So this is what it’s like to die.
Funny, it’s not as painful as I imagined. No, the mental images burned into my brain hurt more then the burning of my flesh. I guess what they said is true, about your own life flashing before your eyes in your final gasps for fleeting air. My life was not a happy one, though, these images, the ones of my mother and father, so many good memories, but where is light there is also darkness. I watched as beggars, thieves, and murders wandered the streets of “The Greatest Empire.” The darkness grew into The Great Crystal Empire Revolt. Crystal streets ran red with blood, the blood of villagers and in the castle, the blood of my parents. My mother, with her dying breath, saved me from the heartless rebels. What a mistake she made.
They tore down the castle the day after they declared my parents dead. I watched as they plunged their rebel flag into the gravel of my once home. I remember everypony seemed to be shouting and crying for joy, yet I was only crying in sorrow. I don’t know why they let me live. Perhaps, what my mother said moved something in their black hearts enough to spare me or perhaps they figured I would die off from starvation soon after my release. Feeble minded ponies, thinking it was wise to let me, the true heir, live! Thinking they would know how to run an empire after they murdered the only ponies who knew how to run it in the first place! Soon, the empire crumbled, just like my castle and all that lived there with it.
Life grew worse for all who lived in the north. I remember having to grovel and beg at the hooves of filthy vermin. Though, I was one of the lucky ones. I had the opportunity to sleep on the cold crystal streets night after night rather than in the cold and all-too-full jails. Ponies passed in front of my ally not even to spare a glance at me, a once proud prince, reduced to a skinny half-starved foal hoping to hear something fall into my dented cup. The ponies that ignored me, they were the ponies which caused my pain, caused my castle to crumble, they turned my nightmares into real life.
Of course, I wasn’t the only beggar, but there was so little bits to go around I assume everypony counted as a beggar at that point. Some genius thought up the idea of using food as a bargaining tool instead of crystal bits after the bits started to diminish. That worked out well, that is, until ponies started getting attacked in the streets. Why did all this happen? Why was there so much chaos? I remember that the ponies who took the place of my parents, “The High Council” as they called themselves, lavished in the finest attire and food money could buy, while the rest of us fought and mauled each other over week old piece of crystal corn.They never cared about the villagers in the first place only themselves. Surprise! The rebellion was for nothing.
The only peace I could ever find was in the library. The only place ponies seemed to avoid, since there was no supply of food there. I studied magic, any type of magic. I studied the ways of the southern empire, of the two princesses and how they ruled over their land in harmony. Such a prospering empire that couldn’t spare a few bits to help such a wasteland get out of the grave it dug itself. I soon realized that I could use my magic to take back the Crystal Empire, my kingdom. I studied every day, yet the magic taught in the books wasn’t powerful enough. I remember reading over an old spell book and suddenly slamming it down onto the table in a fit of fury. I had read hundreds of these books and yet had learned nothing powerful enough to take back my kingdom.
I cried that day. The first time I had cried since I saw my castle reduced to rubble. My horn began to glow, instead of black magic it slowly burned a dim red, then the light grew brighter and brighter until it felt as if it was as bright as the sun. My tears of hatred, sorrow, wanting, I could no longer feel them on my cheeks but they had turned into a strange purple mist. It all happened so quickly, then it vanished. The red glow, the strange mist from my eyes, everything, except the strange magic had stained my horn a strange reddish color. I stared at myself in the crystal floor, rubbing my horn. It didn’t hurt, it was just so… strange looking. Then I realized something, I realized I had just tapped into a hidden magic that was inside me. Magic that was driven by the most powerful emotion in the world. Hate.
Everyday I went back to library and sat quietly, tapping into this strange magic and learning to control it. Years went by, the empire grew worse as my resolve strengthened. The more my hatred grew the more powerful my magic became. Frequently the mist would pour from my eyes, replacing my tears for good, ponies would stare but would be too engrossed in their own useless existence that they would heed no mind to it. What fools they were, having no comprehension of my power. I waited patiently for the right time to reign over their ignorance, and that glorious time came. The councilors had all died off and now the fighting for places in the new council was at hoof. I stepped in and all I had to do was be encouraging and say a few words about promising food and safety and their ignorance elected me as the head of the council. Most of them probably forgot I was the rightful ruler in the first place or they were so hungry and tired they didn’t care how took over as long as it meant a full belly. Ignorance is bliss, no?
As you can imagine things went quiet smoothly from there. As I promised all the ponies had full bellies of the worst grub you could find and they were all safely chained together so none could run away and possibly cause trouble. My castle was rebuilt in less than a year, three times the size it was before. I remembered my father and mother each day walking through the castle. Some part of my icy heart was still warm with the thought of their kindness, yet I could not bear the thought of them seeing what I had become. They would never approve, yet, I was doing this all for them… Or for me. One day I passed by one of the cleaning slaves in the hallway who reminded me of my mother. She was always kind and helping, I believe the pony's name was Lily. I had her killed the next day.
I had the ponies tap into the underground caves and form the crystals into metals for armor and weapons. We began trading with other lands, slowly but surely paying back our debts to our debtors. My kingdom prospered and so did I. That is, until the princesses of the south got word of my power. Perhaps, they wanted to test my legendary abilities or maybe they were jealous of what control I had on my subjects, it clearly could not as if they cared about my slaves. Why, they did not care before when they were mauling each other in the streets so why should they care now? Apparently, the sun princess said I was upsetting harmony or some nonsense and threatened to banish me.
I laughed in their faces on my balcony of crystal as my slaves watched from below. I raised my horn and told them both to give it their best shot. The battle was glorious, I believe half the city was destroyed in our wake. Unfortunately, I faulted and I was banished into the ice for a thousand years as a shadow of what I once was.
A thousand years is a lot of time to think. I thought about my existence as I floated around in my icy tome. Why did I live? Why did I hate? My magic, a gift or a curse? I pondered for about two hundred years until I came to the realization that everypony was wrong. I was no monster, I was a savior! I was giving them a purpose in their life. What better purpose than to work and prosper than sit on their lazy plots all day! My hatred for the princesses and the ponies grew, I hated them for their ignorance, their uselessness, and what they considered their “normal” lives. The ponies lived blind under the reign of the princesses, slaves to their own unknowing. They want to be controlled by a ruler, so be it.
I realized the only way to return to my true form would be to engulf the crystal heart’s power once I was free from the ice. Unfortunately, a little dragon stopped me before I could get there.
So, this is where I am left. Turning into ash by the heart’s rays, slowly burning my pelt and skin off. Now that I think about it, is all this just in my head? I suppose... Nopony will ever hear my last testament. Though, if I could have any, my last words would be to curse all the ponies. Curse them for killing my parents, killing me, curse them for being so useless and feeble, and curse myself for not being able to show them the true pain they deserved.
The rays are starting to sting now. Everything is becoming black. Where do ponies go after they die? I never thought of that before… Maybe I’ll somehow live through this. No, I’ll never come back but if I could then somewhere, somehow I’d find a way to rule again. To crush all of them. Only if there was a way… To be a shadow of pain to them all....