Crystal Hearts, Ponies, Princesses and Sombras · 2:58pm Jun 12th, 2015
Despite being established back in season three, we don't know very much about the Crystal Empire, the Crystal Ponies, or their enslavement under King Sombra. Obviously, this gap meant there was a lot of grist for fanfic material, and over the years there have been various accounts and headcanons to explain Sombra's rise to power.
In April, IDW published Fiendship is Magic, a five-issue miniseries, each focusing on one of the villains of MLP. The first issue of the series finally gave us a backstory for King Sombra. While I may disregard it if I decide I really want to tell MY Sombra origin story, the truth is I quite liked the origin we were given and some of the concepts it introduced.
However, I am not above changing how things happened to fit my head canon in certain respects. So, this article is about changes and idle speculation I have regarding everything Crystal-related. Full spoilers for Fiendship is Magic #1, the Reflections arc and the season three premiere below the cut.
The Crystal Empire has returned... Few remember it ever existed at all. Even my knowledge of the Empire is limited. But what I do know is that it contains a powerful magic. One thousand years ago, King Sombra, a unicorn whose heart was as black as night, took over the Crystal Empire... If the Empire is filled with hope and love, those things are reflected across all of Equestria. If hatred and fear take hold..."
This is the largest summary of information we have about the Empire, coming straight from the mouth of Celestia- who is quick to point out that even she doesn't know much about the Empire. When the Mane Six arrive in the Empire, both in the premiere and in later episodes, they interact with a number of crystal ponies, which gives us a pretty decent idea of what the "crystal pony" type is.
First: the Crystal Ponies resemble earth ponies, with the main difference being their sparkling coats and mane.
Second: crystal pony magic appears to be emotion based. During the season three premiere, their mood influenced how "shiny" their coats and manes appeared, and it was the crystal ponies positive emotions which powered the crystal heart (and, according to Celestia, would be magnified across Equestria).
Later episodes (and the comic question)have muddled these a little. During the premiere, Rainbow and Fluttershy joust in what appears to be a crystal pony tradition; a crystal pegasus accompanies Cadance during season four.
However, the Mane Six show they don't really understand crystal pony traditions, so jousting pegasi is inconclusive; furthermore, we know the crystal heart can temporarily "sparkle up" a pony's apperance, not to mention the common fanon that enchantments placed on Celestia and Luna's troops armor gives them their uniform apperance; as a princess with her own standing army, Cadance would likely have access to such magics as well. Furthermore, the most recognizable Crystal Guard, Flash Sentry, is an ordinary-looking pegasus. It seems likely that Crystal Pegasi are the result of animation error, or at least easily handwaved circumstances.
The Crystal Empire receives some development in Fiendship is Magic #1.
Prior to Sombra's rule, the Crystal Empire was ruled by a Princess Amore. Beneath the Empire lie's an army of "shadow ponies" (the umbrum); their existence seems as unknown to the general inhabitants of the Empire as the rest of Equestria was to the Empire itself. As the comic progresses, it is ultimately revealed that Sombra is an umbrum, sent to act as a sleeper agent to take over the Empire and free the rest of the army.
The comic also introduces Radiant Heart, a crystal unicorn, Sombra's life-long friend (and love) who is ultimately revealed to have a powerful talent for healing magic; a talent strong enough that she is invited to join Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.
The Crystal Heart is also given some new abilities. According to Amore, the Crystal Heart can grant ponies glimpses at what is inside their hearts, hinting at their possible futures; Sombra see's himself as the smoke monster we recognise from the series, though Amore cautions that it's possible to change that.
More improtantly, the Heart causes damage to the umbrum. Growing up, Sombra is nearly destroyed during the Crystal Fair because of it's power; removing the Crystal Heart is the first step in retrieving his army. The Dark Crystal and Sombra both suggest that Princess Amore created the Crystal Heart for this purpose, though considering the former's manipulative nature, and the latters heated emotional state, whether this is true is debatable.
Fiendship is Magic addresses some of the oddities of Sombra's apperance; his ability to assume a smoke form and the lack of crystal-pony coat shimmering are both indicators of his true shadow pony nature. After he is awakened to his true self b the Dark Crystal, his horn transforms from the standard unicorn version to the curved, jagged red tear we see in the series.
At the same time, it raises questions which it doesn't quite answer. I'm hopeful that a future comic arc might deal with the fate of Princess Amore and the umbrum (particularly given the ominous ending to this issue), but in the meantime, I feel like expanding on things and adapting the story into my head canon.
Firstly: In my canon, all crystal ponies are earth ponies- and this includes Sombra and Radiant Hope. In Sombra's case it's a disguise to hide his Umbrum form as in the comic proper; in Radiants case, her ability to use healing magic is related to my earlier concept that crystal pony magic is based on emotions. Equestria is a world where friendship and love are concepts that can be used as weapons. I believe Radiant's ability to heal people is an extension of her emotion-based magic- she makes people feel better, and they become better.
