Far outside the reaches of the Crystal Empire and Equestria alike, a spray of dark stains, not unlike the spill of blood from a wound, began to slowly drift closer together. Tentacles of darkness uncoiled, looping together to form hooves, legs, a chest, a head, a horn.
The dark King Sombra opened his eyes, their once-glowing red depths reduced to mere color. He shook his head violently, his mane floating momentarily before dropping down as messy black hair once again. He glared at it, frowned, and proceeded to stretch.
"Ugh..." His voice sounded rougher than usual, grating down his throat like worn stone. "Every time I rejuvenate, I feel a little bit older."
He sighed, stood up straight, and cracked his neck. A quick scan of the area showed both his cape and armor were nowhere nearby - Probably blown to bits, he assumed - and no sign of any life, flora or fauna, spattered the bland landscape. Nothing but ice and snow, neither looking as homely as he wished. If there was one time when he wanted a nice warm fire and some kind ponies around, it was after he has survived a failure.
A dark scarlet aura enveloped himself and a bit of the snow around, and he vanished, the bitter wind filling in the space he had left behind.
The dark King reappeared in a dark room, snow dropping lightly around his hooves. His horn lit up again and a few green flames lit the torches around the room, suddenly revealed to be a circular storage room of some kind, with no observable entrance or exit. Sombra quickly re-teleported the snow back outside, drawing the shadows from the dark spots of the room into the black facets of a large crystal bowl.
Sombra shook his coat out, distilling more snow than he had thought he had gathered, and clambered into the little nest. He tossed for a little while, before curling his hooves underneath him and resting his chin on the side of the bowl. He sighed, a wisp of green-purple smoke rising from his mouth, and fell asleep.
Princess Cadenza ran from the gray Unicorn, screaming in terror as he gained ground behind her. His shadow loomed over her for a single moment before the Princess tripped, managing to scramble onto her back to look into the deep red eyes of her attacker.
"Crystal Princess," the stallion hissed, "it's time to meet your doom."
Cadenza squealed as the stallion brought his muzzle to her belly, raspberrying her soft pink fur. "H-hey! N-no fair!"
The Unicorn looked up, eyes sparkling. "But Princess Cadenza, what else would the dark, scary demon do to his hostages?" Nonetheless, he stopped and sat up, smiling down at her.
"Ah, Cadenza, chancellor Somber Song. I've been looking for you two." The heavy thud of hooves hitting gemstone tile filled the narrow hall as another pony landed behind them.
Somber Song lifted his chin, spinning around to look as dignified as possible. The two stallions slowly scanned each other. Somber's dark brown mane was disheveled, hanging down in front of his scarlet eyes in a windblown kind of way. The short stubble of his attempted sideburns stood out against his warmly gray fur, and his silver boots and red cape marked his shimmering crystal appearance and portrayed his official position. The newcomer, however, glittered pale blue with the shallow facets of a Crystal Pony, and had a pair of crystalline wings folded at his side. His dark purple mane was pinned back by a simple golden ring between his ears.
"Ah - um - hello, your Majesty, King Lapis Sky." Somber grinned awkwardly, brushing his mane back to at least try and look formal, his hoof bumping against his horn in the process and undoing his efforts. "I was just taking care of Princess Cadenza, you see, and-"
"And she ran away from her mother again?" King Lapis smiled.
"And she ran away from her mother again." Somber repeated.
A flash of light filled the hallway as a pink Crystal Unicorn teleported in. Her yellow mane was also held back in a crown, but she lacked the wings of the King and her face was shining with a slight sheen of water. "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, we do not splash our mothers to escape the bath!"
"Good day, Queen Amethyst Heart." Somber replied happily as the filly among them scooted to safety behind his back. "Are you here for your daughter?"
The Queen bit her lip for a few moments, but then sighed. "She had enough time in the bath, I guess she can stay out now." She nickered happily as King Lapis dapped her wet face with the edge of his wing, nuzzling him.
Princess Cadenza squealed happily and began her ascent of the chancellor's back, eventually appearing on his head, front hooves wrapped in his messy mane. "No more baths ever!" She yelled triumphantly. "It's a new law just for Princesses!"
Somber glanced up at her, smiling. "Do you two want me to keep an eye on her while you catch up? I know it's been a tough time for you with organizing the Crystal Fair, and she isn't too much of a hassle."
Both the King and Queen smiled gently. "We trust you."
Sombra awoke with a roar, his angry cry dimming the torches and shaking dust from the roof above. Taking a few quick, deep, breaths to calm himself, he looked at his reflection in the crystals around him.
His black, semi-ethereal mane had once again started to flow, but remained close to how a normal mane would look. His eyes shone with a new health, and a dim green glow surrounded them. Other than that, he hadn't changed.
Well, he was hungry.
With a snap of his jaws, he broke off a spire of the dark crystal, crunching it between his fangs. It tasted like dust and grime, sliding into his throat like malicious smoke. He choked it down anyways.
"They always taste so bad when they're made from hate." He mused, biting off another mouthful.
