King Sombra arrived at the outskirts of the Crystal Empire, marvelling at its beauty. Beauty that he will soon corrupt and reshape into his own image, after he conquers it once more. For now, he has to lay low. And while he's at it, he can go ahead and do some bit of reconnaissance at his former home. But before that, he needs a disguise. Surely, he sticks out like a sore hoof and would immediately be arrested on sight, so he needs to be inconspicuous.
His horn glowed, and with that a cloud of smoke swirled around him, masking his transformation. After it cleared off, his appearance changed, but otherwise he's still recognisable only to himself. He now lacks his neck armor, has a lighter coat than before, his mane and tail is no longer ethereal in nature, his eyes green instead of red, his horn looking like a normal unicorn and his crown modified to lack spikes and a muzzle and side guard. He looked like a king from another land.
"Right, now no one will recognise me," muttered Sombra, smirking to himself.
He began to trot towards his former home, eager to study its weaknesses and exploit them. And what better way to do so than in a library? So he went towards that place first.
Once inside the library, he is met with suspicious gazes of other ponies, wary of his appearance. Only the librarian didn't mind.
"Oh my, aren't you a handsome little devil?" complimented the old librarian.
"Um, thank you?" He smiled awkwardly, not knowing how to react to such words from an elderly mare.
"Hee, relaaaax, I'm just playing with ya," she reassured, "I'm Amethyst Maresbury, how can I help you today?"
"Oh, Miss Maresbury, I'm looking for the history of the Crystal Empire, do you know where it is?" he asked politely.
"Certainly! Follow me," beckoned Maresbury as she gestured him to follow.
Excellent, he thought gleefully, as he followed the elderly librarian.
After passing by numerous bookshelves, Maresbury stopped and took a right turn into the 'History' section. After arriving at their destination, she gestured with her front hoof the books lined up on the shelf.
"What you're looking for should be around here, if you need help getting the high ones, just let one of the helpers around know," informed Maresbury.
"Thanks, but I already have unicorn magic," Sombra replied proudly.
"Indeed you do," acknowledged Maresbury as she straightened her glasses, "Welp, if nothing else, I'll be going now."
When the librarian is out of sight, Sombra began searching for the desired book. When he found it, he grinned and began flipping through the pages in an attempt to find any sort of exploit within the empire.
Just then, a female voice spoke.
"Well, well. If it ain't the King of Shadows."
The sudden voice caused Sombra to jump a little.
"Gah! W-who are you? And what do you want?"
In front of him was a hooded figure, who continued speaking, "Come on, don't you recognise your old friend?"
As she said that, she proceeds to remove her hood, revealing herself to be a purple unicorn with arctic blue eyes and mane.
Sombra only looked confused at her, "Uhhh, who?"
"Ugh, do you have holes in your brain or did the whole world conquest thing get to your head?" she groaned.
"Uh, what world conquest?" denied Sombra, "I already have a totally peaceful kingdom as evident by my crown on my head."
The unicorn mare stepped closer to him, Sombra backed away, sweating profusely.
"You can't fool me, I know all about you since we were foals," the mysterious unicorn divulged.
Sombra only looked more confused, "What? Since we were foals?"
"Goshdarnit, it's me! Radiant Hope!" she announced.
Sombra pondered on the name for a while, "Hmmm, nope, doesn't ring a bell."
"Grrr, you know what? Forget it, why do I even bother trying?" Radiant Hope lamented as she took her leave.
"Wait!" Sombra stopped her. "Who are you and how do you know about me?"
Radiant Hope turned back to look at him, smirking a little.
"After all these years of failed attempts at taking over the Crystal Empire, you still want to know where you began?" she questioned.
Sombra nodded, "Yes."
"Very well, for I shall show you the day you changed for the worst!"
As she said that, she casted a spell from her horn that formed into a sphere of magic. Sombra peered into it, an image beginning to form, revealing what appears to be a smaller version of himself and Radiant Hope in a grassy valley.
One thousand years ago, three months after Sombra and Radiant Hope first met.
"And when I grow up, I wanna be king! Just like what the Crystal Heart says!" young Sombra announced proudly.
"Yeah, yeah," a filly Radiant Hope groaned, "And I'm your Princess."
"Right?!" cried out Sombra excitedly, as he turns towards her, "It's like, the Heart was showing our destiny, that we were meant to be together!"
