(4 Years Ago...)
Cold...
All he felt was cold...
Then again, he was in the Frozen North, well at least what was left of him.
A sharp red horn protruded from the ground, slender as the stem of a wildflower but sharper than any knife.
This was all that was left of one of the most threatening and powerful villains that has ever walked the face of Equestria. The Shadow King, King Sombra.
The horn began to glow bright red and violently shake back and forth, almost as if it was possessed, which it kind of was.
All of a sudden, the howling winds of the north were pierced by an explosion of dark magic, a shadow erupted from the stub of a Horn, this shadow took the form of a large stallion. It filled in the volume as King Sombra's body was reformed, with his dark grey armor and wicked crown still on him. It looked as if he was completely unharmed, His eyes opened, revealing red pupils and green backgrounds for them. His lips pulled back, revealing his sharp teeth that were fit for his evil and wicked ways. King Sombra spoke to himself in a voice that sounded deeper than the abyss.
"It's so good to be back... I was getting tired of sitting in the snowy wasteland. Did the princesses really think that they could have beaten me for good? Hah!"
Sombra looked around, all he could see is snow and ice.
"I could not have been that long... The Crystal Empire should be here." he said, pointing below him. he rubbed his temples
"Where am I? All I remember was a bright flash of light and..." now realizing what happened to him. He screamed into the wind,
"ARRGGH! How! How could I have been so naive! I should have prepared for somepony to actually defeat me. I could have possessed their body if they killed mine, but I didn't think that they would actually succeed in using the Crystal Heart against me. I sealed it away with Dark Magic! So, only I could access it! Was someone else able to use Dark Magic? Maybe there weren't enough stairs and fear doors? I should have destroyed that infernal heart when I had the chance all those years ago..."
Sombra roared and sent a beam of dark magic towards a large boulder, shattering it into pebbles.
He roared and screamed, stomping his hooves into the snow, he was not happy that he had lost... Twice!
"Calm down, Sombra... Smashing rocks isn't going to get me my empire back, Let's just see where I am first."
He conjured up a Black Crystal that sparked to life and generated a holographic map, revealing his location. The Crystal Empire was nowhere to be found. He was a few kilometers from the Shatterback Glacier, a large river of ice that carved a canyon through the Shatterback mountains, which was hundreds of kilometers from The Crystal Empire. He scowled and started to gallop south towards what was once his city, his RIGHTFUL EMPIRE.
Sombra stopped and growled to himself, "Great Job Sombra, you let yourself lose to a bunch of fillies, and in anti-climatic fashion nonetheless. I was expecting a final battle between me and those brats, but what happened? I lost! To a freaking tiny dragon!"
Sombra pointed to the horizon, dark smoke emanating from his eyes.
"When I reach the city, I will make sure to slaughter anypony in my way to MY CASTLE! Then, I'll kill those pathetic excuses for Royalty and bring MY EMPIRE back underneath my hoof."
King Sombra laughed as he entered his Shadow Form, but stopped suddenly. "Actually, maybe that's not the best idea now... if I made my presence known I would only be destroyed again by that infernal Crystal Heart, I'm going to make a mental note to shatter that thing when I take back my empire."
Sombra reverted back to his pony form, when an idea popped into the Kings head
He said to himself "I know! I'll build up my strength again, create a fortress for myself to attack from, and take over The Crystal Empire again! But, why stop there? If I can absorb enough dark magic, I could possibly take over ALL OF EQUESTRIA!"
King Sombra laughed, drowning out the wind with his voice.
"I think the Shatterback Mountains will work nicely as my new home." He transformed into his shadow form and sped off towards the mountain range.
After a days travel by shadow form, he finally arrived at Mount Nevermore, the tallest mountain in the Frozen North. King Sombra began to use his dark magic to carve out the side of the mountain, forging the mountain rock into grand walls, turning the frozen ice that once coated the peak into glass for the windows, and twisting his dark crystals into towers.
"Yes, this is coming together nicely. Soon, my new castle will be built, Castle... Nevermore." The Dark King said to himself, not noticing the bright light growing in size in the distance.
King Sombra was about to put finishing touches on his castle when the earth shook with a large rumble, followed up by a gigantic explosion. King Sombra had to put up a barrier to withstand the force of the blast, he could feel the heat of the blast inside his shield. when he deactivated his shield, the mountain behind to him was completely gone! All that was left of it was piles of rubble and a large smoldering crater, with a single pony laying in the crater.
"What the hell is that?" King Sombra went into his shadow form and flew down to the crater. The pony he saw stood up and slammed his hooves into the rock, screaming.
"Why! Why did I have to be given these powers... all they do is destroy everything I touch."
King Sombra tripped slightly in view of the mysterious ponies vision and he was promptly blasted a good 30 feet away by a fire ball send flying from this pony's horn.
King Sombra felt a evil idea creeping into his mind, "this pony shows incredible strength if he was able to destroy a mountain that easily, and knock me backwards off my hooves... with enough training he could..." Sombra ducked out of the way of a blast of magic that decimated the rocks behind him, carving a large trail of blast damage from the point of origin to the target.
"Show yourself! Show yourself you coward!" Shouted the strange pony.
King Sombra reformed in front of the pony, kicking him to the ground and said,
"Well... That was quite the impressive display you did... I can help you improve upon that if you want."
The pony hopped to his hooves and backed up, entering a defensive stance. "Stay back, I'm warning you. I am not a pony you want to mess with!" Said the pony, trying to be intimidating.
King Sombra only chuckled, "Seriously? Are you trying to scare me? You're doing a poor job of it."
The pony fixed his posture and said, "Do... do you really think you can help me?!"
King Sombra whispered into the young pony's ear "I'll do more than help you, I can give you powers beyond your wildest dreams. The powers of Dark Magic, I can sense it in you."
The pony dropped to his knees in front of Sombra, "I accept! thank you so much! I'll do anything to tame my powers!"
The Shadow King said to the pony, "fine, I will help you, but you must become my student and serve me, That's my price."
The young pony responded, "As you wish, my King."
King Sombra led the young pony into his castle, grinning wickedly. He said to himself,
"Oh yes, now I have an ally against the Princesses, he will prove of great use to me, but now I must bide my time and wait for him to be ready. Once he is ready, I will take what is mine!"
"This time... I will be ready for war. The Crystal Empire, Equestria, all will be under my hooves for all time!"
King Sombra laughed, deep and disturbing, as he shut the massive doors of his new castle.
"Just you wait Equestria, A Shadow is coming, and it will swallow this land!"
Meanwhile in the town of Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle, the student of Princess Celestia, was having a nightmare.
She was in Canterlot, All around her, the houses and stores were on fire. She heard ponies screaming in agony, desperately trying to flee from the raging inferno.
"Sweet Celestia! The town's on fire!" Twilight shook her head, No! This isn't real, none of this is real! It's just a nightmare!"
She heard a voice in the flames, "Oh this is very real Twilight Sparkle, this is a glimpse into the future. Equestria, burned to a crisp."
Twilight looked in the voices direction, she saw the outline of a pony, coated in fire. It spoke to her again, "Your World will BURN!"
Twilight woke screaming and sweating profusely. Her assistant, Spike, was startled so much he fell Out of his bed.
"Twilight! What's wrong?! You ok there?" Spike said, rushing over to his friend.
Twilight Sparkle shook her head, "I... had a nightmare, everything was on fire."
Spike patted his friend on the back, "it's ok Twilight, everyone gets nightmares." He said with a kind look in his eyes, "Come on, I'll make you breakfast."
Twilight Sparkle took some deep breaths and wiped her forehead, "Yeah, just a nightmare..."