The clopping of hooves above him made the dark King fall silent, eyeing the ceiling warily. He should have remembered that this room was under the castle, hidden inside the stair's spire, available to him alone.
A second set of hooves, heavier and slower, joined the first. "You alright?"
"Yeah, Shining. Thought I heard something."
Sombra blinked. That voice sounded so familiar.
"Do you want me to summon the Crystal Guard to look around? I don't want you to be upset."
"No, no, it's fine. I'm sure I was just imagining it."
"Hm... alright. Hey, I'm going to go help out with training, alright?"
"Yeah. Bye, Shining."
"Bye, Cadence."
The heavier hooves fled, their clatter wrapping around the room as he descended the stairs, eventually fading away into the distance. Silence reigned in the room above, broken only by Sombra's rasping breath.
"Yeah." The female voice repeated." "Imagining things."
Sombra perked up as the footsteps of this pony echoed around the room as well, fading with the wind.
"And then the Prince and the Princess kissed and lived happily ever after!" Somber finished, smiling as he magically pressed two of Cadenza's dolls together. The Princess herself had been turning pages in her book, occasionally 'helping Somber' with some 'difficult words'. "Now, Princess Cadenza, I think it's time for bed."
"I'm not," she broke off with a yawn, "tired yet."
"Go on, get along to bed." Somber urged, closing the book and shelving it, and replacing the dolls in the dollhouse. Cadenza blearily walked over to the bed, curling up with her stuffed dragon. Somber turned down her bedside light, drawing the curtains as to block some of the setting sun's rosy light.
"Mister Somber, do you think I'll ever get a Prince?"
"I wouldn't doubt it." He replied, pulling her blankets over her and quietly exiting the room.
He walked the empty halls in silence, the usual hubbub of a castle in action having faded to a surreal silence. He slid out of his noisy shoes, looping them around the neck of his cloak. With soft hooves, he slipped around corners and down corridors, his hoofbeats near-silent as he ran.
To him, the silence pounded a rhythm, a drawn-out, humming thing that flowed from the air itself into him. Unconsciously, as he always had, he began to hum along, his own deep rumble filling the halls with gentle, flowing song. The breathing of castle staff asleep in the rooms around him built from his own silence, filling his heart with a deep longing he could not voice in words. His humming faded into a silent drone, a simple percussion along with his breathing lungs.
His hooves wove their own path, crossing hallways and repeating steps, but Somber didn't care. The silence was building in him, something so beautifully, hauntingly stunning he just had to release it. He found himself charging up the circular stairs, loping out onto the crystal balcony, hooves skidding white stripes into the crystal as he slid to a stop, a few loose shards tumbling over the edge.
Somber exhaled slowly, ready to feel the final silence before nightfall, when the crickets and the owls broke it with their simple noise, when a loud wail filled the air. He grimaced, quickly dismissing the silence he had collected, and lifted his ears to listen for the sound. Again. He recognized it. Not pony, not even natural... oh, that was it. The attack siren.
He looked to the borders of the city, seeing a wall of black fog advancing from the Arctic North. He turned, whinnying loudly, and plunged back into the bowels of the castle, the shreds of serene silence desperately clinging to his charging hooves.
Sombra blinked awake again, a kind of heaviness settled on his shoulders. He dragged himself out of the bowl, staring at the light orange glow of the torches. He didn't remember them being orange. He blinked, shaking his head slightly. He didn't remember the blanket thrown across his back either.
He lifted the fabric in question, turning it over and scanning it. It was faded, small, and kind of ragged, but it was still visibly pink, and held the intricate details of a crystal heart framed by two golden swirls. He stared at the design for a few moments, before dismissing it and focusing on darkening the flames of the torches.
Their bright light succumbed to his shadow, and their light ceased scalding his eyes. He stretched, pacing the small room, before giving in and settling back into his nest, the blanket pulled tight over his back.
"King Lapis! Queen Amethyst! There's an attack! Everyone! Wake up!"
Somber Song charged down through the castle, yelling whatever came to mind, sanity fraying as ponies seemed to simply turn in their beds. He threw open the gate to the next stairwell, only to be forced back by a rising smoke. He sputtered, coughing, and retreated, allowing the smoke access to the next level.
"No!" He roared, charging into it blindly.
Suddenly he was surrounded by impenetrable darkness, a darkness that pressed in and forced grime onto the coat of the victim, a darkness that flowed into Somber Song's nose and mouth until the air was clear and he was not.
Somber fell to his knees in the hall, coughing and retching. His mane suddenly lit like black fire, spinning and seething down his neck and around his cheeks. His tail joined soon after, a smoky blur rather than real hair. His crystal facets slowly blurred into a single, icy gray, and his horn twisted upward like a sword, a deep, tainting red blossoming from its' tip and slowly fading to a matching gray.
Slowly getting to his hooves, he dropped his shoes back to the ground.Each one coated itself in dark magic, spreading upwards in a knee-high spike. He stepped into each bladed boot, a thin circlet of silver appearing to crown him.
Somber Song's eyes opened, their normally friendly depths glowing a saturated green. Smoke issued from them like the fire of his mane, fading to purple as it vanished. He went to talk, breathing nothing but a small cloud of smoke.
