I was not always this way
My name is King Sombra, and for over 100 years (1100 if you count the spell I cast), I ruled the Crystal Ponies. Yes, you may have heard of me: the tyrant who ruled with fear and hatred, who forced the ponies into slavery, who ruled the Northern Plains with an Iron Hoof. However, you do not know me. What you know is what outsiders have seen, and been told. You seem to know everything about me, everything but how I came to be who I was. Well, since I’m not going anywhere ever again, make yourself comfortable, for this is a long story.
It began when Celestia and her sister Luna were but little fillies: Our Queen died. She was a mother to us all, benevolent, wise, and just. As her only son, it was up to me to take charge and lead the country forward into a better time. And for a while, things were going well: the kingdom thrived with a jollity and happiness that rivaled that of all Equestria. But gradually, things began to… change.
It all started when our Crystal Heart started to die. Being the ruler of the Crystal ponies, I was more attuned to the Crystal than others, and when its light started to died out, something inside of me changed. No longer did my magic work like it once did: it slowly began to warp, and it became harder and harder for me to use my magic for good, and keep control of it. The land became harsh, and infertile, and we had to work harder and harder to earn a living. I had to force my subjects to work more and more just so we could stay alive. It killed me inside to see them suffer, but at least they were alive. At least they could live to see another day. I tried to help as best I could, to get the Crystal Heart shining once again, but no matter what I did, its light just kept dimming.
When the day finally came, when the light died out form inside the Crystal, I changed. I grew fangs, my horn changed to orange and black, and my eyes turned into green and black. I was a monster! Oh? You thought I always looked this way? No. I suffered every minute, not only my body, but also my mind. I began looking on my subject as objects, rather than the ponies that I had cared for and loved. My magic rendered their deepest fears a reality, and with a thought, I turned the smooth and glowing crystals of my once beautiful empire into cold, sharp, spikes, with a darkness that destroyed all the life around it, sucking all the joy from my land, turning the once warm and kind land into frozen wasted tundra. I didn’t want any of this to happen! I didn’t want to hurt any pony! All I wanted to do was to save them! I tried to stop myself from what I was becoming, but, my mind deteriorated farther and farther into insanity. However, even in my madness, I still clung to the Crystal Heart, for I still hoped that it would save us, one day. Some say I rivaled Discord himself on the day the Sisters finally came.
They came out of the sky, and looked at the damage I had wrought, and they knew that I had gone insane. And so they banished me to the tundra that I had created for a thousand years. But before they finished me off, some small part of me wanted to see the ponies I had wronged free and happy again. So with my final breath, I cast a spell, which would put them in a slip stream, a thousand years from then, in a dreamlike state that would not age them, so they would be safe, and so I could see them when I was free.
For a thousand years I roamed the Northern Lands as a wisp of smoke, finally free of the madness that had overcome me, hoping that I could be forgiven, that somehow, I could write my wrongs, and regain my form. But the years began to take their toll. Eventually, I became obsessed with the thought of getting my body back. Some days it was the only thing that kept me going, to be free of this icy prison once and for all. It drove me like a madman possessed.
When the day came for my ponies to return to me, however, I found that I could not reach the Crystal or my citizens. Princess Cadence had erected a shield around them. I flew into a rage slamming all I had against it, and anyone trying to pass inside of it (hence how Shining lost his horn), desperately trying to find a way back inside my beloved country. When the field finally dropped, I rushed forward, eager to reclaim what was mine, to have my body back, and see my citizens.
When I saw the crystal fall, I lost all sense of reason, and ran to it, sending spikes out of the ground to send me forward, heedless of anypony around me, not caring if any of them died, if I destroyed my own country. I just wanted to be me again. As I got closer, I could feel myself return to my old body, and I shouted in joy, but just as I was about to reclaim what was mine, it was taken away from me. Without a chance to say I was sorry. Without a chance of mercy, I was blown away. Evaporated. Sent flying into pieces by the thing that was my hope and my curse at the same time. The damn Crystal Heart. I’m sorry. Sorry for all the damage I did, for all the ponies I hurt. All I wanted was to try and apologize. I just wanted to try and beg forgiveness. *sob* But no. You all had to just think that you were in the right, that killing me was justified, that I was an evil that had to be destroyed. YOU DIDN’T KNOW ME! WHAT I WENT THROUGH! THE FACT THAT I COULD HEAR MY MIND BREAKING APART!!!!! NONE OF IT!! YOU JUST THOUGHT I WAS SOME SORT OF MONSTER, ON THAT HAD TO BE STOPPED AT ALL COST, NOT EVEN WORTH A SLIVER OF PITY!!!! Well I guess we’ll never know, because I’m dead now, and you’ll never know who I really was…. Oh? You thought I was alive? Well your wrong, actually. DEAD wrong. I have not much more time left to me, so if you can, please, could you tell them, all of them, that I love them… that I’m sorry… and thank you. Thank you for saving my people.
