Chapter 7: King Sombra's History
Prince Shadow Blaze was the young prince of the Crystal Empire and heir to the throne, he would one day become the king!
He lived in the castle in the great city, he was born with a rare genetic condition that made him look nothing like his parents, he was born with red eyes, a black coat and a darker black mane. His Cutie Mark was a dark purple crown, signifying his place in the royal family and the fact that he was so different in his family.
One day he was practicing his magic, he was levitating an old crystal ball, and he was doing very good.
"Excellent work, Shadow!" His father, King Arctic Ice, commended. "You've been improving a lot at your magic."
"Thank you, father" Shadow bowed to his father.
"I think It's time you started working on a new type of magic" The king levitated a black spell book out of a nearby bookcase and gave it to his son.
Shadow read the title "Dark Magic, A Beginner's Guide" Shadow was confused "Why Dark Magic? Isn't that dangerous, Ms Amber Leaf told us in school that-" Shadow was cut off by his father.
"It's only dangerous if you don't use it correctly, that's why I'm giving you this book" Arctic opened the book on the first page and showed his son how to activate dark magic.
The king lit his unicorn horn, the usual bright blue aura got darker and darker until it was completely black, a trail of purple smoke poured from the kings eyes as they began to glow green.
This scared the young prince. "Father, what's happening to you!?"
Arctic's horn stopped glowing and his eyes went back to normal, he panted heavily.
Shadow still looked worried.
"Dark Magic takes a lot out of you, only use it when you need to." Arctic warned his son.
Shadow lit his horn, his aura was a dark red, to match his eyes, it didn't take as much time as his father's did to turn black. The colt levitated off the ground as his eyes turned green and began to pour out smoke.
Arctic gasped, how was he able to levitate!?
A beam of dark magic zapped a crystal ornament and it turned black then shattered.
"Son! What are you doing!?" The king yelled!
Shadow had lost control, the dark magic was overpowering him. There was something about him that gave the dark magic strength.
Arctic Ice shot his son with a beam of his own magic. Shadow's horn stopped glowing and he fell to the ground.
"Are you ok!?" Arctic levitated his son off the ground and onto his hooves.
"Wh-What happened?" Shadow asked, dazed.
Arctic's face turned grim "You can't use dark magic anymore, It's too dangerous."
"What? Why?" Shadow had no recollection of the events that had just passed.
"A colt your age can't control it properly" The king lied, he didn't want his son thinking he was turning into a monster.
"Oh, ok" Shadow turned and left his father alone in the throne room.
A few years later
Prince Shadow Blaze was now older, he was almost a fully grown stallion. He still hadn't used Dark Magic since his first attempt, his father would never let him.
To prepare for being king, he spent a lot of time with his mother, Queen Winter Breeze, since she had more control over the empire than Arctic Ice did.
He still practiced magic, he was getting better at it. And most of the citizens of the Crystal Empire were excited for the day he would step out to the castle balcony and be crowned king.
As Shadow was practicing a special spell that would allow him to sprout artificial wings and fly temporarily for a short amount of time, the royal butler arrived with a bag containing the prince's new robe.
"My Prince, this robe is to be worn by you on your Coronation Day and for the rest of your rule over the Crystal Empire." The butler explained. He levitated a red and white robe out of the bag to show the future king.
Shadow took the robe and tried it on, it fit perfectly and was quite comfortable.
"Winter! Shadow!" Arctic Ice galloped into the throne room to his family.
"The Abominable Snow-Ponies! They're outside the city, The Crystal Heart can't hold them off any longer, we have to fend them off ourselves!"
Shadow threw off his robe and levitated his black suit of armor onto him. The Royal Family galloped through the city to the snowy mountain range outside to face the Crystal Empire's worst enemies. Abominable Snow-Ponies were ponies made from snow and ice, it was a disease of sorts that only the Crystal Heart can cure, The Crystal Ponies wouldn't mind helping them, but the Snow-Ponies want the Crystal Heart all for themselves, so they attempt to invade the city frequently, always being defeated by the royal family, their population was quite small, all 14 Snow-Ponies in existence were lined up outside the city, ready for battle.
When the 3 Crystal Unicorns reached them, the Snow-Ponies all lunged at the monarchs, leaving Shadow alone for an unknown reason, perhaps his appearence frightened them?
Shadow blasted the attackers off his parents with a bolt of his magic, the family chased the Snow-Ponies further away from the Empire, and deeper into the cold, dark mountain range.
Shadow was next to be attacked, he used his powerful magic to blast all of the Snow-Ponies away from him.
"They're getting stronger!" Arctic began. "If we don't keep them away from the empire who knows what could happen"
The king and queen found themselves trapped in an Ice Sphere. It was freezing inside. Snow-Ponies had the ability to simply fall apart into the snow around them and re-build anywhere that had snow, so a couple of them were able to get into the sphere with the king and queen.
Shadow's magic couldn't stop them! He thought about what he could do when his father's voice started echoing in his head
"Only use it when you need to!" Shadow knew what he meant, dark magic! Shadow knew it was hard to control at first. so as he darkened his red aura he fought with his instrinicts to keep control. When his dark magic was fully activated, the stallion's strong will kept him from plunging into a rage of eternal darkness, he blasted the snow-ponies with the strongest bolt of dark magic he could possibly conjour up! The blast was so strong, it melted the snow around him for about a mile, but the blizzard quickly covered it all up again.
The strong blast also wiped out the snow-ponies. As of that moment, Abominable Snow-Ponies were now extinct.
The Ice Sphere had melted and as the prince went to see if his parents were ok, he got the shock of his young life. His parents were lying, still and stiff. The King and Queen had frozen to death.
At that moment, Shadow stopped fighting, he forgot that if he let go, it could be the end of him. The prince snapped. A loud roar erupted from within, the prince became taller, more muscular, and his mane flowed behind him as if it were pure shadow. The Dark Magic had taken over the prince completely, Shadow Blaze was gone.
He found and old wagon buried in the snow and pulled the lifeless corpses that were once his parents back to the Crystal Empire.
As he entered the city, a crowd of crystal ponies watched, knowing, by the look of their former royal couple, what had happened.
Nobody spoke, Shadow looked angry, and if anypony were to set him off it would make him worse. The prince entered the castle, carrying his dead parents on his back.
About 1 hour later, Shadow Blaze came out to the balcony of the Crystal Empire, bringing a smile to the Crystal Ponies' faces. The day they had all waited for was here, Shadow Blaze was about to become their king, but not in the way they imagined.
"Fillies and Gentlecolts!" The prince announced, he had recieved a new, much deeper voice, with his new transformation. "As you know, King Arctic Ice and Queen Winter Breeze passed away in their battle with the Abominable Snow-Ponies, meaning, as their son, I must step up as your new king!" The stallion produced a silver crown, much different than his father's crown. It resembled a silver headband. He placed it on his head.
"From this day forth, I shall not be known as King Shadow Blaze, as you thought I might be, but a newer name I have chosen for myself, you are all required to now call me: King Sombra!"