"Oh pffft, don't get too ahead of yourself," she smirked, "For all I know, maybe I'll be a nurse instead. And totally not married to you."
Sombra smirked back, "Just you wait, I'll not only make you mine but also the empire! You'll see!"
"Mmhm," she hummed, "By the way, you seemed....different than before."
"How so?" Sombra asked, tilting his head.
"Well, you see..." Radiant Hope began, "When I first met you, you were, how should I say this? Quiet and lonely. A lot of other foals bully you because of that. And, I won't stand for it! Hence, I decided to befriend you, for I too am different, just like you."
"Over the past few months, you were opening yourself up. From shy and lonely to proud and confident. It's like you were a totally different pony from whom I've first met."
Sombra smiled at her brightly.
"Well, if it wasn't for you, I could have grown to despise this world," he began, before his expression turned grim, "Nopony likes me, cares about me. So why should I care for them?! I wanted to show them how I feel, loneliness, rage, despair...."
Sombra's grim expression suddenly disappeared as it was quickly replaced by the smile he had before.
"But now? Not anymore, because thanks to you, I now no longer feel bad. In fact, I feel like I can do anything I want! So thanks for sticking by me."
Radiant Hope blushed at the last sentence, "It was nothing, really."
"And little did I know, that you really did become a different pony. You became arrogant, pompous, rebellious and selfish. As time went on, you went against Princess Amore, crystallised her, shattered her even. I tried to stop you time and again, but you didn't listen. And as such, I gave up. It seems you have descended too far into madness to stop," shared Radiant, as the magic sphere dissipates.
King Sombra listened to her story intently, looking at the floor as he did so, feeling a tiny sense of regret.
"When you took over the Crystal Empire and cursed it, I let it happen," she continued.
This caused Sombra to snap out of it and look up at her.
"Wait, what?"
"During your hostile takeover, I actually figured out how to defeat you," informed the purple unicorn.
Wide-eyed, Sombra exclaimed, "Then, why didn't you stop me since you have the solution?"
"Like I said," she smirked, "I gave up, why should I? It's not my place being a hero, and therefore not my place saving the empire."
"So you just let the empire sunk because of your negligence?!" Sombra shouted.
"And you're not a lost cause?!" she retorted.
"Shhhhhhhh!!!!"
Everypony around them shushed, telling the two to keep quiet. They both then exited the library.
"You know what? I've said my piece, I am done with you. Go and do your world conquest shtick, I don't care, just, leave me alone," cried Radiant, as she trotted away from Sombra.
"Radiant, wait!" pleaded Sombra as he reached out with his hoof.
But it was too late as she disappeared from view. Sombra ran at her direction, but she was nowhere in sight.
For the first time in his life, he felt lost, sad, and angry at himself, not because of his failures in conquering the Crystal Empire, but because he had let somepony down. Was it destiny? Fate? Or something far more sinister? Who knows?
Sombra went to look for a bench to sit on, so that he can sulk. There was one isolated enough, so he took a seat there. Just then, a voice spoke up.
"Sombra. Hey, Sombra! What are you doing?"
"Gah!" yelped Sombra, as he looked to where the voice was.
On his left, a small, similar sphere of magic appeared beside him. On that sphere, an image formed, showing Grogar's face.
"What are you doing? Sitting around here like that?" Grogar asked.
"I'm....coming up with a plan!" lied Sombra, "Besides, what are you doing here? Ponies could see you!"
"Well good thing you picked a quiet place huh?" remarked Grogar, "Listen, I have a task for you."
"Grrr, why don't you do it yourself? I'm quite busy here."
Grogar eyed him threateningly, "Oh are you now? Then allow me to pick a more....quieter place. If you catch my drift."
Sombra knew what he really meant and so he complied.
"Ugh fine, what do you want?" he questioned caustically.
The image on the sphere began to shift, now forming what look like strange coloured seeds.
"These are Plunderseeds, Sombra. Bring them to me!" demanded the ram.
"Annnnnd where can I find them?" Sombra asked further.
"Somewhere deep inside the Everfree forest, there should be some remaining."
*Sigh* "I'll go get them," the king replied, defeated.
The magic sphere floated away as Sombra makes his way towards the empire exit, setting out on his quest to find those seeds.