The Rise and Fall of Sombra
Original manuscript was retrieved from a cave in the Crystal Mountains, translated by Star Swirl the Second in the First Age of the Steadfast Sky. First Edition is located in the Library of the Crystal City.
Hark!
And that once was shall be once more
The Past and Future King, the ruler of that which shall be
In Lands long forgotten, in lands yet found
Ariow, the deceiver
On the Temple at Senntisten
On the Seventh Day
Of the Seventh Month
Of the Seventh Year
Whereupon Twelve Centuries of the the Year of Creation
Ariow, the Darkness of the Derikhalm
The one who would save, yet doom
Whereupon he who would create, yet destroy
For he once would be
Highest Disciple of the Four Masters
And yet Fumus he learned
And from Glacies he struck
And from Umbra he sought
And thus as Cruor he beseeched
But the Four were One
And as One was shunned
Four turned
And smote down was he
But the Fire within burned brighter than the Fire without
And survived, did he, to return once more
And the Successor, did he return once more
For thus as he did, and thus did he not
Harken! for those words were not heeded
And the Shining City was destroyed, and was no more
But such was the power of the Empty One
And rebuilt was the Third Dome
And Ariow guised as Shades
And the King of Shadow was banished
Apostate of his Lord and God
Fled to the lands of Seren
Great Goddess of Kristal
Great Goddess of the West and North
And to the mountains of the Kristal
There he learned
The might of Crystal, for it was then called
But what once did once more
And he was struck from the Spire of Voice
And cast out of the plane
And Shades guised once more
And Ombre known was he
To a land of the Horse he was found
And here he lay for an Aeon
Until the First Ponies came to the North
Fleeing the wrath of the Sun
They came to our land, the land of the Crystal Mountains
And under his guidance, the ponies of the North prospered and grew
And thus the Great Empire of Crystal was born
And he took our guise
The shape of ponies
And as one befitting of his power
A unicorn
Adept at the Mystic Arts as he
In times forgotten
When the Dragons were young
When the Zebras found the stripes
And Griffons first flew
And so ancient was the Empire of Crystal
But all things have their time
And the power of the Empire waned
And they saw he had not borne the mark of pony
And forged himself a great suit
Armor of Steel and Sorcery
But so clouded had his Empire's Vision become
He feared for his life
And the Life of his Empire
And he consulted the Black Book
The Ildatch
Borne from the beginning of time
And the End
And the Dark Magic within
And the Nightmares of the Past
And So corrupted was he
Like she he would be borne of the Moon
And tried did he
And so little by little
Do single grains of sand become a mountain
Many small concessions
Through so many large years
And the Crystal Empire was no longer free and good
But clouded was his vision
And feared did he
That he saw not.
And thus had become the King of the Crystal Empire,
Years passed.
And slaved away to ponies of the Crystal Empire.
And the power of Ombre was so
They remembered not their long lives
They remembered not how once ponies would live and die
They remembered not the tales of other lands
Or the Heart
They remembered not the time before
They remembered not the power of the Once Crystal Empire
For clouded had his vision become
And thus was the Crystal Empire.
For he feared for his life, and that of his empire.
Overreaction and Underreaction.
And slowly by slowly
Did the Empire crumble to dust
For he feared
And his fear controlled
And corrupted not only he
But the Heart long forgotten.
And so, he left.
And protective wards
And dimensional shields
And smoke and mirrors
And tricks long forgotten and long collecting dust
And so he used them
And hid is Empire
For if he did not
Who knows what cruel force and oppressive Emperor
What immortal king and terrible sight
What would come to his Empire
And corrupt it from within
And enslave its people
And hide it for one thousand years?
And so became
The once mighty Crystal Empire
The First and the Last
The civilization hidden in plain sight.
And so
For One Thousand Years
Did King Ombre
And his once mighty people
Hide and Slave and Sneak
For the preservation of freedom and survival.
For he did not see what had become of his once mighty empire
For clouded had his vision become.
But to the Tribes of the South
Did those who but not fleeing
Instead mastered the power of Sun and Moon
And did two then seek those ancient powers
As ancient as the Empire itself
Those Six Elements
Those powers of those who would combine
Those who would believe in the Principle
That the Whole is greater than the Sum of its parts
And So Two
Whose power would grow as to rival his own
They saw not the past
Only the present
And what they believed what might come to be
And so they saw a threat
A second power that would rival their own
One land united such as theirs
And they acted
And so they journeyed north
Past the land of their own people
To what once was the Mighty Crystal Empire.
And so it came to pass
That again he was smote
By those Six Elements
And imprisoned beneath the Ruins of his Once Great Empire
But he had left one last device
A complex weave of those Mystic Arts
Left from long ago
That if he were to fall, to be struck down
That his mighty Crystal Empire would survive
And so it came to pass
That one whim from long ago
One last, hidden precaution
From a time of unclouded vision
That the Crystal Empire would survive
And those that opposed him would call it a curse
For there is no Good nor Evil
No Right and Wrong
No Curse nor Blessing
Only what you are taught is Right and Wrong
Only you and them
Only the Many and the Few
Only the Majority and the Minority
And thus it had come to pass.
That the once mighty Crystal Empire was lost Forever.
The Return of the Crystal Empire
And so was the once mighty Crystal Empire lost to the Sands of Time.
And so was the once mighty King Ombre fallen.
And so was the ancient land lost.
But hearken!
For that final sanction was ancient
And as the power of the Empire waned, so did the enchantment
And so the Empire was not lost forever as intended.
For on the Thousandth Day
Of the Thousandth Year
So did the Empire return.
And the Land of Ombre return.
And sent were two ponies.
One, descendant of those fateful two who smote the Empire first.
One, the companion and Highest Guard.
And such were they sent to ward and protect.
And the Cruel fates would leave in those same hands
The Redemption and Destruction of the Empire.
But again would he be smote.
As he returned to claim his old Empire.
For none remembered Shades.
For only Ombre remained.
And thus, was Sombra smote down for the final time.
Trapped once again in his own prison.
And was the Empire of the South prevailed.
And again shall he sleep in eternal slumber.
Waiting to arise again.
And Claim his Crystal Empire again.
