Bleak

Chapters

Prelude of the End
All Deeds
Punishment or Reward?
Sweet Dreams
Day 1

Prelude of the End

The dark crystal rose higher into the sky, making it's way toward the falling dragon and heart shaped crystal. Riding the spire was the shadow of the former ruler of the kingdom, his eyes focused intently on his prize as he continued to rise up. It had been a thousand year escapade to come this far, and finally it was almost within his grasp. Once he had the heart, he could resume where he had left off before his imprisonment. The thought of that alone was driving him to go faster, just to get what he desired.

As Spike fell, he tried desperately to get back the heart that was falling with him. He reached out his claws, swinging them wildly as if to swim through the air and be able to reach the dropping crystal. It proved to be all in vain. He and the crystal were of the same mass, and were falling at the same rate. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't catch up to the falling rock.

As the crystal descended further, Sombra felt an unnatural sensation run through his body. It was much like when he was being imprisoned, but the major difference being that this felt far favorable to him then being broken down. It felt as if he was being built up, regaining a part of his lost self. Before he could fully appreciate the sensation going through his abstract form, Sombra felt something he hadn't in a good while: wind across his face. He took a moment to look things over, noticing that he had regained his physical form. Under normal circumstances, he may have taken time to appreciate that he was in fact back. But he had far more pressing matters to attend to. He looked up again, the heart getting ever closer. He licked his lips, almost able to taste his victory.

Shining Armor looked up, not liking what was unfolding in front of him. He knew that there were very few ways to stop this, and he had to act. He held his wife up, knowing that even with her being worn out and utterly exhausted she was the only one left that could have any chance of getting to the heart first. Where as Rainbow Dash was fast, they also needed to save spike. He only had one chance to get it right. He just hoped that Cadence understood. And with one large burst of his strength, he heaved her straight toward the heart, and then waited.

Cadence soared through the air, her eyes watering slightly from the sudden force of being thrown as she tried to keep her eyes fixated on her target. It all came down to whether she could pull through or not. She had to grab the heart and simultaneously catch Spike. It was no easy task at the speed she was going, but she had to do it. She was the last ray of hope that these ponies had in order to be truly free once and for all. She was at the half way point, and her spirits started lifting. She could do this, she knew everything was going to be alright.

That was until she saw the dark king's eye's shift directly on her.

Sombra had sensed a growing presence as the heart continued to fall towards him. With a slight shift of his eyes, he caught a glimpse of just what he felt. It was the alicorn that had been keeping him at bay for the past several days. Now she was trying to keep him from getting back what he deserved. His once evil smile contorted into an angry scowl as he fixed his gaze on the pink princess.

I have waited a millenia for this!, he thought to himself, his horn coming to life with it's dark magic. I will not allow you to rob me of what it is rightfully mine! The glow in his horn started to become more vibrant, until he had as much magical energy that he could store up. Although it wasn't as much as he would of liked, it would do the job of ensuring she would not meddle with his plans.

Cadence let out a gasp of horror as she saw what was coming her way. Once Sombra had gotten his sights set on her, he wasted no time in stopping her. He released his energy all at once, sending it directly to her. In her weakened state, Cadence couldn't do anything to stop the blast and simply braced herself for the inevitable impact. As the magic blast hit her, Cadence felt an eruption of pain surge through her body as she was pushed away, sending her back to where she was thrown from.

"Cadence!" Shining Armor shouted as he watched his wife be launched backwards. Her body went limp after only a few seconds of contact with the blast of power, and he feared the worst. As she continued to fall, he hoped and prayed that she would land safely. As her motionless body continued to descend, he knew that she wasn't going to make it back to the balcony. Thinking that he was going to lose his wife, he closed his eyes, not being able to bear even the thought of looking at her as she fell.

"I've got her!" he heard another voice say. He opened his eyes, to see that Rarity had gone to the edge of the Balcony, and was trying to catch Cadence in her magic. Rarity was able to get her magic around the unresponsive alicorn, but was not able to keep her from falling. Knowing that it was in vain to try and bring her to the balcony, Rarity did her best to slow Cadence down so she wouldn't hit the ground too hard. Rarity struggled and strained with her magic, trying with all her mental will to keep the princess in her grasp. Sweat poured down her forehead as she continued to try and keep Cadence uplifted, but it was proving to be useless.

Finally, Cadence started to slow down, but it wasn't enough to keep her from getting injured if she hit at that speed. Rarity knew she had to try harder, so with one final burst of all her will power, she focused as hard as she could to slow Cadence down. With the last bit of her magic, she was finally able to get her controlled enough for her to land on the ground mostly unharmed. Once Rarity knew Cadence was safe, she collapsed onto the floor of the Balcony, completely exhausted.

Good, now that pest is out of the way. Sombra thought to himself. He then focused his attention back to his goal. The heart was almost close enough to reach out and touch. Not wishing to take another chance with anything, he used his magic to grab the falling crystal, bringing it to his face. He smiled wickedly. He had waited over a thousand years for this moment. A thousand years trapped in the ice, and now he had back what was his. He now had everything back, and then some.

That's when he noticed something else was caught in the aura of his magic. From his peripheral version, he could see something moving, as if trying to get away from him. He looked over, and saw that he had caught the small dragon in his grasp as well. Sombra at first entertained the thought of simply throwing him aside, or even having some fun with him, but for the time being he had far more important things to deal with.

Spike struggled with all his might to get away from the magic that now held him firmly in the air. But no matter how good he was at escaping Twilight's magic, there was something about the aura that held him now that was far stronger. Suddenly he felt his entire body move, as if being manipulated to turn him around. When he had done a complete 180 degree turn, he came face to face with the entity that had him.

Spike's heart jumped into his throat, too scared to move much less say anything to the omnipotent being that he was now facing. It wasn't the first time that he had been faced by a pony of such well known power, but this was something all together different for the young dragons mind. Where as the princess's were generally kind and understanding, he was now looking straight at their polar opposite: A stallion who had no mind for sympathy or remorse.

The sweat began to fall down spikes face, so horrified that he couldn't even mange the awkward smile that he usually did whenever he knew that he was going to be facing trouble. Suddenly, the king gave Spike a very evil smirk. Spike knew that there was no way that could at all be good. So he closed his eyes, waiting for what he thought was going to be very harsh treatment. At best he may be thrown off and hit the ground, dead before he could even know it. Or he could suffer something worse and be slowly and painfully tortured. But he didn't expect what happened.

"You needn't worry yourself, my reptilian friend." he heard the demonic voice say to him. While he was trembling, Spike dared to open one of his eyes and look at the dark ruler that held him. He was still giving him that smile. A smile that could send terror through the heart of even the most steel nerved stallions in the royal guards. What does he mean I shouldn't worry? Spike thought to himself.

"You need not worry, for you have done me no wrong." Sombra told him in a calm manner. "You've brought me that which is the key to my kingdom. And for that I thank you." Spike's jaw dropped, unable to comprehend what was happening. Not only was he under the control of the most feared stallion in all of this city, but he was also thanking him. Thanking him for making a stupid mistake. Spike was unsure how he should have been taking that. He was either mocking him for his slip up, or... something else he wasn't sure of. Either way, he was too scared to move or speak.

"We'll discuss your reward later, but first" Sombra said, looking back to the heart he held in his magic. "A little reunion with my kingdom." He looked closely at the heart, marveling at his prize. All those years spent in the ice. he thought to himself, All that time of waiting, and it has finally paid off. I have back my physical form, I have the crystal heart, and I have my empire. His eyes shifted to the sight below him, a group of ponies all gathered around an unconscious mare. "Ah, of course." he thought aloud.

The crystal ponies gathered around the still form of the fallen alicorn, wondering if she was alright after that great fall. The only indication that she was at all alive was the slow steady rhythm of her chest rising and falling. So distracted by what was happening at their hooves, many had forgotten the much more serious threat that was just above their heads. Until he made himself known.

"Hello again my kingdom!" A booming voice from high up said, catching the attention of the ponies that surrounded the mare. They all looked up, and were all paralyzed with fear at the sight that was presented to them. King Sombra stood atop the tall black crystal, the heart that the ponies were sure would save them held in his magic along with a very scared looking baby dragon. The sinister smile that he had been known for was adorned on his face.

Some of the ponies backed away, not sure of where they would go but just wishing to be as far away from the tyrant as they could get. Others were so scared they couldn't do much else other than look up and tremble. Their worst fear had come to life. And now, there was no way to reverse it.

"I'll tell you something my slaves," Sombra went on, "I have missed you dearly in my absence. It was very lonely trapped in that ice, and being nothing but a shadow for centuries. But don't think for a moment that I hold it against you. You were not the ones at fault for that." For the citizens of the crystal empire who were not frozen stiff in their own horror, what he just said was very odd to them. He was always one to place punishments fast, even if it was not proven that the accused was guilty. Something had to be up.

"No, you were not the ones to do that to me. I know who the true cause of my imprisonment was. But you need not worry yourselves about such matters. I know you are all anxious to resume your work." He looked at all of them, noticing how many of their face contorted into even greater fear. It gave him a feeling of great pride. Even after all these years, he still invoked fear into them.

"I have reclaimed my kingdom," he said to no one in particular, "and now, it is time for me to take my seat back on the throne." Using the magic still around the frozen dragon, he deposited him on to his back but kept hold of the heart. "I highly suggest that you hold on, my new friend." he said to spike, the smile never leaving his face.

"H-H-H-Hang on?" Spike stuttered, finally snapped out of his trance of fear. "W-W-Why? What's-" before he could finish his sentence, Spike got his answer.

In a split second, King Sombra's eyes turned that vile green color. The ground below started to shake, and Sombra gave a very toothy evil smile. Several of the black crystals shot up from the ground below, pushing aside some of the ponies that were standing at the base of the large one Sombra and Spike were on. Several of the crystals started reaching much larger heights, starting to make their way up to the level of the king.

"Get ready for a ride." Sombra said, looking down at the crystals. Before Spike even had time to react, Sombra launched himself off of the crystals top, and began falling. Spike gripped the back of his insane captor, not wishing to fall off. He let out a loud yell of fear, too scared to focus on anything but their rapid decent.

Much to Spike's and many others amazement, they did not continue falling. They ended up landing on one of the rising crystals. As relieved as Spike was not to be falling anymore, he knew it was short lived. He could feel the two of them slowly slipping down the crystals edge. With not enough footing, it wouldn't be long before they lost balance and fell again. But before that could happen, Sombra jumped again, landing on another lower crystal.

It went on like that for a few jumps, until there were no crystals left. It didn't bother Sombra though, for he was almost at his landing point. With one final jump, he readied himself for the landing. On his back, Spike was trembling uncontrollably from the little adventure that he was having with his captor. When he saw that there was no crystal below for them lo land on, Spike again started to panic. Until he saw where they were head.

With a loud clap of his metal encased hooves slamming against stone, Sombra touched down on the balcony of the palace. Although his landing was loud and utterly brutal in performance, he managed to maintain his composure and be confident with what he had just done. He stood there a few moments, smiling smugly as he held the heart next to him with pride. On his back, the baby dragon was clenching to him with all of his limbs, still shaken from the ride he had only a few seconds ago. His eyes were wide in fear, and his body trembled violently.

