//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: The Savior Princess 
// by Creativa-Artly01 
//------------------------------//

Thousands of years ago, before the rule of the Amor bloodline, there was a king who ruled over the Crystal Empire and his name was Sombra and his eye was soon taken by a young crystal mare named Radiant Hope and she soon became his muse and his lover. "You're my princess, my lovely," says Sombra with a giggle. "I love you so much. You complete me." 

"And you, me, your excellency," responds Radiant with a smile as brightly shining as her crystal coat and mane. She watches as he runs his hoof through her mane before putting a diamond ring around her horn. "What, what's that for, your excellency?" she asks in shock. 

"A proposal, my dearest," responds the King. "Do you accept?" 

"Of, of course," she responds still shocked. The following day, the two are wed and she becomes his queen. For a little bit, the couple are happy and have a filly of their own who would someday go on to be the mother of Cadance's mother and aunt, Amora Rose. Not long after their daughter's birth, however, Sombra becomes obsessed with dark magic and soon consumes him causing Radiant Hope to flee from him with their daughter in tow. This leaves the mad king heartbroken. Now, dark magic is all he has and he pours all his study into it and labels his old family as a distraction from his goal of true power. However, he couldn't be more wrong, that love she gave would never truly leave him. 

He continued to pour all his time into the dark magic and the cursed scrolls full of spells until he finally became the most powerful umbra unicorn in existence. He then began to rule the Crystal Empire as a dynasty with himself as the tyrant head. All those who refused to obey, he'd brainwash into obedience and defecting soldiers he would kill and replace with those brainwashed to the point of being almost crystalline zombie slaves. Hard labor became a constant in the lives of the ponies under his rule and the Crystal Heart was hidden away and forgotten by the ponies. It would be this way for years, until the children of Amora Rose would save the Crystal Empire once again.