This also fits in my head canon that Crystal Ponies can be regarded as existing in-between Earth ponies and Unicorns. Like earth ponies, their magic is related to growing and developing things, but like unicorns the forces they interact with are invisible and ephemeral rather than solid- emotion, rather than land.
I think this connection can be backed up by Princess Amore's appearance (and to a lesser extent, the appearance of Reflection!Sombra).
While Amore is called a Princess, she's actually something of an oddity because she is quite clearly not an alicorn. This isn't the first time that we have seen a non-alicorn royal -Blueblood, Sombra himself- nor the first occasion that we've seen the "alicorn body type" used on other ponies- Fleur de Lis being the most prominent example of that. It could very well be that Amore just happens to be taller than other unicorns, with a horn that is as long as that of the Princess characters.
That's not how I choose to interpret things. To my mind, Amore is an alicorn- or at least, a partially ascended one, and I feel the proof for that can be seen through Radiant Hope and the Crystal Heart.
Regardless of whether or not Amore was responsible for creating the Crystal Heart, she certainly seemed to know a lot about how it worked- including knowledge which modern ponies lack (it's ability to tell what is in one's heart). She seemed to take great interest in what it was the Heart showed Radiant and Sombra- probably in part to dissuade Sombra from rejoining the umbrum by stressing that what he saw doesn't have to be what happens. However, I believe that Radiant's vision -of herself as a princess- is also significant.
After their visions, the two ponies continue their lives, plagued every crystal faire by the strange sickness and pain that overcomes Sombra. On one of these occassions, the pain becomes so great that Sombra's body begins to dissipate, breaking apart to reveal the shadow underneath- and Radiant is able to save him, literally putting him back together again. It's this act which earns her her cutie mark, one for healing magic which ever the narrator-Sombra observes was unusually powerful. Shortly afterwards, Radiant is offered a place at Celestia's school.
I believe that part of the Crystal Heart's function is to help catalyze the ascension of ponies into alicorns. It can't be a case of producing full-fledged alicorns; despite having the stature and horn of Princess Celestia, Princess Amore doesn't have the wings of a pegasus. Furthermore, if alicornhood was as easy to obtain as simply grabbing the Crystal Heart, then at the very least there would be an entire Crystal Empire of them by now.
Clearly, the Crystal Heart is discerning; Amore's remarks and interest in finding out what the Heart has shown each of the kids indicates that it doesn't grant these "visions" often. More likely than not, the Heart reacts to specific individuals who might have the potential to Ascend- ponies like Radiant Heart, Princess Cadance or Twilight Sparkle- and gives them a bit of a push in the right direction. It certainly seems as if, after her encounter with the heart, Radiant's healing magic became more powerful.
(Incidentally, this might explain why the Crystal Ponies recognize Cadance as "The Crystal Princess"; she has a connection with the Heart, as indicated by her cutie mark and by whatever magic causes it to work).
This might explain why Amore is not an Alicorn; she has attributes of an earth pony and a unicorn, but not a pegasus yet; she hasn't fully ascended to become an Alicorn.
The Dark Crystal of the Umbrum would therefore be a dark counterpart to the Crystal Heart. Just as the Heart gently pushed Radiant towards a path that might, perhaps, one day allow her to Ascend to become a "real" Princess, it the Dark Crystal pushes Sombra into becoming it's agent- granting him an unnatural seeming unicorn horn in the process.
We know from the example of Celestia and Luna that (at least some forms) of alicorns have long lives. A partial-ascension (and extended lifespan) would give a pony time to learn to control their new powers, as well as perhaps master everything they need to to ascend fully.
This seems like as good an explanation as any for Reflection!Sombra. We never get a view of Mane!Sombra in scale to other characters, but he doesn't seem excessively large in the show; certainly not matching the statuesque heights of Celestia. In the Reflections arc, however, he is the same height as her. Furthermore, despite a thousand years having passed, Reflections!Sombra looks the same way he did when he and Celestia last met; our Sombra spent that time in a form of stasis (and whether a smoke monster can die is debatable to begin with)... so how could Reflection!Sombra still be alive?
My theory then: the Crystal Heart helps gives ponies who meet certain criteria a push to Ascend. It infuses crystal ponies with a degree of unicorn magic, making them more powerful and granting them longer lifespans; the onus is then on them to try and master their magics and Ascend "properly" to become a true alicorn.
And, as added fridge-horror... when Sombra was racing Spike to the Crystal Heart, what was his expression? He wasn't angry; afraid, determined to get it before his enemy. He looked hungry, licking his lips. Perhaps Sombra didn't want to destroy the Crystal Heart for fear it might backfire, destroying him and the other umbrum in the process...
Or maybe he was intending to use the Crystal Heart to finish what the Dark Crystal had started and ascend to full Alicornhood.