Sombra opened his eyes, his moment of bliss gone for the time being, and noticed who was on the balcony with him. Six other ponies were there, each giving them different looks. The cyan mare gave him look of anger, almost as if sending a message of "I want to fight" to him. The orange earth pony didn't look much different, only being slightly less confident. The white mare was lying passed out on the ground, exhausted from trying to keep the alicorn below from getting injured earlier. The male unicorn simply hid a look of hopelessness, trying to keep a facade of confidence and focus. The pink earth pony simply sat there, a guilty looking smile on her face as she stared at him with large eyes. Finally, there was the yellow pegasus. She thought herself hidden behind all of her friends, but Sombra could have seen her shake from a mile away.

He simply smiled to them.

"Ah, hello children." he greeted all of them, "It's so nice to finally meet you all face to face." The group didn't do anything except stare at the tyrant that stood before them. They had heard so much about him, but the actual thing in front of them was far more terrifying then any story could ever tell. His voice was unnatural, sounding like a combination of someone's real voice and something completely not of this world. It alone could have sent shivers down anyone's spine. The way he stood was that of someone in a controlling, dominant nature. And his eyes... oh those eyes. Those cold, soulless, unforgiving eyes. Eyes that could freeze lava with just one passing glance.

"Thank you all for helping to get the crystal heart back into my possession." Sombra spoke again, not losing that polite demeanor. "It pleases me greatly." Like Spike before them, the group couldn't believe what they were hearing. It was clear that he was mocking them, but the tone in his voice made it sound like genuine appreciation. He was either trying to manipulate them, or just plain trying to confuse them.

"I will admit, I was quite annoyed at first when you were trying to keep me at bay." Sombra went on, "But seeing as how you all worked so hard to get my empire back into shape, and return this to me, I think I can find it in myself to forget that minor annoyance." With the heart still in his grasp Sombra slowly turned around to face the kingdom once again. "I will show you my appreciation in a few moments, but right now I have more pressing matters to attend to."

The citizens of the crystal empire looked up at the king, back where he once was when it all started so many years ago. Now they were right back in that same position. Stuck under his rule once more.

"I do hope you have enjoyed your time off my slaves." he announced, almost shaking the balcony as his voice boomed. "But I am sorry to say that there will be no more breaks for some time. After all, idle hooves are Discords play things. Your work will resume, but first." Sombra brought the heart to his right hoof, holding it close to his chest, and then bore his teeth in an evil smile. "We must take some precautions this time around."

His eyes started to glow that awful green color, and his horn came to life with the dark aura once more. The earth beneath everyone's hooves began to shake, causing some of the high risen crystal to start cracking and falling to the ground. That's when everyone started to notice the black smoke rising around the border of where the shield once protected them. The same kind of smoke that brought them into the banishment from before.

"No chances will be taken this time." Sombra announced, continuing the spell he was casting. "No more slip ups or interferences. This time, no one shall stop me."

The smoke had almost completely enveloped the city, causing the once fear stricken ponies to now panic and try to run for their lives. Some tried making it to edge to see if they could escape, but it proved useless. The shadow barrier wouldn't allow them to leave. Others just stood, not able to believe what was happening.

"This isn't happening." one of the crystal ponies said to herself, "This isn't happening."

Sombra turned back to the group behind him, his eyes aglow with the evil flame that flickered violently as his spell was still being cast.

"Get ready children." he said, his voice almost sounding like an ambient echo. "For this is merely the prelude of what is truly to come." Finally, the shadow like vapor of the spell sealed the city in, not to be seen again by the outside world.

All Deeds

In the grand halls of Canterlot Castle, Celestia and Luna waited for any kind of sign that there was success in bringing the Crystal Empire back to its former glory. It had been a long time since they had heard anything from Twilight or any of the others, and it had them both worried. They were both aware that Cadence had been using her magic to keep the city safe, but even she had her limits. They weren't sure how it could be done, but they knew if anyone could, it would be Twilight and her friends.

"Sister?" Luna said, trying to get the attention of Celestia as she stared idly out of the window. Celestia was broken from her trance, and looked to her sister. The look she had was that of concern and uncertainty. "I'm worried Celestia. We haven't heard anything about the city in some time. And I can not escape this feeling of dread that's starting to well up inside of me."

"Do not worry Luna." Celestia told her, draping one of her wings over her sisters back. "I have faith in my student, as well as her friends. I didn't send them merely to test them, but because I knew that of all ponies they would be able to pull this off." She finished by giving Luna a smile of confidence. Luna's expression softened, her worries put at ease from her sisters words. She knew that she should have had more confidence in them, but it was still an unsettling prospect.

As Celestia looked down at her younger sister, she did her best to hold back the need to frown. Where as she did have full confidence in her student's abilities, there was still that pang of doubt that resided inside her. It was the same doubt that was in her every time she sent her to do something that may have been far over Twilight's head. Whether it be the time she sent her to make friends, or to stop a power that even she wasn't able to defeat. For Celestia, nothing was ever certain in her life anymore.

But she had to hold fast to her beliefs that they would return victorious. Not just for her sister and her own sake, but for the sake of every citizen in the kingdom. If she didn't have faith now, how could anyone be expected to. I know that you can do this Twilight. Celestia thought to herself, You've saved us so many times before, and you can do it again.

Suddenly, the doors to the hall burst open, pulling the two princess's out of their shared moment of hope. They both looked to the wide open doors, and caught sight of the guard who had made his way in. He was panting heavily, and his face was full of shock and terror. From looking at him, you'd think he'd just had a run in with a ghost.

"Your Highness!" he shouted out, galloping to the two princess's. When he had reached them, he didn't even bother to give them the courtesy of bowing to them. The princess's knew that all guards were instilled with the customs and courtesies that had been passed down for generations, and would never disobey them under any normal circumstance. The fact that he blatantly ignored it and looked horrified beyond all recognition said one thing to the both of them: Something was horribly wrong.

"Your Highness!" he repeated again, trying to regain some of his composure. "It's gone! It's gone again!"

"What?" was all that came out of Celestia's mouth. The look of concern for the guard was quickly replaced with that of horrendous shock. In the back of her mind, Celestia already knew what the guard meant, but she couldn't help but ask. "What do you mean? What's gone?"

"The city your highness, the city is gone once more!" the guard spat, nearly tripping over his own words in his shortness of breath. Celestia's face fell in shear disbelief, her fears had been confirmed.

"... No, no that can't be true." Luna said, he voice devoid of any kind of hope. "There must be some sort of mistake. They couldn't have failed."

As much as Celestia wanted to believe her sister, in the pit of her heart she knew that what the guard said was true. Not only had the holders of the elements of harmony failed to get the city back to what it was, but Sombra had the city back under his control. As much as she wanted to explore the possibilities of things that might have happened, she knew that there was no use in trying to fool herself into it.

"Twilight..." Celestia said to herself, looking back to the window that faced where the city once was. "... I should never have sent you. I shouldn't have put all of you in that danger." Celestia took a long pause as she slowly walked over to the window, her face lacking any kind of emotion. All she could do was stare, knowing there was no way she could do anything about it. "It's my fault."

Luna came to her side, trying to think of a way to comfort to her sister. But even with them having grown so much closer in the time since her return, Luna still had very little to go on with her sisters feelings. Usually she was the one to always seem strong and confident, but now just looked like she was ready to fall to tears. Unable to think of anything else to do, Luna simply leaned against her sister, trying to offer her any kind of support in her time of distress, but at the same time knew it was all in vain.

Her student had finally met an opponent that she couldn't handle.

The last hole at the top of the dome like structure of shadows was filled, closing off all contact with the outside world. Many of the citizens were still trying in vain to see if they could get past the shadow barrier, but it proved to be completely useless. To the few that knew it wouldn't matter what they did, all they could do was look up and stare. The cruel ruler looking down on them with a smug smile as he watched them run like chickens with their heads cut off.

"They are in true need of a ruler." Sombra thought aloud, "Look at them, running around with no sense of direction. Misguidedly trying to escape the inevitable. So much like infants." At the thought of his last word, Sombra took a pause. He thought for a brief moment, thinking that he had forgotten something... something important. "Oh, of course." he said, realizing what he was thinking of. He turned back around to face the group that was still with him on the balcony. They were all looking up, as if not believing what was happening. He took a moment to clear his throat, trying to get their attention.

"Now then children," he said, a sort of politeness still in his voice, "As I was saying before, you have my gratitude for all of the things you've done for me. And in return, I shall reward you all." The group had taken their attention away from the black magic, and were completely focused on what Sombra had to say. Once again, his polite demeanor was confusing them. To many of them it seemed like simple mockery, but the idea that he was being serious played through a few of their minds.

Sombra looked through the group, taking note of all their faces. How all of them seemed far more frightened now then they were just a few moments ago. That's when he recalled something. There were more of them than just the six that stood in front of him. He knew one of them was on the ground below, but had trouble remembering where the other was. He remembered that one of them went to the top of his tower to try and get the heart, but he had stopped her when the alarmed sounded. He mentally slapped himself for not realizing right away that she was still in the tower.

"Forgive me," he said to the group, "It appears that we are short two. I wish for all of you to be present for this, so give me but a few moments." With that his horn came to life again, and everyone in the group flinched from the sight. Sombra knew where the first was located, and also knew that it would be much easier to bring to her there than the other.

Below, while many of the other ponies were busy trying to either hide or run, Cadence remained passed out on the ground. So distracted by their own worries, they didn't notice that Cadence was being engulfed by an aura of magic. Slowly her limp body began to rise from the ground, until she was completely levitated into the air. Her body continued to rise, making its way onto the balcony.

When she had finally made it all the way to the top, Sombra simply levitated her over to her friends. Shining Armor was the first by her side, He lifted her in his arms, fear greater than anything he felt in his life gripping his heart. He shook her slightly, trying to get any form of response out of her still body. Shining Armors eyes began to water, unable to forgive himself for letting all that happen to her. When they were married, he promised to protect her no matter what, and he had failed. He willing put her in harms way, knowing that she was too weak to defend herself. What kind of husband was he?

"Poor, deluded filly." he heard the demonic voice of the king say, "Thinking that she stood a chance. I wonder, what drove her to do something so foolish?“ Shining Armor looked up at the tyrant, noticing the smug half smile on his face. Just looking at the source of his wife's pain lit a fire in his chest. His brow furrowed and he gritted his teeth, a deep sense of hatred that he never had reason to feel before now overtaking him. The rage that was welling up inside of him was hotter than even ten of Celestia's suns.

"Now for the last." Sombra said, his horn coming back to life.

From the top of the tower, Twilight had no idea what had happened prior to Spike making his way out of the tower. The dark crystals had completely sealed her in, closing off all sight to the outside world. It was obvious that the heart had not been returned, but that didn't mean she had to abandon all hope. They had pulled through many times before in far worse conditions. Yes, she just had to be patient. She knew Spike wouldn't let them down. Where as he may have screwed things up from time to time, he always pulled through for them.

As Twilight tried everything in her power to keep her spirits up, she felt the ground beneath begin to quake. At first it filled her with hope. She thought that maybe it was the power of the crystal heart restoring the empire. Maybe Spike and the others had come through after all. But her hope was soon replaced with surprise as the floor she stood on dropped out from under her.

As her stomach did a cartwheel from the sudden drop, Twilight let out a loud scream as she continued to descend. The tunnel that she was now riding on almost seemed to go at a complete ninety degree drop and didn't appear to be ending any time soon. She took thanks in the fact that the tunnel was starting to angle out a bit. She continued downward, feeling like it was taking an eternity for her to reach the end. Finally, light was in her sight. She had no idea where this tunnel had taken her, but quite frankly she didn't care. So long as she was out, it didn't matter where she ended up.

