Blackened Skies, Darkened Stones
Legends speak of a marvelous Empire. One which spread not through war, but through kindness. It was an Empire which shone like a jewel, a single bright light in a world shrouded by darkness. Hate was an unknown the the gentle inhabitants of this great nation, and war was unthinkable.
This, is the story of the Crystal Empire folly.
Until recently, few had heard the name of such a place, and none believed that this magical land could exist beyond myth. But I assure you, little ponies, that it is very much real. It was too good, too perfect.
However, as is ever the case, the brightest lights cast the longest shadows. This empire brought ruin onto itself, by its very perfection. We all have darkness within us, darkness we must overcome. But to the ponies of the Crystal Empire, there was no dark. Evil was not something they knew, and so their own weakness festered.
One unicorn learned this in the hardest way. He too, like all, came into this world with the seed of darkness within him. It would be easy to say that he was hurt as a foal, that some unfortunate event changed him forever.
That is a lie. King Sombra lead the life of all foals in the Empire. He was loved by his parents, nurtured and cared for as were all. Only one thing set him apart from the other foals, his prodigious talent, his power in magic. His magic rivaled that of the legendary unicorns of old, those who held the power of the sun and sky, the winds and the very earth itself. But for the young Sombra, none of these elements held him. He was captivated by his Empire, the Empire he loved so much. His magic was that of Crystal.
In the Empire, this was not unheard of. Many unicorns were gifted with magical skill related to crystals. The crystalline jewellery of the Empire was renowned, known, to be without equal in the world. There was something about the very magic in the air of that wonderful place, which gave its ponies a beauty and grace of which all were envious. Fantastic palaces, fit for the Princess’s themselves were common affairs, something even the least assuming pony might expect as his due. Wealth flowed into the nation, and things of beauty and talent flowed out. And all of it revolves around the use of crystals.
So young Sombra grew, in years and power, until he was nearly your own age. In the summer of his seventh year, he first met with the darkness of his own heart. The day began innocently enough, like all evil days do. With the sun high and bright in the sky, he did what anypony would. He begged his teacher to release him, to let him play.
But his teacher had a special lesson in mind for him, one she had been preparing for weeks. She told him that he was to move on in his studies, and that today he was to make a crystal.
Until now, the young colt had only manipulated and changed the crystals around him. There was no need to make any, when already there were countless numbers of the gleaming stones. His teacher left him with a single order.
“You will not leave this room, until crystals cover this table.”
Sombra was furious. For years he had obeyed his teacher without question. She was his first, and best friend. He had not questioned her once while she taught him, and now, the one time he asked something of her, she denied him. In his mind, he knew that she had a reason, that she would never hurt him intentionally. But though the mind speaks, the heart rarely listens.
He felt a hot rage for his teacher, a pony whom he thought the world of. Betrayed and abandoned, told that he was not to leave until her stupid task was completed, he set to work.
Time and again, he tried. Time and again he failed. With each failure, his ire grew, until an impossible rage filled him. Screaming in futile rage, he poured everything, his anger and fear, betrayal, sorrow and frustration into then spell.
He was shocked when the spell finally worked. But rather than the minute crystals his teacher had expected, a spire of black crystal burst from the floor of the room. It had destroyed the table, crushing it against the close ceiling.
He smiled, happily leaving the room. He didn’t know that the crystal his anger and bitterness had created was something that had never been seen before. It was unknown now, but would one day become the symbol which all ponies in the Empire would fear.
His teacher praised him, proud of his achievement. Nopony but Sombra himself knew whence the dark crystals were born, and even his wise teacher thought it was only a reflection of his dark coat.
As he aged, more and more Sombra began to rely on the dark crystals, and the darker emotions from which they spring. He grew familiar with the doubts and fears of others, using his power to become a bully to those less powerful than he. His teacher never knew of his activities, for to her he never showed anything but respect and care. He came to love her, not as a teacher and student, but as a stallion feels for a mare.
Nopony wanted to believe the stories they heard from their foals, about the black pony who hurt them and terrified them. Nopony wanted to believe that anypony could be mean in any way, so Sombra’s evil was free to grow. One day, there was simply nothing left of the shy young colt, who followed his teacher like a puppy, always happy to lend a hoof.
Sombra began to prey upon older, stronger ponies, moving through them like a falcon. He would find his target, then descend upon them. He had learned his lesson from his younger exploits, and ensured that nopony would speak of what he had done to them. They all feared his retribution, his revenge.
Soon, the only pony who did not yet fear the black form was the teacher he loved so much. To her, he was still the innocent colt he had ever been.
So when he asked her to wed him, and ruler over the weaker ponies of the Empire, she was speechless. How could Sombra, her sweet little friend, be asking her to help him enslave her friends?
She rejected him, calling him a monster. The veil was lifted from her eyes, and she saw the evil before her. It sickened her, to think of what her beloved student had become. She flew, crying for her friend. The monster before her was not Sombra, not her Sombra.
She left the Empire, and with her, the last light in Sombra’s heart, his love, vanished. With her departure, Sombra gave himself fully to his darkness. Black crystal grew like a disease, covering all. It became the symbol of his Empire, and something his slaves feared.
He took the greatest, most beautiful nation, and corrupted it. He enslaved his friends, his family, without a second thought. He stole away their Crystal Heart, the symbol of their love, and unity. He took the world from them, and nothing could stop him.
Nothing, save his teacher. She fled the Empire, coming to a far off country where peace reigned. Rumors flew in her wake, of a black empire, where pain and suffering were the norm, and love was unknown. Faced with this dire news, she decided. She approached the rulers of the country, and begged them to overthrow Sombra, to lock him away forever.
The rest of the story, you already know. Sombra was defeated by their joined might, and the curse he had laid on the Empire sent it into oblivion for a millennium. By the heroism of the Elements of Harmony, peace and love were restored, and King Sombra was finally overthrown.
This statue rests in the Canterlot Gardens as a reminder to us all. Sombra was little different from you or I. He played and laughed, loved and lost. He was powerful, but even that was not his weakness. Sombra himself is only a part of the problem, for indulging the darkness within him. But the true lesson of his story is not that darkness should be lost in light.
Wherever light rests, nearby is a shadow. While we may sit in glorious sunlight, our hearts are steeped in darkness. Try as we might, we cannot ignore that fact. The Empire refused to admit the darkness in their own souls, and Sombra was the climax of their folly.
Take this lesson from King Sombra, my little ponies. Never deny your darkness, never try to hide it from sight. But never give in to it. Never stop fighting. Fight for what you love, for your friends, and for yourself. Because you are important, and it will hurt everypony if you give up that fight.
