//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: The Darkness Shall Rise Again // by KingSombraTheTyrantRuler //------------------------------// The Darkness Shall Rise Again Prologue Written By KingSombraTheTyrantRuler King Sombra's P.O.V: After six long and gruelling months, I have fully healed from my failure from reconquering my Empire. A failure that I wish to correct. But I am not the only one who has healed after all this time. The empire has licked its wounds and no longer feels threatened by my presence. They had all but forgotten me. I have been waiting for months to strike, and now seemed like the perfect time to take back my empire. Before teleporting to the border of the empire, I changed my appearance to that of a pegasus colt with a yellow coat, purple eyes and an orange mane. I was currently in the Crystal Caves (which weren't protected by the Crystal Heart's shield, making ponies afraid to go there) and it did not drain me of too much magic to teleport outside the border, at which several guards were situated. I knew that I would be unable to enter the Empire without them seeing me, so I came up with a plan. Using a little bit of my magic, I made my right wing look as if it were broken, and got myself ready to act. Making sure that the guards could see me from where they stood, I cried out, "Somepony, help! Please, somepony! Anypony!" A guard with a blue mane, purple coat and green eyes, ran up to me. I noticed that he was an earth pony. He asked, "What's the problem, colt?" "M-my wing feels like it's broken. I was coming here with my family when the train broke down. I flew to get help, but I c-crashed." I explained, making sure to add a few tears and sniffles at the end. It wasn't the most believable story, so I used some magic to help influence the guard’s mind so he would be more likely to believe it. The guard had a look of sympathy on his face as he said, "I'll  take you to a hospital to get your wing checked." As we walked to the hospital, I waited for a chance to strangle the guard. I wouldn't be able to do anything if he was in my way. One of the nurses, a mare dressed in a nurse's uniform with a teal coat, purple eyes and a green mane walked up to us and saw my wings condition. She walked up and talked to the guard, asking what happened and how my wing got in this condition. The guard told her what I had told him and the nurse did some paperwork at the front desk and assigned us a room. She walked us down a few hallways until we reached the room she had assigned to us. She told us to go inside and get comfortable and that she would be back momentarily. Once the nurse left us alone in the room, I made sure that the door was shut before I removed my disguise and pushed the guard to the ground. He was about to scream for help, but I sat on his back and pushed my hooves onto his throat and mouth. His face turned blue as he was unable to breathe, losing what little strength he had left in his body and could no longer fight back. I gave one final push, putting all my weight on it until the guard was finally dead. I put my disguise back on, fixed the broken wing, and jumped out of the window, using telekinesis on myself to make it look like I was flying. As I flew closer to the castle and the location of the Crystal Heart, I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from screaming in agony. I had to remove it as soon as possible, or I would die from the pain. I finally reached it and, making sure nopony was looking, I conjured a bag and put the heart in there, hissing in pain while I did so. The protective shield around the empire disappeared, and I knew that I had to get to the castle quickly, for it would not be long before the new Crystal Princess would notice. I flew up to the castle, (again using telekinesis) and hid in the shadows. I read the guards' minds using dark magic so that I could know what they feared. And I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from laughing. When I was in power, their biggest fears were getting punished, killed or their family being executed. Things that any normal pony would actually fear. And now? Now their biggest fears were none of that! Their 'biggest fears' were losing their lunch, losing their favourite plushy, missing their lunch break and other such nonsense. Still trying not to laugh, I cast the mind controlling spell on them and walked to the throne room. As I thought, the Prince and Princess were there. My disguise melted away, and the two gasped and yelled in disbelief, "King Sombra?!" "Yes, it is I, King Sombra," I smirked, revelling in their fear. "Did you actually think that I was defeated?" I laughed, shaking my head. "Both of you are fools."  