As she rocketed out of the tunnel, Twilight found that where she did wind up was not the most favorable of areas. She was now flying through the air, no landing in sight except for the ground several hundred feet below. She let out another loud scream, flailing he limbs around as she looked for something to get hold of. She darted her head around trying to find something to break her fall, but came up with nothing. She looked down once more, noticing how close she was to the ground. She gasped as she covered her eyes, not wishing to look.

She waited to make impact with the ground, feeling the wind rush past her face. But just as it was happening, Twilight suddenly felt herself stop, almost as if something had caught her. She opened her eyes, the ground only inches from her face. Needless to say, it was far more than just a close call. She took a few very deep breaths, trying to get her heart to settle down a bit. That's when she felt herself being risen. At first she thought she was imagining things. That it was just the shock getting to her. Until she put her hoof in front of her face, noticing the aura that was around her.

Twilight gave out a startled gasp, wondering who it was that had caught her. The aura was not that of any of her friends, or even her brother. This was some one else. But the better question was, where was she being taken to now? She looked on as she continued her accent, finally seeing where she was headed. It was the balcony of the palace that she was in. The one that her friends were on.

Twilight thought for a moment that maybe everything was alright. Maybe one of the crystal ponies was up there helping her up to the balcony. For a moment the spark of hope was rekindled inside of her. Only to be extinguished when she came face to face with who it was that had her in his grasp.

When she first got to the same level as the balcony, she was met with only a set of eyes. Upon first sight, the color had her half convinced that it was Rainbow Dash, until she looked closer. Not only was the color much darker than her friends rose colored ones, but these were far more sinister. The eyes she looked into were not at all kind or caring by any stretch of the imagination. The evil held within those eyes were far greater than any villain she had faced before.

"No." Twilight whispered in shock, "No... it can't be." It was all that she could manage to force out before her voice was lost in her throat from her fear. The terror that she had been trying to prevent had come to life. Not only had she failed her mentors test, but now she had unleashed a horrible fate upon the ponies of the city.

"So, you're the one who made it to the top the tower?" Sombra questioned her, bringing her up to the balcony floor and setting her down in front of him. "It must have been quite a trip up all those stairs. I imagine you're thoroughly exhausted my dear." As Sombra spoke, Twilight found herself frozen. Unable to give any form of response, all she did was let her jaw drop slightly.

"Forgive me for my sudden intervention with heart. Had I known you were going to send your little dragon friend to give it to me, I would have made it all the easier for him." Sombra's horn lit up again, this time casting it's glow around the dragon still clinging desperately to his back. With a little effort on his own part, Sombra managed to get him off.

Spike floated in the air for a few moments, his eyes still firmly clenched shut. He felt his feet touch the ground, the cold stone a stark contrast to the cape that Sombra had on his back. He finally forced his eyes open, and a gasp of shock escaped his mouth.

Twilight was sitting in front of the king and himself, the look that she had on her face was just unbearable for the little dragon to look at. Her eyes wide in both terror and shock, and her mouth hanging open in the same manner. Spike had been through a lot in his time with Twilight, but he would have preferred any of their arguments or her out bursts over what he saw now. And the worst part? It was all his fault.

"I... I-I" Spike stammered, trying to find his voice again. "I-I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing, little dragon?" Sombra asked, "You've done nothing wrong. You restored power to where it truly belongs. You should be proud of yourself." He then looked back at the rest of the group. "You should all be proud of yourselves." His gaze then drifted down to Twilight, her look unchanged. "Especially you. Without you, none of this would be possible."

Shining Armor had done everything in his power to keep himself under control, but he had reached his limit with how much he could take. Not only had that 'thing' nearly killed his wife, but now he was openly mocking his sister in front of everyone. The rational part of his mind that told him he didn't have the power to do anything was being pushed aside by his rage. At that moment he didn't care if his horn was not working, or if the tyrant king was far more powerful than any pony he had faced before. His emotions had finally gotten the better of him.

"I'll kill you!" Shining Armor shouted, charging at the distracted king. Sombra's eyes shifted to look at the enraged stallion, loosing his smile as he got closer. Sombra simply rolled his eyes as the stallion got closer, his horn again coming back to life. Just as Shining Armor was only a few feet away from ramming his horn into the kings throat, he was stopped. A burst of energy came from Sombra's horn, sending Shining Armor flying backwards into the wall.

It wasn't the first time that Shining Armor had been hit, but that was something else. It felt like he had been hit in the face with a baseball bat being swung by hurricane. How he had been able to avoid being rendered unconscious was beyond him, but he was thankful. He rose shakily to his hooves, his nose now a fountain of blood. He tried to turn himself back to the king, but was cut off when he felt a strong grip wrap around his throat.

He reached around his throat, trying to pull what ever it was off of him, only to have his hooves come in contact with nothing. He was then forcibly lifted into the air, and brought directly to the king's face. Sombra was now sporting a very angered look, almost as if ready for blood if it came to it. As Shining Armor looked into the kings eyes, the chagrin was far more than evident. Shining Armor knew he was try to intimidate him, but he was so fueled by his own spite that there was no room for anything else in his mind.

"You had better listen to me boy." Sombra told the angered stallion still struggling against his hold. He tightened the magic grip around the unicorns throat, getting him to stop struggling and pay attention to him. "I'm only going to say this once. You have my gratitude, but nothing more. And don't think you can exploit this as a weakness. Your wife is already on lesser terms then the rest of you, and you haven't made your case any better."

"H-H... How did-" Shining Armor tried to choke out.

"Do you mean to say you think I'm stupid?" he asked, obvious venom laced in his tone. "Where as I find that insulting, I'll leave it alone. Yes, I knew she was your wife. You made it painfully obvious before. And if you think what I did to her before was bad, well..." he took a pause than looked over to the still unresponsive mare, "Let's just say that wasn't even a taste of what I can really do. So you'd be wise to keep your head down. If not for your own sake, then maybe hers."

In an instant, Shining Armor's anger was snuffed out. He still had every intent of making the horrid ruler pay for everything he put his family through, but now knew that he had no possible way to do it. His horn was useless with the black crystal still attached to it, and it was clear that this unicorn was not about to give him any chance of an even fight. For the time being, he had to relent. It was the only way that he could be sure his wife and sister would stay alive long enough for him to actually be able to do something about it.

Sombra watched as the male finally stopped his useless struggle, but was still bearing his teeth at him. True, it wasn't complete submission as he wanted, but it would do for the time being. Regaining his confident smile, Sombra turned his sights back to the rest of group.

"Now then," he said to the mares, "I said I would reward you all, so let's go." Still holding the crystal heart in his hoof and not losing his grasp around Shining Armors throat, he proceeded to take the entire group up with his magic. Several of them gave out disapproving sounds, all jumbled and incoherent to the kings ears. The Lavender Unicorn was not making any attempt at all to try and stop him. She seemed to be off in her own little world, completely lost to anything that was happening outside of her own mind.

Sombra began to make his way inside the palace, but stopped when he noticed the young dragon wasn't with him anymore. Ignoring the seemingly endless babbling coming from the mares in his magic, Sombra turned around and saw that the dragon had not moved from his spot at all. Spike simply stood there, his eyes fixed on the drops of blood on the balcony floor that fell from Shining Armors nose earlier.

"Hey." Spike heard Sombra's impatient tone, causing his head to snap up to look at him. "Let's go." he told him, waiting for him to move. Spike knew his options were limited. If he tried to get away, what would that accomplish? All it would likely do is result in his friends getting into a worse situation, or even killed. Even if his friends weren't a factor, where would he go? The city was cut off from the outside. He would just have to go with it for now.

Sombra kept his eyes on the dragon as he slowly made his way over to him. When he finally got to his side, Sombra continued to make his way into the castle. As they started making the long trek, Sombra found himself getting increasingly annoyed by the endless empty threats that the group kept spouting out at him. The only ones who kept quiet were the unconscious mares, the stallion who he had in a strangling grip, and the lavender unicorn who was just numb to the world. Sombra gritted his teeth, trying to stay calm. I'll only have to deal with this once. he thought to himself, not wanting his annoyance to get the better of him.

"Ah, here we are." Sombra said, stopping in front of a large metal door with several unknown pattern carved into it. The group stopped their annoying chatter and looked at what the king was speaking of. After placing the crystal heart on a near by pedestal, Sombra touched a certain part of the wall, almost like a hidden button. Upon contact with his hoof, a series of lights came to life, lighting up the door. Once the light pattern was fully complete in the doors etching, it opened, revealing a long stairway leading further down. Once the group saw the stairs, their chattering began once more, testing Sombra's patience once again.

As they got to the bottom of the stairs relatively quickly, it became evident to the group that the so called reward that Sombra spoke of was not going to be anything good. "Well, here we are." Sombra said as he stopped at the bottom of the stair case. All at once, the room lit up, as if hearing his voice. "Welcome to your quarters."

The room was nothing more than a small dungeon. The cold stone that made up most of the room was as black as Sombra's heart. Ten cells were inside, five on either side. All the cell doors were open, waiting for the next occupant to be placed inside. The bars of the cells were made of the same strange metal that made the door leading to the room. The room itself seemed dreary and was about as welcoming as pit filled with crocodiles. Sombra slowly trotted his way down the small hall of the dungeon until he got to the end, an open cell on either side of him.

"You're first." Sombra said, his eyes going to Shining Armor. With out any other warning, Shining Armor was forcibly thrown into the cell, hitting the wall at the back. Sombra carefully closed the door to the cell, being far more gentle with it than he was with the stallion. Next was the pink alicorn, and she too was thrown into her cell. Unlike Shining Armor however, she wasn't awake to fell the pain. Though it hurt Shining Armor just as much to see her so horribly mistreated.

King Sombra continued down the line of the cells, throwing the ponies in one at a time, until there was only one left. It was the purple unicorn that had done almost nothing since he talked to her. Sombra simply placed her in the cell, closed the door, and then looked into her eyes. He saw nothing. No form of hope, happiness, or even a trace of defiance. It made him smile.

"I see your in the right mind set already." Sombra said to Twilight, not getting a response out of her as he expected.

"Hey what gives?!" he heard the mare in the cell next to him say. He turned around, noticing that the rainbow maned one was giving him an angry, questioning stare. "You said you were gonna reward us. What's all this about?"

"Child, this is your reward." Sombra said to Rainbow Dash, "Instead of working out there with the slaves, you'll be remaining in here with your friends. Isn't that a far more preferable fate?"

Rainbow Dash simply glared at the cynical king, wishing she had done something when she still had the chance. Sombra then turned away, about to go back to the stairs where the small dragon was waiting. "What's up with you?!" Dash shouted to him, "Why are you doing all this? Why are you making all those ponies work themselves ragged? Why are you being such a jerk?"

Sombra stopped mid step, as if taking a pause. For a moment Dash thought she had actually gotten through to him, or maybe just got him to think about it. That was until Sombra slammed his hoof on ground. Sombra turned back to face her, his eyes aglow with anger. He stomped back over to the cell Rainbow Dash was in, and met her eyes with his own. A small sound of fear managed to escape Dash's throat as she found herself paralyzed in terror once more. Now she remembered just why she hadn't done anything earlier. His gaze alone could kill a small animal, and she had gotten a glimpse on two occasions of just what he was capable of.

"Let me tell you something, little girl." he broke his gaze away from Dash, focusing on the group as a whole. "Let me tell you all something. Your little fantasy land where everything goes your way and there are no problems to deal with doesn't exist any more." He cast his gaze down to the pink mare, "This is the real world, children. And in the real world, you never get everything you want." Pinkie stared into Sombra's eyes, a forced, awkard smile on her face as she nodded to him, trying to get him to stop focusing on her. Sombra then turned his eyes to the yellow pegasus, who was already quacking violently. "Where as some of you may not be appreciative of the kindness I've given you, it would behoove you to hold your tongue about it." Fluttershy couldn't do anything except look at him, her teeth starting to chatter.