"Nr... crystalsssss."
This time, not only had the orange flames overthrown his own, but another pony sat in the room. He blinked, summing her up quickly. Alicorn. Pink. Purple and yellow mane.
"C...Cadenza?"
"Sombra." Her voice held no kindness, nor malice. She was stating a fact, and nothing else. "You tried to hurt my ponies."
The dark King found himself intimidated by her, even though she did not move to be aggressive. "No... yes. I did."
"Why?" Emotion slipped through her voice, a hint of desperation and sadness that was not able to break her expression save for a quick blink.
"Somber! Somber, I heard yelling, what's wrong?" King Lapis landed in front of him, quickly joined by Queen Amethyst.
The not-Somber lifted its' head, smiling with a hunger that struck deep into the fears of ponykind. It pounced.
"I..." He looked down at his hooves, masked in dented silver metal, and sighed. "I don't know."
"Then tell me why you're here."
"I'm here because I have nowhere else to go!" Sombra roared, stomping a hoof. "Because there's no place in a world run by purity and light for a creature of hatred and shadow!"
The Crystal Princess took a few steps back, and Sombra noticed his mane had returned to its' fully ethereal state, and green smoke billowed from his eyes. "Why are you here." She pressed, determination overtaking her fear.
"I'm here because I never left! Because I was your foalsitter and you loved me and I've got nothing else but you to return to!" Words he didn't comprehend were spilling out of his mouth. His legs were growing numb, and his heart was racing. "Because I was taken by something that was not myself and I killed, Cadenza! I killed helpless ponies and now I'm nothing but a monster!"
The not-Somber surged into Cadenza's bedroom, the door falling off of its' hinges as it slammed open. It stalked over to the Princess's bedside, the filly still sleeping soundly.
It raised one hoof, preparing to crush her skull, when she opened her eyes.
"Mister Somber Song?"
He stopped, retching, as black smoke began to trail from his mouth and nose. His heart felt cold, dead, but warm in a different way, like it wasn't his anymore. Could Somber Song...
"Because I love you, Cadenza, and I fought this long and this hard for you, to save you, and you never knew! Because nobody ever told you Somber Song was Sombra and nobody ever told you I saved you!"
The not-Somber stumbled, the shadow vanishing from one eye.
"Cadenza! Cadenza, listen to me!" His voice was raw, struggling, but it was his. "I can't control this for much longer, and you have to trust me!"
The filly nodded, and the half-Somber lifted her by her tail, one fang slicing hairs from it to the floor. Without wasting a moment, he shoved her into the little cubby-holes she had for her toys, alongside the Prince and the Princess of her story. He slammed the door shut, sliding the little lock down.
"Cadenza, you have to promise me you will only get out for Auntie Celestia and Auntie Luna."
"What about mommy and daddy?" She asked, muffled by the thick wooden panel.
Somber's heart wrenched. "Just Auntie Celestia and Auntie Luna."
"Oh... okay." The Princess whispered.
"Just remember that I love you." He whispered, his horn pressed against the wood in a desperate attempt to be close to her, to protect her one last time. "No matter what happens."
"I'll remember you."
Somber Song doubled over, spewing black smoke onto the cavern floor. The smog rolled, listless, swarming like a hive of drunken bees. Without a moment's delay, the Princess drew a small, crystal beaker from behind her mane, pulling the smog into it with her magic and sealing it tight.
The Unicorn in front of her trembled, crystal facets glimmering in the torchlight. Tears ran down his face, and he averted his eyes from the Princess, black mane falling between his eyes. "And nobody ever told you how cold the Arctic ice is. Nobody ever told you how many of those thousand years I fought to keep from destroying you when I returned. Nobody... nobody remembered me."
Not-Somber stood tall on the spire of the Crystal Castle, the dark crystals he had created hanging over the city like deathly talons. The last remnants of a letter sent by magical fire swirled off to the west, but he paid it no mind. After all, a stupid piece of paper could do him no har-
"How could you?!"
Not-Somber fell forward as a golden blast of energy slammed into his back. His hooves skidded dangerously close to the edge of the platform.
The eldest of the Princesses, coat glowing with fury, stalked across the platform.
"They trusted you!"
"Kill me!" Somber yelled through the shadow. "Kill me and let it be done!"
"They trusted wrong." The shadow replied, licking the dried blood from his muzzle.
"This crime is punishable by death." Celestia stated, her horn glowing to strike him again. The second Princess landed beside her, eyes glowing white and mane dark and foreboding as the unreachable stars. "But we will have mercy on you."
Their horns both flashed, sending a spell wreathed in harmony towards him. His feet slipped from the platform, and he fell like a stone, the very ice beneath him splitting to let him through.
"A thousand years in shadow for the darkness you have cast."
The not-Somber reached out with his magic, connecting the magic of the dark crystals and beginning the collapse of the Empire into the ice.
A pink wing, tinged at the ends with violet, wrapped around him, and a small, warm muzzle was rested on his neck. "It's gone now. It's over now.
"You'll be alright."
