Who hurt you. Who wanted your power for their won. Let me in, together we can extract revenge on all those who did you harm."
This deal was sounding more and more like what I had always wanted to do: Revenge. My face contorted into a wicked grin and gave the shadow permission to be my shadow. I felt no pain, no anguish I had been expecting. I had my eyes tightly shut, waiting for pain but none came, and looking to the ground I saw something I had never seen before: my own shadow.
At this moment, I knew I was one of the strongest unicorns who had ever lived. But as I got comfortable, I wasn't expecting the pain. I let a blood curdling scream: my eyes felt they were melting from their sockets, my teeth growing and sharpening and my horn changing, when I had blacked out from the pain.
When I woke, I could hear Sombra's voice in my head, as clear as day.
"HAHA, I forgot to mention the pain that comes with playing host. But you lived, which makes you the first to control my power. Congrats, now you have the power to extract your revenge."
I as breathing heavily and slowly made my way to a small pond for a refreshing drink when I noticed my appearance: my eyes glowed green and emitted a purple smoke. My horn had taken a curve and glowed with a deep red and my teeth were sharpened. I had transformed into a monster. I loved it. I looked menacing and evil, tilting my head back I let out a echoing laugh. It was all I ever wanted: the power, being menacing and most importantly my revenge.
I spent years training my magic to turn myself into a plume of smoke and shadow and my power grew by leaps and bounds. I conversed with Sombra often: He would tell me of hidden relics and powers to help me excel, and I poured myself into being evil. It was sometime later when he would start talking about the Crystal Empire, I paid no attention at first but then as he began to expound on the subject I quickly took an interest. He had told me of a crystal's power that it could spread that power through others.
My mind began working on the subject: objects that could repeat my spells no matter the distance. This idea intrigued me and it became my obsession. The power of the crystals was my only subject of interest after some time, and it drove me to conquer those pesky crystal ponies and their precious empire. Eliminating their rulers was a simple task, with them being surrounded by crystals that repeated my power, they literally stood no chance. I extracted my revenge on my now weak and feeble father. Also on the small town that had shunned me and all those who had wronged me, but I was not expecting 'them' to visit my small part of Equestria.
The all powerful Alicorn Sisters had come to stop my plans. It is shameful to admit that there was no real battle: their combined power far exceeded my own but as I was sealed in that glacier I used a portion of my power to seal away the Empire until I was free and gave the younger sister an awful gift: part of my shadow.