Sombra stepped away from the cells again making his way back to the doorway. "Welcome to reality, children." Sombra said, not bothering to even look over his shoulder, "I hope you can get used to it, because you aren't going to be leaving." When Sombra got back to the entrance, he turned to the group once more, the angered scowl now gone from his face. "Oh, and when your friends come to, you might want to tell them, if they value their lives, they won't try any of their magic in the cells. Or you could let them." Sombra said, turning away once more. "I haven't had a decent laugh in many years, and it would be enjoyable to hear how they react."

Sombra looked down at Spike, noticing how his eyes darted around the room, looking at each of his friends in their cells. "Come now, young one. Let's leave them be. We've all had a long day, and I'm sure they must be exhausted." Giving no argument, Spike slowly stepped his way back to the doorway, not able to pull himself away from looking at his friends. They all looked at him, pleading expressions on their faces. Silently begging for help that he couldn't give. But what got his attention most, was Twilight.

That hopeless expression on her face was still tearing him up on the inside. In all the years that he had known her, never once did her see her look this down. There were times when she could get eccentric about menial things, but she had never been hopeless. What was truly killing Spike on the inside though, was the fact that he wasn't sharing in the same punishment that all of them received. For some odd reason, the king had chosen to keep him.

Spike slowly backed his way out of the room, his gaze now fixed on the floor, unable to bear the looks he was given any longer. He met Sombra on the stairs, the king giving him an approving smile. The two of them proceeded up the stairway, leaving behind the only hope that remained for not only the Crystal Empire, but for all of Equestria as well.

When the pair reached the top of the stairs, the large metal door slammed shut behind them, startling the barely aware Spike. Sombra took a moment to take a breath, letting out a long sigh of relief as he closed his eyes. Finally, he thought to himself, picking up the heart shaped gem that sat nearby. Now that the annoyances are taken care of, I can get down to business.

"U-Um... K-King Sombra, sir?" he heard a weak voice say to him. Sombra was broken from his concentration, and looked down to what he heard. He looked at the dragon in question, noticing the nervous look on his face, coupled by the sweat pouring down his forehead. "Y-You said... that you were going to... reward me as well... W-Why wasn't I thrown in with my friends?"

"Oh yes," Sombra said, taking the heart in his magic, "Come, let us walk whilst we cool our tongues." Sombra began walking his way to the throne, Spike by his side the entire way. "Forgive me, for it is not in my nature to show favoritism, but we all must make exception."

"What do you mean?" Spike asked, making sure he kept as much distance as he could away from the king.

"You were the one who brought the heart directly to me," Sombra said to him, his eyes glancing at the art that lined the walls. "therefor you will be receiving something better than your friends." Sombra stopped as the two of them reached the throne room. He did a quick scan of the room, not liking the way it was. "This is a bit flashy for my taste. But I'll redecorate later."

Sombra felt a sudden sharp pain run through his head, and with it the magic around the heart flickered for a moment. After giving his head a brief rub, he walked to one of the windows, looking out to the barrier that surrounded the city.

Damn. he thought to himself, I guess being in the ice for so long took more out of me than I thought. All that show of force may not have been necessary to get my point across. I don't know how long the curse is going to last this time, but I hope it's long enough to find it. I know that once the spell ends, those two will be all over trying to over throw me again. Sombra was grinding his teeth at the thought of losing his chance again. At least if it does end too soon, I'll have some leverage this time.

Sombra turned back to Spike, who was still standing there twidling his thumbs as he waited for the king to continue. "First of all," Sombra said to Spike, "I need to know your name. If you're going to be working for me, I'll need to know."

"S-Spike, sir." he answered him without hesitation. "But, what do you mean 'working' for you?"

"It's quite simple... Spike." Sombra said, trying to get himself used to such an esoteric name. "Pony kind has proven to me time and time again that it can't be trusted. So, I figure maybe a dragon will be a little bit more reliable." Sombra gave the little dragon another evil smile. "I do hope you don't try and prove me wrong."

"What kind of work?" Spike first thought that Sombra was going to be putting him to work in mines. He was only half right.

"With so many ponies to rule over, and with all work they'll be needing to do," Sombra said, his eyes narrowing on the dragon. "I'm going to need a foreman for the slaves."

Punishment or Reward?

"U-Um sir," Spike said, unable to keep the grimace off his face. "What... is a foreman?" Spike waited for the answer as Sombra continued to stare a hole through him. The little dragon was already on edge, and the oppressive look that he was getting from the king wasn't helping his nerves at all. That's when he heard a small chuckle from the king. The sheer demonic style of the laugh didn't give Spike any hope that he was in for anything good.

"A foreman, little lizard" Sombra began, "is someone who watches over the workers. And, if necessary, issues disciplinary action." At the mention of the word discipline, Spike became worried. The only other time he heard that word was when Twilight was talking about punishment.

"Before we can get that started," Sombra said, turning to face the throne. "I simply must set this place right again." After depositing the gem into his hoof, Sombra's horn lit up again. His eyes were aglow with a more vibrant green then they had ever been before. The floor began to tremble violently like before, and Spike was struggling to stay on his feet. The room began to grow darker in color, almost as if someone was simultaneously painting it black and turning the lights down.

The once vibrant and colorful crystals that decorated the throne room were fading to black, becoming jagged and sharp like all the others. The once sterling room was now taking on a very morbid vibe. The throne that Cadence once sat on was now becoming like the rest of the room. Once Sombra had finished casting his spell, he opened his eyes to behold his old throne room. Just as he remembered it from before.

"Much better." he said, looking over his newly refurbished throne. The only light left in all the room was the gentle flickering coming from the torches ominous blue flames. "Now for the matter of your attire." Sombra said, looking back down to Spike. "You'll be needing a few things for your new position. Hold still." The magic in Sombra's horn came back, this time enveloping Spike.

Although Spike knew the king wasn't going to hurt him, it wracked his nerves to think about what he might be doing. As the warm glow of the magic surrounded him, Spike felt his body becoming slightly heavier, almost as if the magic was adding more weight to him. There was a brief, but very bright flash of light, causing Spike to shut his eyes in reflex.When the light passed, Spike opened his eyes again, now feeling like he had a few extra things on his body.

Spike looked himself over, taking note of all the new articles he had on. The first that he felt was the vest he was now wearing. It was completely black, and had no pockets, buttons, or anything to secure it to himself. It was simply draped over his shoulders. The next thing he noticed was the belt that was secured around his waist. It was just a simple brown belt with a steel fastener. But what got his attention was what was on the belt. On his right hip was a sort of satchel. He knew there was something in it, but he was far to distract by what was on his left hip to check.

There, dangling on his left side... was a whip. It was coiled up to be compacted, a lighter shade of brown than his belt. Spike knew the implications of having such an item, and it turned his stomach to even think of a reason to need it.

"The satchel contains everything that you will need for your duties." Sombra told him, "Inside are shift papers, as well as plenty of ink and quills. When the work starts, everyone will line up and give their number. Once they state their number, you mark them off. If any are missing, you will inform the Watchers. If any accidents happen, or if someone is not performing their work right, you will write it down."

"W-Watchers?" Spike asked hesitantly.

"Oh yes, that reminds me." Sombra turned around to face one of the large black crystals that had formed in the room. "You'll find that these crystals are far more useful when they have been 'corrupted', as I'm sure you've heard them be called." For brief moment, Sombra's magic surrounded the crystal. For a few moments, nothing happened. Spike was about to question what the king just did, but then he saw the crystal shake slightly. Spike kept his eyes on the slowly vibrating gem. That's when it started to crack.

Slowly the cracks made their way down the crystal, almost like something was inside, trying to get out. Spike continued to watch as the jagged lines made their way down, finally reaching the base. Seemingly out of nowhere, the crystal then partially exploded sending bits of the gem everywhere. Spike shielded his eyes with his arm to protect himself from the shrapnel. After he felt no more of the debris flying past him, he dropped his arm. And the sight he was met with was beyond peculiar.

Where the crystal once was, now stood what looked like a statue made of the same black mineral. It had the basic form of a pony, but lacked any kind of defining features. It was just a very tall, very well built body. It lacked a mane, tail, or any facial features for that matter.

At first, Spike didn't understand why King Sombra had done this. Until he saw the crimson spheres appear on the crystal pony's face. They were right about where the eyes were supposed to be, just slightly smaller. As quickly as the orbs appeared on it's face, they contorted into a sort of furrowed angry glare. The statue then slowly started to move it's head, a soft but distinct grinding could be heard as it did so. It looked to Spike and the king, still holding that angered glare.

Spike noticed the thing try to move it's front leg, but it was stuck to the floor. It moved a few more times, before a loud crack was heard as it forcibly pried it's leg off the floor. It quickly followed suit with the others, each of it's hooves making a loud thud as they hit the ground.

Keeping it's eyes on the two of them, the possessed crystal slowly stomped it's way over to Spike and Sombra. Becoming nervous from the creatures approach, Spike took a step back. This didn't go unnoticed from Sombra, who simply gave a small throaty chuckle.

"W-Wha... Sir, w-what is that thing?" Spike said in a somewhat hushed tone, his voice partially catching in his throat.

"Don't worry yourself." Sombra told him in a slightly amused tone. "This is one of the Watchers I was speaking of before. They act as my workers, overseers if you will. They ensure that the slaves do their respective duties, unbiased by the emotions that normal ponies have. They do their duties without sleep, they don't require nourishment, and they never speak."

"B-But sir," Spike began, "If you have these things, why do you need me?"

Sombra took a moment to look down at Spike, glance him over with a look of minor irritation. It gave Spike a sudden jolt of fear, thinking he had just incurred the king's wrath. But rather than punishment, as Spike expected, Sombra simply sighed in annoyance.

"Where as these golems have their usefulness," Sombra told him, "They lack in a few areas. One of them is mental capacity. They follow orders without question and understand basic instructions, but they can not make their own decisions. That's why I need you, little one. I was complacent before my imprisonment, and it cost me dearly. I'm going to ensure that it doesn't happen again."

Spike looked back to the black crystal pony statue. It hadn't moved an inch since it stopped right in front of the two of them. It's crystal body smooth and sleek, save for a few jagged points that came from the corners of it's makeshift body. It just stood there unwavering, looking at the two of them with those unchanged, angry, glowing eyes. It made the nervous feeling in Spike's chest burning hotter.

"Oh, and when I said they keep the slaves in line, that doesn't go for you." Sombra told him. Spike cast his eyes to the king, a questioning look in his eyes. "They obey me, and do not bother anyone I deem worthy of none manual labor. You have been marked in this case."

That sounded off to Spike. What did he mean that he'd mean marked? He thought for a moment, then began to look over his body, searching for the mark in question. He didn't have to look very long, noticing that his left hand was bearing it. Or, more specifically, his claw. Rather than the usual shade of purple like all of the other ones were, this one was now a deep shade of red. Almost as if it was coated with blood.

"That mark keeps you safe." Sombra told him, "The overseers will not bother you, and in turn will take basic orders from you. And when I say basic, I simply mean telling them of situations that need to be taken care of. This is an incredibility important task... Spike. If I find out that you are not doing your duties correctly, there will be grim consequences." Sombra leaned in close to Spikes face, making eye contact with the young dragon. "Do you understand me?"

Spike shook uncontrollably from looking into his eyes, but managed to give a weak nod.