Their horns started to glow, but I quickly grew magic crystals on their horns, cutting off their magic. "Did you think that I'd let myself get defeated so easily? Guards! Take them to the dungeons!" I yelled and the guards ran to do as I had told. Those two had put up quite a fight, but after I had injected a sleeping potion into them, the guards were able to take them to the dungeons where they were locked up. However, my mind couldn't help but linger on what the pink alicorn had told me before she fell. She had said "Even if you can defeat us, and take over the Crystal Empire, you won't be able to rule for long, Sombra. Twilight and her friends will come and defeat you again, this time with the Elements of Harmony!" I had laughed her comment off, but didn't the Royal Sisters wield the power of the Elements? It seemed like much had changed during my thousand years of banishment.  I walked to the library, hoping that I would find some information there. I must find out how in Tartarus there were new element bearers. I glanced at each of the shelves until I saw a book titled The Elements of Harmony and its New Bearers and pulled it off the shelf. I opened it up and started to read the new book until I found what I was looking for. The Elements of Harmony are six  magical gems that are used to combat the forces of evil in this world. They are: The Element of Magic. The Element of Kindness. The Element of Honesty. The Element of Loyalty. The Element of Laughter. The Element of Generosity. They used to be beared by the Royal Sisters, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, but the latter transformed into Nightmare Moon who wanted Equestria to be drowned into eternal night.  Her sister, Princess Celestia, used the Elements of Harmony against this new threat and banished Nightmare Moon to the moon, making her into the famous Mare in the Moon. After a thousand years, the stars aided in her escape from her imprisonment. Princess Celestia's student, Twilight Sparkle, turned Nightmare Moon back into Princess Luna by using the Elements of Harmony with the help of the New Element Bearers, (pictures are given) AppleJack the Element of Honesty, Rarity the Element of Generosity, Rainbow Dash the Element of Loyalty,  Pinkie Pie the Element of Laughter, Fluttershy the Element of Kindness,  and herself, the Element of Magic. The Elements are shaped as the Bearer's cutie marks. These Elements can be used to defeat all evil. However, if one Element or its Bearer are missing, then the Elements will be useless, for they can only be used as a whole and are incomplete without all Elements present.  Interesting. I would need to ponynap one of the Element Bearers or take one of the Elements. It would be easy since the book had given pictures. But before I could do that, I had a few things to do. I teleported to the Crystal Empire's balcony and put a magical barrier around the Empire so that nopony apart from myself would be able to leave. Once I finished putting up the new barrier, I teleported to where the Crystal Heart used to be. Growing a crystal underneath myself so that all of the Crystal Empire could see me, I started my speech, declaring myself as ruler of the Crystal Empire once again. "Hello my Crystal Ponies. It's been so long since we last met, huh? Did you all think that I was actually defeated? And here I thought that you would know me better, having been under my rule a thousand years ago. You were foolish to think that I was defeated. “You never should have gotten your hopes up. Now I rule over you once again and this time nopony will be able to defeat me. Nopony and nothing. Not even the cursed Elements of Harmony." I laughed as the ponies were shaking and I cast a spell that placed chains upon the crystal ponies. The buildings lost their colours, becoming black as night, as all the happiness drained out of the empire. "Go to the mines and begin mining!" I yelled. I would've put all of them in a mind control spell, but I wanted to have some fun tormenting my slaves. And if they weren't controlled, some would try to stand against me, and I would have fun executing them. After killing a pony in the most painful way, impaling them with a dozen crystal spikes that is, the others did as they were told and ran off to the mines. Soon after, I teleported outside the shield and wore my pegasus disguise. If I was going to ponynap an element bearer, then I would need to make sure that their absence wouldn't be noticed for a while.  After flying around for a while, I landed in Ponyville, which, according to the book, is the home of the element bearers. I walked around, trying to find somepony who would have the right information on where the element bearers were. And then I saw her,  a yellow pegasus with a light pink mane and three butterflies as her cutie mark. I watched how she was so quiet and how ponies didn't even notice her. If I remembered correctly, she was one of those mares who had been at the empire at the time of my defeat. She was an element bearer. If I recall correctly, the book said that her name was Fluttershy. I followed the mare back to her cottage that was near the Everfree Forest and outside the edge of Ponyville. I found a bush outside her house that was aligned with the trail leading to her cottage and hid in it. I will wait until night has fallen and then I will take her back to the empire.