"Good." Sombra said, giving a slight smirk. He picked the heart up in his magic, freeing the hoof he was using to hold it. "Come, we still have a few things to take care of before the day ends." Sombra started making his way back to the hall that they had walked down earlier. Not wanting to giving the king any further reason to be annoyed, Spike quickly followed suit, his newest items swaying from side to side as he made it over to the king's side.

When Spike managed to catch up to Sombra, he heard several loud thuds come from behind them. He glanced over his shoulder, noticing that the crystal golem was directly behind them, keeping a fair distance from the two of them. It's head swiveled slightly, casting it's eyes on Spike for a brief moment. Just as it's eyes set on the young dragon, Spike quickly turned his head back to facing forward.

As they made their way down the hall, they passed the large dungeon door that they had been to not but a few minutes ago. For the briefest of moments, Spike couldn't help but think of his friends. Think about what he had gotten them into. However, his train of thought was interrupted when he heard another loud bang from behind him, spurring him to keep going with the king.

Finally, they made it back out to the balcony. When they looked over the edge, they saw that the city was still in complete disarray. As they watched for a few seconds, Spike could have swore that he heard an angry growl escape from Sombra's mouth.

"This has gone on for long enough. The anarchy stops here." Sombra thought out loud. He looked around a few seconds more, looking over the many features dotting the land. More specifically, the number of black crystals that were below. After counting out enough, Sombra brought the heart to his hoof once more, the magic of his horn not fading when he released the heart.

The aura of his horn began to grow brighter, focusing hard on the spell he was casting. He narrowed his eyes, as if looking at something in the far off distance.This didn't go unnoticed by Spike, who simply stared as the king kept casting the unseen spell.

For a very brief second, Spike saw a few flashes of light in the distance. He tore his eyes was from Sombra, looking off to the scene of the city below. That's when he noticed where the flashes were coming from. Many the blackened crystals that littered the city were lighting up for a brief moment, much like the way Sombra had done so before.

While many of the crystal ponies were still mindlessly running around, some remained completely still. One such mare remained frozen, blankly staring up at the shadow dome above them. Had she been aware of her surroundings, she would have noticed the faint flash of magical aura that came over the crystal that she was sitting directly next to.

It was only when she started to hear the cracking that she was finally broken from her trance. She looked to her left, finally taking notice of the almost completely cracked gem. She let a short gasp, her eyes staying wide in horror. She had seen this several times before, and knew what was coming.

"No." She muttered to herself, slowly backing away from the now still crystal. With one large eruption, the crystal exploded, leaving only the crystal golem in it's place. All across the city, the loud shattering of crystal could be heard. Each one bringing with it something new to fear.

The lone mare continued to slowly move away from the statue, wishing to be as far away from it as possible. The crimson spheres came to it's face, shaping themselves into the telltale angry glare. She heard the slow grinding as the entity swiveled it's head slightly, casting its soulless gaze on her.

She turned sharply, letting out a loud scream as she ran away from the demonic being. She looked behind herself for a moment, just to make sure the thing wasn't following her. So fixed on what she feared might be after her, she neglected to look ahead, crashing into another solid object.

She looked up, only to now be facing yet another of the cold statues that she was trying to get away from. The possessed crystal simple looked down on her with it's cold, emotionless eyes. Not taking her eyes off the new threat in front of her, she backed away from it, knowing that these things had no mind for anythings well being.

Turning her head slightly, she noticed many of the other citizens, doing much the same as her. They were all either being slowly lead toward the center of the city, or backing away from the golems. When they were all rounded up, she finally noticed just how many of the black crystal statues there were. They must have numbered in the dozens.

"Citizens of the Crystal Empire!" All the ponies heard the loud shout from above, looking up at the noise. Where as this time there were no frightened gasps, many of them simply widened their eyes and let their mouths hang open. Sombra had another announcement to make, and the Overseers were back... there was no way anything good was about to happen.

"There will be order in this kingdom my slaves!" Sombra went on when he was sure he had all of their attention. "I realize that I have been away for some time, but don't think this means things have changed. Things will pick up where they left off, and everything will be as it was. Well not everything."

Spike felt an all too familiar feeling go through his body. He looked himself over once, and noticed that Sombra's aura surrounded him again. The next thing he knew, he was being lifted into the air. After being in the air for a brief moment, he found himself on the railing of the balcony, looking down on all of the rounded up citizens. As if they were cattle.

"Say hello to your new foreman." Sombra introduced him to the crowd, "His name is... Spike. But, you will call him sir, just as you do with me. He'll be the one watching over you from now on, along side the Overseers. I know you remember all the rules, so I won't reiterate them. And also trust you will give the same treatment to your new manager as you would me."

Spike looked down on the crowd below him. He wasn't surprised by the fact that they all looked worried and completely forlorn, but he was rather shocked to see where it was all directed. Every single one of the feared gazes... were being cast on him.

All of these ponies were now afraid of him. All because Sombra had put him in charge of them.

The gears in Spike's mind turned, finally arriving at a horrible conclusion. He now knew why Sombra had given him special treatment. This was as much a reward as his friends received, and most likely worse than theirs. Not only would he have to be right there to watch all of these ponies work themselves to near death, but now he was a part of it.

Author's Note

Sorry about the big delay. I've had to deal with something recently. Hopefully this will keep your appetites sated for now. More to come, and once again, sorry for the delay.

Sweet Dreams

"Now that we've reestablished the status quo," Sombra said to the crowd, "It's time to call it a day. Work resumes first thing tomorrow morning. Same time, same place, same thing as always. Now, back to your homes."

The crystal ponies were pulled away from Sombra's speech when the heard several loud hoof steps. Some of them looked to see where it was coming from. All they saw were the overseers moving aside, making a hole for them to pass through.

For a few moments, none of them did anything. They simply stood where they were, their eyes darting around at each other, wondering what to do. A few of them dared to look up, only to be met by Somrba's ever growing angry eyes. It was clear to them that he was getting impatient.

One of them worked up a small amount of courage and walked toward the gap that the overseers formed. As he was about make it out, he looked to one of the overseers, silently asking the question that everyone else was too scared to say. All he was met with was a simple nod in the opposite direction.

Turning his head forward, the lone stallion walked off crestfallen, heading to his home. The rest of the crowd followed suit, not wishing to be around the king or their newest miniature dictator. Even though they knew next to nothing about the dragon Sombra had mentioned, they knew that if he was selected by the king he had to be equally evil.

They all silently walked away, Sombra eying them from above. Sombra gave a half smirk, pleased that the disorder had been taken care of. Once the crystal ponies had gone off to their homes, he took the next step.

"Overseers!" he called out to the golems below. All of the Watchers looked up to their king, their gaze unchanged even to their ruler. "Take up your sentinel positions for the evening. All are to be awake at the hour of five to be given food. Afterwords, everyone will line up at the mine's entrance to report to the foreman. Once all are accounted for, your next guard shift will begin in the mines."

The golems gave no response other than simple nods. Once the last of the citizens were off the streets, they slowly began to disband from the circle they had formed. Sombra and Spike continued to watch the golems, seeing where they were going. The first few took up positions on the corners of the closest streets, simply holding their positions. Many of the other took up similar posts, while the remaining were left to patrol the streets.

Spike continued to look on, still frozen not only from his realization, but from what Sombra had been able to accomplish in such a short time. As impressive as it was to see a pony work so efficiently, it also made him wonder how he was going to run everything else.

"Excellent." Sombra said, a satisfied look on his face. Spike looked up at Sombra, his height almost equal with him standing on the railing. Sombra looked to Spike, his expression unchanged. "Well now, my friend, I'd say it's time we retire for the night. We have a very busy day ahead of us tomorrow, and we'll need all the rest we can get."

Sombra turned quickly, then made his way back to the door of the balcony, the crystal golem still silently waiting there. Spike jumped down from the balcony, his mind not fully aware that his body was acting without his consent. It was as if Spike was there, but gone in his own world. A world where he was trying to make sense of the insanity that was going on around him and everyone else.

As the three of them continued to walk down the hallway, they passed by the dungeon door once more. Spike was able to get himself out of his head, finally taking notice as to where he was. He had heard that when someone was in a state of deep anxiety that they sometimes lose focus with the world, but he never believed it until then.

As they passed the door, Spike could have swore that time he had heard the sound of soft voices. Almost like he could hear them talking. He wanted to stop and see if pressing his ear against the door might help with understanding what they were saying, but knew better. With Sombra in front of him, and the golem behind him, stopping would have likely meant more trouble than he was already in.

Spike desperately wanted to know what was going on with his friends. With the way that he left them, they were no doubt disappointed in him. They were probably sitting there, wondering how he could do something so horrible as to abandon them. Wondering how he, as their friend, could just flat out give up on them.

Where as it crushed Spike's heart to think about this, he was only given a brief bit of time to actually grieve. He had to keep his pace with the king, lest he ruin any chance of seeing them again. Which would ruin any chance he had to tell them how sorry he was. He may have said it once, but he knew it wasn't enough.

Finally, the group made it back to the throne room entrance. But they didn't go in, as Spike had expected. Rather, Sombra kept leading them down the hallway. Not far away from the throne room was another door on the adjacent side. "Here we are." Sombra stated simply before pushing the door open.

Sombra stepped inside, Spike following behind him. Once in, Spike turned around to see if the crystal golem had followed them. Surprisingly though, the golem was still outside. Spike looked back at the king, not fully expecting an answer, but he got one regardless.

"The Watchers are not allowed in my personal quarters." Sombra said, almost knowing what Spike was thinking. "He will remain outside the room for the evening. Even though a guard isn't needed, I think it's only fitting that I be safe with everything I do. Please, light the torch on the wall."

Spike assumed he was talking to him, and looked on the wall for the aforementioned torch. It took him a second to find it in the near pitch black room, but he finally found it. He walked up to the wall, inhaled deeply, and blow a shot burst of his fire at the head of the torch.

The second the flame made contact, the entire room was lit up. All of the other torches that lined the rest of the walls were aglow with the flame as well. With the room now well lit, Spike could see everything that was inside.

The room itself was fairly large, even by the standards that Spike had seen through out the castle. In the center of the room was a very large bed, a steel gray spread over the top of it. To the left was a small table and a good sized book shelf, several hundred books all neatly placed and organized. To the right was a simple dresser made of some sort of dark wood. Two doors were on either side of the room, one of which Spike assumed was the wash room.

"I'll have your own room prepared for you soon enough." Sombra told Spike, getting the young dragons attention once more. "For the time being you will reside in here with me. I have no other beds, but there are plenty of linens in the closet."

Spike saw the gem that Sombra was still levitating in his magic, watching as it went higher up. He continued to follow the heart, finally seeing where it was headed. Above the head board of Sombra's bed was a glass orb, just big enough to house the crystal.

The heart was placed on the small pedestal inside of the glass sphere, Sombra's aura now off of it. Sombra then closed the small door on the glass ball, a small locking sound being heard after it shut. Now for the final touch. Sombra thought to himself. A small flash of his magic went over the now encased heart, sealing it in with the aura.

"It'll do for the night." Sombra said. Just then he felt a sudden, sharp pain surge through his head. He resisted the urge to rub his hoof against his head, and simply gritted his teeth. He then looked at the heart again, his brow furrowing from pent up anger.

These flaws in my magic are becoming intolerable. Sombra thought, I can't believe that time in the ice took this much out of me. I need to reintegrate my training in the morning. If I don't get my mental focus straight again, these surges of pain are going to get the better of me.

Sombra cast his gaze back down to Spike, who was still looking over the room. Using his magic, Sombra slowly closed the door, a few creaks coming from the hinges. Once Spike heard the latch lock, he turned back to the door. It didn't go unnoticed by Sombra, who simply rolled his eyes at the young dragons jumpiness.

"Your constant nervousness is beginning to irritate me." Sombra said to him, getting Spike's attention. "I can understand that this is all something very new for you to take in, but I have already told you that you have nothing to fear. And I don't think it would be very becoming of you to act that way around the slaves tomorrow."

All Spike could do was nod, his voice now lost to him. Where as he didn't want to admit it, Sombra was right. He had already said several times that no harm would come to him. But it did little to calm his nerves.

"Now then," Sombra went on, "Through that door there is the linen closet. Take what you will-" Before he could finish his sentence, Sombra was interrupted by a loud, shrill scream. Both he and Spike looked to the direction of where the scream came from.

At first both of them wore looks of confusion, but Sombra's was quickly replaced with that of amusement. He then gave a low, throaty laugh, fully realizing what it was he heard. "It's sounds like someone didn't take my advice." he said after his short chuckle.

Spike didn't need to be told where that came from. He would have recognized that high feminine scream anywhere.

Rarity, he thought to himself somberly.

As the bright flash slowly faded away, Rarity was still left holding her head tightly in her hooves. The pain going through her was unbearable.

She had woken up not but a second ago, heavily shocked when she saw just where she was. Her mind immediately went into panic mode, and she went to the door without any thought. He friends, who had been for the most part quiet the entire time she was out, tried to warn her, but were too late.

Before they could get her attention, Rarity tried to see if she could some how force the door open. But the result was far from what she was expecting. Her aura that was surrounding the door switched to its opposite color, and then shot itself back at her horn.

Once the reversed magic made contact with her, Rarity's mind became nothing but a sea of pain.

She continued lying there on the floor, still screaming in agony. Her friends couldn't do anything except look at her, some grimacing from the thought of the pain she must have been going through, others simply feeling bad for her.

"OW, OW, OW! It feels like my skull's being split open!" Rarity screamed, squeezing her head tightly in her hooves as the tears streamed down her face.

"Sorry Rare." Applejack apologized across from her, "We tried warnin' ya, but you moved too fast for any of us to get a word out."

Adjacent from Rarity's cell, Shining Armor continued to watch the mare writhe in agony. Where as he was worried about her, he admittedly was more concerned with the well being of his wife. She hadn't moved at all since she was forcibly thrown into her cell like the rest of them.

He pulled his gaze away from Rarity, focusing on Cadence once more. It was the first time that he truly got a good look at how badly she had been injured. The most prominent one being the giant bruise where the blast of energy had first struck her.

Before he could further look over her body, he noticed the smallest of movements from her. Slowly her eyes fluttered open as she groaned in discomfort. She tried picking herself up from the floor, but stopped as she felt her body become wracked with pain from her movement. She sucked in air through her teeth, trying to keep herself from shouting out.

"Cadence." she heard from the cell across from her. She looked up, seeing the face of her husband. Even with as much pain as she was in, just seeing the face of the stallion she loved was enough to help ease some of the discomfort away.

"Shining Armor." she responded in a frail voice. It was then she noticed the dried blood on his face. At first she didn't understand what could have caused it, but quickly thought of the answer. Sombra had hurt him, and from the look of all the blood, his nose may have very well been broken.

At the thought, Cadence's heart sank. Not only had she failed in getting the crystal heart and saving the empire, but now her husband was seriously hurt. If only she had been just a bit faster. If only she had been able to defend herself, maybe they wouldn't be in this situation.

"I'm sorry." she said to him in a weak tone, sounding nearly on the verge of tears. "This is my fault. If i had just been-"

"Don't you dare blame yourself for this." he said, cutting her off. "If anything, this is my fault. I willingly put you in harms way. I knew you were exhausted, but I still put you in danger. If anyone should be begging forgiveness it should be me."

"It wasn't all your fault." she said in a whisper, "You knew there was no other way." She took a pause, her shortness of breath making it difficult to speak. "It was just as much my fault as it was yours. Don't shoulder this burden alone."

Shining Armor took a breath and held it, fearing that if he let it out that he wouldn't be able to control himself. He couldn't stand the thought of his wife taking any of the blame for what happened. How could any of it be her fault? But even still, he knew better than to try and argue with her.

"Well..." he said, trying to think of what he could possibly say next. Finally he let out his breath in a long sigh, unable to think of anything.

"Alright." he relented, "Your right. Just please take it slow. I don't know how injured you are, so don't move too fast. And don't try using your magic. These cells have something in them that will hurt you if you try."

Cadence gave the smallest of smiles to him as she nodded. He smiled back, knowing that they were at least at an understanding for the time being. Deep inside he still fully blamed himself, but he wouldn't let her know.

"What are we gonna do now?" Fluttershy asked, her voice heavy with fear.

Shining Armor looked to her direction, trying to come up with something to say. He looked around the room, trying to find something that could be of possible use to them. But came up with nothing. But even he did find anything he had no way of getting to it. Their situation looked completely hopeless.

"I... I don't know." he forced himself to say.

"Guys," Applejack said, getting everyone's attention, "Ah keep tryin' to find some sorta hope to all this, but... there's nothin' at all ah can find."

Everyone's eyes went to Applejack. The tone in her voice was unlike anything they had heard from her before. Usually she was the one to always try and restore their morale when the situation looked grim, but this... this was so unlike her. Even if she was being honest.

"Come on, guys!" Rainbow Dash piped up, "There has to be something we can do. We can't just sit here and do nothing."

"Rainbow." Applejack said, trying to get her friends attention. "What do ya suppose we do?"

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to give a response, but nothing came to mind. She quickly closed her mouth and took some time to actually think about her response. Twice more she tried to give her friends a real response, and twice more she was me with the same result. She had no answer for them.

"Okay, just because I can't think of anything doesn't mean that everything's hopeless. I'm sure that one of us can think of something." She then looked to the cell across from her. "Twilight, I know you. You must have something planned, right?" There was a long silence. "...Twilight."

All those who could looked to Twilight, trying to see what it was that had caused Rainbow Dash to call out to her a second time. At first there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Twilight was still sitting at the front of her cell, being as quiet as she was when they first got there. But they quickly realized that was the problem.

Twilight hadn't moved an inch since she had been placed in that prison. She was just sitting there, her large sad eyes glued to the floor. It was difficult to tell if she was even breathing.

None of them had ever seen her like that before. There were times when she would get impulsive and lash out, but she had never been disheartened into silence. None of them could have imagined how much she had on her mind. How heavily she was burdened with the feeling of failure.

"Twilight?" Pinkie said from the cell adjacent to her, "What's wrong?" Twilight gave no response. She didn't even acknowledge her pink friend. She just continued to stare a hole through the floor.

Pinkie thought for a brief moment, trying to come up with a solution to get her to answer them. But Rainbow Dash beat her to the punch.

"Twilight, you can't blame yourself for this." the pegasus said, "You had no way of stopping what happened. You were trapped, what could you have done?"

"Yeah." Pinkie jumped in, trying to back Dash up. "How can this be your fault? All you could do was send Spike with the heart. And if that were the case, we might as well blame him."

"Pinkie! Not helping." Dash hissed at the cell next to her.

"Sorry. Didn't mean it that way." Pinkie apologized.

"Come on, Twilight." Dash resumed, "At least let us know your still alive."

Finally, Twilight did respond. But not verbally.

Twilight slowly stood up from the floor, her gaze still fixed on the same spot. For a few seconds she simply idled there, her eyes slightly glossy now. She then turned herself away from the cell door, facing away from everyone else. Continuing with her eerily slow movements, Twilight walked over to the small cot that was in the corner of her cell.

She climbed onto the dingy, unkempt bed and curled up into a ball, unable to continue looking at everyone else. And the very fact that they were trying to down play her role in their current situation only made it worse to bare.

This is all my fault she thought to herself, If I had just been quicker... if had just been smart enough to know that there was a trap waiting... but now it doesn't matter. I've destroyed everyone's lives.... Spike's especially. At the thought of her assistant, the tears that had been brimming in her eyes finally fell.

Spike... I'm so sorry. I never wanted anything to happen to you. And now look what I've done. The thought of what Sombra could possibly be doing to the young dragon weighed heavily on Twilight's mind. She covered her face with her hooves, and began to weep softly.

I've failed everyone. My friends, my family, my teacher... everyone. she continued thinking to herself, How could I have let them down like this? How could I allow this to happen? It's all my fault. She continued crying, drowning in her own sea of sadness.

Rainbow Dash was the only one that could see what was going on, and it tore her up just to look. You didn't need to be a genius to figure out that she was beating herself up over the whole thing. But even though Dash was the only one watching, all the others could hear what was going on.

True, it wasn't the most loud or dramatic crying they had ever heard, but it was by far the worst. What made it so hard for them to hear was just the sheer amount of hurt that resonated from it. Never before had they heard anything like that come from Twilight.

Before any of them had a chance to say something to her, the torch lights dimmed. With what little flame was actually left on the torch heads, they might as well have been out. No one in the room could see much farther than their own prison bars.

A few shocked gasps could be heard through the room, which slowly turned into hushed whispers. Almost as if they were afraid someone was listening. Afraid that they were being watched.

Sombra deposited the last piece of his armor onto the dresser, a soft metallic clank coming from the plate. It had been centuries since his imprisonment, but even after all that time, it never failed to amaze him how great it always felt just to get it off.

Next to his plate armor and cape were the few articles of clothing he had given Spike. He told the the young dragon he could place his belongings along side his own, and then set about making his bed for the evening.

Across the room, Spike was busy setting up his sleeping area. It wasn't much, but he was able to make something that was mostly like his old bed back at the library. Sombra even had an old basket that he could use.

He put down enough sheets to make a suitable padding for the bottom, and had managed to find an extra blanket. All in all, it would do for the time being.

"Alright," Sombra said, turning to Spike. "Now that everything is taken care of for the evening, let us be off to bed." All Spike did was nod, not wanting to say anything else.

Sombra climbed into his large, immaculate bed, and Spike got himself curled up inside of his basket. As Sombra laid his head into the pillow, his horn began to glow. The torches of the room completely died, plunging the room into near pitch black. The only light remaining coming from the windows, and the ominous glow of the magic barrier surrounding the glass orb that contained the heart.

Sombra gave out a heavy sigh, relaxing for the first time in years. His eyes slowly drifted close, able to truly sleep for once.

But next to him, Spike could not find any way to be at ease. His mind was just swimming with thoughts. And even as he was lying there, begging for sleep to find him, his active mind kept him from drifting off.

Twilight... everyone... I'm sorry. he thought to himself, feeling his eyes begin to glaze over. If I weren't such a screw up, none of us would be in this situation. We might have actually won if it were one of you who took the heart. But now I've made a mistake I can't fix.

He felt the hot tears beginning to fall down his face, but he forced himself not make a sound. Fearing that even a pin dropping would wake the tyrant king. But he couldn't stop his tears, no matter how hard he tried.

What's gonna happen tomorrow? Spike continued thinking, What will happen to them? What's gonna happen to their families? Will they even know where we are? The questions continued to flood Spikes mind, even well after he had started loosing track of them.

With so much on his mind, and so many emotions weighing him down, Spike soon began to feel his exhaustion setting in. His heavy head finally relaxed onto his pillow, which was now stained with his tears. There would be no resting easy for him tonight, nor would there be for any of his friends.

With the promise of a dark tomorrow awaiting them, many wished they could go somewhere else tonight. Somewhere they could be free, not having to worry about waking up. But their dreams would hold nothing for them.

Author's Note

Just as a side note, I'd like to apologize for not updating this in a long time. But do you know how hard it is to type with splints on your fingers? It is not easy. In any case, the show must go on.

Day 1

Black. That's all Spike saw that night was black. Nothing came to him in his dreams. No pleasant memories of the past, no horrible nightmares of what the next day might hold, not even the random thoughts of his day gone by. There was simply nothing there for him that night.

That's probably why his sleep felt so short lived. He didn't seem to have any kind of buffer in between the time he fell asleep and the time he woke up. It all just happened too quick.

It was the sound of a loud gong that jolted Spike from his slumber. Giving a short yell, he jumped out of his makeshift bed. After taking a few deep breaths he darted his head around the room, temporarily forgetting where he was. Only to quickly be reminded by the other inhabitant of the room.

"Oh good, you're awake." he heard the demonic voice say behind him. Spike did a quick about face, finding that Sombra was already wide awake. Most of his armor, as well as his cape were already on. The only pieces missing being the neck plate and his crown.

The loud noise that had woke Spike up from before was heard again. It almost sounded like someone was ringing a very large bell. Which was very strange to Spike, because he didn't remember ever seeing a bell anywhere in the city.

"If you wish to do your daily hygiene, the wash room is through that door. Do be quick though, the slaves are being woken up to be given theirs meals as we speak."

Spike said nothing, and made his way over to the aforementioned door.

Once Sombra saw Spike disappear into the next room, he placed his crown over his head and looked to the glass orb above the head of his bed.

I'll need to get you back where you belong. he thought, It's not as safe here. I just hope this dragon is a quick learner. I don't have all day to be teaching him how to watch over sheep. I have to get myself prepared. After all, the last time I cast the curse it nearly killed me using that much energy. With my power so depleted, who knows how long it will last this time.

Spike was only in the restroom for a few minutes before he came out. Sombra was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard the door open again. Spike just stood there for a moment as the king eyed him, thinking that he was about to say something.

"Don't just stand there." Sombra told him after a drawn out silence, "Get your things. We still have a bit of time to get breakfast."

Spike did as he was told and got his new belongings from the dresser. He threw the vest over his shoulders, the thin black material barely having any weight what so ever. After securing the belt to his waist, he picked up the last two items up and placed them on their respective sides. But actually touching the whip was something that almost made Spike's stomach turn. He hoped he would never have to use it.

Once he was dressed, Spike followed Sombra over to the entrance. With a quick flash of his magic, Sombra opened the door. Looking outside, the first thing Spike noticed was that the golem was still there. Standing outside the door, unchanged from when they last saw it.

As they exited the room, Sombra stopped and looked down to Spike.

"I've been thinking." Sombra told him, "It's going to be very difficult for you to be a foreman with your stature. Even with you being a dragon, you don't exactly come off as intimidating."

For some reason this came off as odd to the young dragon. Yesterday, Sombra had just made all the ponies in the city know he was to be respected. And now he was saying that he wasn't right for the position? What did he mean?

"No offense to you, my friend." Sombra went on, "Your still a young drake, and there will be time for you to grow. So, for the time being, I'll make sure you get proper respect from the slaves." Spike noticed Sombra's horn light up, but noticed no magical aura around him or anything else for that matter.

Then Spike noticed where Sombra was focusing and looked behind him. The Watcher was still standing there, his expression stoic and unchanged. The only difference about him being that his eyes were now aglow with the same aura as Sombra's horn.

Once Sombra's magic faded away from the golems eyes, it turned it's attention to Spike. It's head making that distinct sound of rock grinding against rock. After simply staring at him for a few seconds, the living crystal walked up to him.

Spike didn't take it as a good sign, and wanted to back away from the approaching giant. The only thing that kept him glued to his position was the fear of reprisals from Sombra. Having remembered what the king said to him about his jumpy nature yesterday, he didn't want to start today off on a wrong note.

As the golem finally got up to him, Spike did his best to keep any sign of fear off his face. But he couldn't fight the sweat pouring down his forehead. The watcher stopped just about a foot away from him, motionless once again. After a few seconds of this, the crystal moved again. This time it seemed to lower itself, almost as if bowing to Spike.

Needless to say, this caught him off guard. Spike looked to Sombra, a questioning look on his face. Sombra half smirked at the young dragon.

"Say hello to your personal guard." Sombra told him. "The reason I give you this one in particular, is because this one is the largest of all of those ones created yesterday. I call him Colossus."

The name seemed fitting to Spike. The crystal beast was larger than even Big Mac. It stood back up, still eying Spike. It was almost as if the thing was waiting for him to give him a command.

"He is your personal protection, and your underling." Sombra continued, "He will also be your method of intimidation should any of the slaves get out of line. Don't be afraid to use him. If anything needs to be done, simply tell him, and he will take care of it."

Sombra's horn then lit up again, this time it came over Spike. Spike felt himself being lifted into the air again, this time being brought over to the overseer. After a few moments of floating through the air, Spike was dropped onto the crystal golem's back. It was far different from riding on Twilight, or even Sombra. The creatures hard, rock body was less than comfortable.

"He will also act as your mode of transport." Sombra said, that smirk coming back to his face. "Once again, no offense to you, but you're stature is somewhat lacking. Also, he already is endowed with the knowledge of every path in this castle. So you can count on never getting lost."

Spike just nodded. He still found it odd that the king was acting like this. First giving him special treatment, and now giving him a personal guard. Sombra was either very biased to him, or was just trying to make sure that he stayed check.

"Let's be off then. We have a bit of time to get a meal." Sombra said, but stopped just before he began walking. "Oh yes, I almost forgot." Spike watched as Sombra as he used his magic again, although this time he couldn't see where he was using it.

After a few moments, Sombra's magic faded from his horn. He then looked back to Spike, already knowing the dragon was questioning what he did.

"Have to make sure our guests get their meal as well." Sombra said before turning back forward. He then began to walk down the hallway, the golem in tow.

Spike didn't need to be told who Sombra meant by "guests". He already knew that he was talking about his friends.

Everyone in the dungeon was roused from their sleep when the torches suddenly came back to life. A few of them gave out startled gasps, momentarily forgetting where they were. Only to be instantly reminded when they looked at their surroundings.

Shining Armor was the first to be fully awake, coming to the very horrific realization of where he was. He had hoped that what happened yesterday was nothing more than a bad dream. But, much to his and everyone else's dread, they were still in the nightmare from yesterday.

He rubbed his eyes, trying to get the last remnants of sleep out. Looking across to the cell next to him, he noticed that Cadence was still fast asleep on the floor. She was in so much pain the night before that she couldn't even lift herself up on to the matress.

He groaned softly, rubbing his still sore snout. He looked to the side, noticing that everyone else was slowly waking up as well. And, just like him, their faces fell when they fully realized where they were.

Where as he was worried about everyone as a whole, his primary concern this time was his sister.

Even though he hadn't seen what happened to her yesterday, hearing it was enough to stir his emotions. He knew that she was blaming herself for what happened, but he didn't understand why. She didn't have a choice in the matter. She couldn't do anything to stop what happened. And yet she held herself responsible.

He wanted to talk to her. To tell her that it wasn't her fault, and that she didn't have to treat herself like that. He wanted to embrace, let her cry out all of her worries, and let her know that none of them blamed her. But he couldn't.

Everyone was fully awake by then, but all of them remained silent. What could they possibly talk about? There was no way to escape, so that was out of the question. None of them wanted to talk about what happened, for fear of bring up something worse with the others.

Pinkie was about to be the one to break the silence, but was interrupted when a loud sound was heard. It sounded like someone had just snapped an iron rod, which was followed by the sound of metal scrapping against rock. Everyone turned their attention to the sound, which was coming from the back wall of the dungeon.

That's when they noticed the wall, which they thought was part of the room, was moving upward like the dungeon gate. Once it had fully risen up, it revealed a passageway. And standing at the entrance of that passage were two figures that none of them had yet to lay eyes on.

The two creatures stepped from the shadows of the hidden tunnel, putting themselves in full light for them to see. Many of them gasped when they first saw the golems. They really didn't know what to make of them. At first they thought that they might be regular ponies, but were quickly proven wrong when they came closer.

The way the soft flames of touches gleamed off of their crystalline bodies was the biggest give away. And as they got closer, the lack of facial features and the glowing eyes became evident as well.

The two of them walked past the cells, looking over each of them as they passed. That's when everyone noticed what one of them had on it's back. It looked like some sort of containers. It was only when they got to the end of the cells that they found out what it was the strange crystal statue was carrying.

The one that wasn't carry anything reached into the container, pulling out a metal tray with food and a small metal cup. He dropped the tray on the ground, sliding it under the small opening at the bottom of the bars. The golems continued down the line, delivering a tray to each cell one by one.

The eight of them simply watched as the living crystals did their duty, never stopping to look at them, never saying a word and never spending more than a brief moment to give them their food. Finally, Shining Armor and Cadence were the only ones left.

Where as everyone else remained silent while the golems did their work, Shining Armor couldn't restrain himself. His wife was still hurt, and he wanted something done about.

"Hey," Shining armor said to the golem as the tray was slid into his cell. But the statue didn't even so much as look up at him. Shining Armor wasn't about to take that.

"Hey, I'm talking to you." he said, trying to get the two of them to acknowledge him. "Are you listening to me?"

The golems didn't even turn when he raised his voice, and just went on with their work. Once the last tray was delivered, the two went back into the dark tunnel from where they came. Shining Armor tried calling out to them one last time, but his protests fell on deaf ears.

Just as the two of them were out of sight, the large stone slab that acted as a door dropped down, closing off the tunnel once more. And it wasn't a gentle lowing down. The stone wall simply slammed itself down to the floor after the two golems left.

With that, the eight of them were left alone once more. Some of them looked to the tray's that had been left for them, and were far less than happy about what they were given to eat.

It really wasn't much at all. In a small bowl was, what looked like, thin, watery porridge. Next to that was a piece of plain bread. And the last thing, aside for the tin cup of water, was what looked like some sort of potatoes. All in all, it was very basic.

At first, no one dared to even touch the minuscule meal that was presented to them; but eventually, PInkie was the one to take the first bite. Many expected her to spit it, thinking that she was going to be tasting something that shouldn't belong in food.

The most she did though was make a face. There wasn't anything wrong with the food, but there also wasn't much right with it either. It was just very bland and all around tasteless. Pinkie found herself taking frequent sips from the cup of water to help wash down the stale taste. But, at the same time, it felt somewhat nice to have something in her stomach again.

Several of those who saw that nothing was happening to Pinkie started with their own tray's as well. And, just like with Pinkie, they all thought it was completely bland and somewhat hard to force down.

I wonder if this is the same stuff that he's giving the crystal ponies? Rainbow Dash thought to herself. After taking another sip from her water, she looked to the cell across from her, trying to see how Twilight was handling her meal. But, she noticed that Twilight was still on her bed.

At first she thought that maybe she already ate, and was just resting. But after looking down at her tray, she saw that it was still full. Nothing had been touched; Even the cup of water was still full.

Dash knew that wasn't at all good. First Twilight wasn't talking, and then she wasn't eating.

"Twilight?" she said, trying to get her friend's attention. "Twilight, look at me." It proved to be all in vain. Twilight didn't give any form of acknowledgement and just continued to lay there. But Dash wasn't about to give up.

"Twilight, I know your blaming yourself for this, but you can't just not eat." Once again, no response came. Dash was about to speak up but, once again, Pinkie chimed in.

"Yeah, Twilight." the pink pony said. "Sure it's not the greatest thing, but I get past it by pretending it's something really good."

"Pinkie, still not helping." Dash told her friend.

"What? It help's sometimes." Pinkie said, clearly not getting what Dash meant.

"Ugh, just forget it." Dash said, turning her attention back to Twilight. "Twilight, please don't leave us guessing here. Can you at least tell us something?"

Once more, her unicorn friend gave no form of response. As much as her friends sympathized with her for feeling responsible, they couldn't stand to see her torture herself like that and, the absolute worst part about it was that they couldn't do anything other then talk to her.

But it seemed that no amount of words were going to be pulling their friend out of her storm of emotional turmoil.

Inside the mines, Spike stood and waited for his next set of instructions. He and Sombra had just finished a very quick breakfast and were now waiting just inside the entry of the mine. Sombra told him that he was going to be with him for the first part of his duties to show him what he expected out of the young dragon.

Spike was standing on top of some sort of pedestal. With it, he was now on about level with Sombra's height. Colossus stood to his left, waiting for any command that either of his superiors might give. In his hands, Spike held a piece of paper and quill that he had pulled out of his satchel. The paper was lined with numbers, and each to next number was a small box that was to be checked off.

"Once they file in, they will give you their number." Sombra said to Spike, "This system is not new to them, so this will go relatively quickly. The rest of your duty simply involves patrolling the mines to ensure that everyone is doing their jobs."

Spike nodded meekly, and then whipped the sweat that was forming on his brow. Even with them being so close to the entrance, the mine was still fairly hot. He didn't even want to imagine what it was going to be like for the crystal ponies who had to work here.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, Spike heard the sound of synchronized marching. Turning his head to the mines entrance, Spike saw exactly what he was expecting. The crystal ponies were making their way to the entrance. The chains they once wore back around the necks and legs. On either side of the very front of the line were two of the Watchers.

Once the overseers had got to the entrance, the stopped on either side and faced the line. They coldly glared down at the ponies as they continued to walk with their heads low. The first of the group, a mare that Spike recognized from yesterday, came up to the three of them.

She trembled slightly as she approached, obvious fear plastered on her face. She was met with three different looks from each of them. The crystal golem simply held his angry glare, unwavering to anything that might pass by. King Sombra (who she really didn't expect to see) looked at her with cold indifference. The dragon, on the other hand, looked at her with what she could only assume was concern.

Not wishing to anger any of them, she proceeded with the process that was well instilled in her mind.

"T-T... Twenty seven." she said, her voice trembling.

Spike managed to pull himself away from the pathetic sight before him, and looked down to the paper he held. After a quick scan through all the numbers, he found the number she had said. He checked it off, and then nodded to her. Once she got his confirmation, she slowly walked forward, only to stop for the next pony behind her.

"One fifty three." he said in a raspy tone. Where as spike was a bit surprised by the number, he went through the same process again. After confirmation, the stallion walked on, and the process just went on like that.

Spike was unsure how long the process lasted, but it felt like it was at least close to an hour. The entire time, Sombra and Colossus stood quietly, waiting for anything to go wrong. Something else Spike learned that day was just how many ponies lived in the crystal empire. The number ranged in the high hundreds.

Another thing that he noticed was how the other golems filed in. Although Spike wasn't counting, he took notice of how two of the crystal behemoths would follow behind a certain number of the ponies.

Finally, Spike was at the last pony of the line. Once he checked off his number, he looked over the list, making sure that all were accounted for. But, after looking it over a second time, he noticed that one of the numbers had not been checked off. Not thinking before he spoke, he brought it up to Sombra.

"King Sombra, sir?" he said, getting the kings attention, "I think I may have made a mistake. There's one that I haven't marked off."

Sombra looked at where Spike was pointing on the parchment. Sure enough, there was a number that wasn't checked off. Spike saw Sombra bear his teeth as he growled angrily, and he immediately knew he there was going to be trouble.

"Tell your guard the number that is missing." Sombra said, giving a nod in Colossus' direction. Spike shakily turned to his new guardian, who in turn looked back at him.

"Um... N-Number... ninety four is missing." he blurted out the last bit rather suddenly. Without anything else, the hulking crystal turned itself to the entrance of the mine. As it walked out of the mine, one of the golems that had been standing guard at the door followed behind.

Although he was still concerned about what may happen, Spike found it rather astonishing that the overseers could communicate so fluently without the use of words. After several minutes of waiting for the two to get back, Spike's ears were assaulted with sounds of pure terror.

"No, Please!" he heard a high, feminine voice shriek. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!" That's when the two golems came into sight. The two of them each had one of the mares arms held tightly in their grasp. The aforementioned mare struggled with all her strength to try and get away, but to no avail.

The two golems dragged the mare to Sombra and Spike, trying to keep the mare still as she continued to struggle. In her futile struggle she looked up, only to be faced with the king's oppressive gaze. She immediately stopped struggling when she saw him. There was a long drawn out silence between the group before Sombra spoke first.

"Care to explain yourself?" Sombra asked, his usual leveled tone now back.

"I...I-I" she stammered, unable to come up with any form of excuse. "I'm sorry, sir! Please, have mercy! I didn't mean to!"

"You didn't mean to?" Sombra questioned her, "That's all you have to say for yourself? You're not making a very strong case for yourself. You don't show up on our first day back, and expect me to be merciful?"

The mare simply stared at him with pleading eyes, hoping that he might be able to have at least the smallest form of compassion or understanding. It had been over a thousand years since all of this ended, but it would seem that Sombra had not at all changed. Sombra looked away from the mare, and then looked at the taller of the two golems.

"Twenty." he said to the thing. The mares face fell at the simple word uttered.

"NO!" she screamed, "No, please don't!"

As she continued to scream and writhe, the two Watchers dragged her to the wall adjacent from Spike and Sombra. That's when Spike first noticed the odd object jutting from the wall. It was a metal ring dangling from a simple loop mounted on the wall.

Spike watched as the two golems worked. Once they had gotten to the metal ring, the shorter of the two shoved the still screaming mares face against the wall, holding her in place. While the thing held her down, Colossus was busy restraining her. He took a large lock that was hung on the wall nearby, and used it to lock her collar to the ring.

The mare was now completely unable to move. So, having now lost every option, she stopped her screaming and simply attempted to look around with eyes. Out of her peripheral vision, she caught a glimpse of one of the golems grabbing the second item off the wall. Her mind immediately went back into panic mode. Even with the prospect of knowing what was going to happen, it did nothing to settle her mind.

Spike continued watching the scene before him, not wanting to look, but unable to look away. Colossus stood behind the mare, a whip waiting to be used in his right hoof. The behemoth looked to Sombra and Spike, as if waiting for his next command.

Spike was unsure what to say. On one hand, he really didn't want to see this happen. But on the other, he knew he really didn't have a choice. Taking a look at Sombra, Spike noticed that the king hadn't taken his eyes off of Colossus and the mare.

Sombra gave a simple nod, and the golem nodded back in recognition. Turning itself back to the mare held in bondage, Colossus uncoiled the whip.

Although the mare knew it was coming, the anticipation of it was killing her.

"Please." she whimpered, "Please, I'm begging you. I won't let this happen again, I promise."

Her voice fell on deaf ears. Colossus reared his arm back as far as it could go. With one quick motion, there was loud crack, followed shortly after by a shrill, blood curdling scream that could have been heard miles away. No less than seconds later, there was another.

Colossus seemed very skilled in this craft. He timed the lashes just right so as to give no time for recovery, but keep her body from going numb from the old ones. With no breathing room, the mares mind and body became nothing more than a storm pain and agony.

Spike looked on in disgusted horror, cringing with each ear splitting scream that followed the deafening cracks of the whip. Every time a new one came, Spike's body would suddenly get a jolt of surprise. He wanted to look away, fearing that he might become sick to his stomach from the torture scene going on in front of him.

Sombra, however, simply stood and watched. His stoic expression never changed at any time during the brutal punishment. He didn't even so much as flinch whenever the whip came down. He just seemed to be just as unbreakable as the golems.

After several minutes, the final lash was delivered. The mare's back was a mess of fresh, deep gashes. The blood from her wounds slowly trickled downwards, drying slowly as it descended. The mare's eyes were bloodshot from her screaming so hard, and her face was a waterfall of tears.

The second, who had been standing idly by, reached to the mare's collar, unlocking her from the wall. She immediately collapsed to the floor, the pain too difficult for her body to bear. As she laid there weeping softly, she felt the golems grab her by the arms and start dragging her again.

She continued looking down, just letting herself get dragged, until she saw those telltale armor encased hooves. She lifted her head up slightly, facing the emotionless king. There were a few seconds of silence before Sombra said something.

"It matters little as to why you didn't show up." he told her in his same leveled tone. "It is the simple fact that you didn't. You are aware of how things work, and yet you still disobeyed. But, with the prospect of what you know will happen next, I'm willing to wager that you won't be slipping again. Correct?"

"Y-Yes, sire." she whispered hoarsely, her throat hurting from the screaming.

"Get her on the line." Sombra told the overseers, not acknowledging the mare at all. They both nodded, and proceeded to drag the barely conscious mare to where the rest of the chain gang was waiting. With the defector being taken care of, Sombra turned his attention to the trembling dragon.

"As you can see, I have zero tolerance insubordination." He said, getting Spike's full attention once more. " That was on the spot correction for a very big problem. However, smaller problems can arise during the work hours. That's were your second task comes into play.For the rest of the working day, you will patrol this mine with the overseers, watching for any infractions. Accidents will happen, but I want you to write them down. Am I clear?"

Spike's kept his mouth closed to hide his chattering teeth, and simply nodded vigorously. He was still very shook up, but he couldn't afford to not be on the king's good side. Sombra gave him a small smirk, pleased with Spike's answer.

"Good." Sombra simply stated, "Colossus will be back momentarily, and he will take you through the mines. Now, if you'll excuse me." Sombra began to walk away. "I have a great deal of things to do today. Should you have anymore questions, direct them to your guard. But keep them simple. As I've said before, they somewhat lack in intelligence."

With that, Sombra turned and left Spike alone in the mine. As the king slowly made his way out of his sight, Spike found himself frozen. He still was having trouble comprehending what took place only moments ago. He couldn't understand how anyone or anything could do something so cruel and heartless.

As Spike continued to stand there trembling, he couldn't stop that scene from replaying in his mind over and over again. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he knew it was going to be forever burned into his mind. He would never be able to get that macabre moment out of his head.

Sombra made his way back up to castle. He was still a bit irritated from the events prior, but he would manage. He had actually thought that nothing would happen today. That it would just be without any major incidents.

I swear, it's as if these sheep don't even value their own pathetic existence. He thought angrily to himself. He took a breath, trying to steady his nerves. Calm down. You've come too far to start getting this angry. It was difficult enough keeping this place hidden for that long. Then getting it back was something all together different.

He opened the door to his room, and used his magic to light torches on the wall. He let the breath he was holding out in a short sigh. As irritating as the day started out, at the very least, he was back on track.

He looked at the encased heart, staring at it lazily. He knew he had to get back into the right place, but so much of him wanted to start with his other work. He looked to the bookshelf, glancing over every book that he owned. Using his magic again, he took a book off of the very top shelf.

"Hmm, this should be a good place to start with getting my magic back into focus." he thought aloud as he looked at the book, entitled "Flow of Magic through Meditation".

Author's Note

He's back! With repaired fingers, and a new computer! It may not be the greatest, but I needed to get something out here after my laptop took a dive off my desk.