//------------------------------// // History Lessons // Story: Redemption of a Monster // by Raven Shadow //------------------------------// Cadence scanned over each page, not missing anything in this written drama. She picked up book after book. Each segment of Sombra's life had mostly been read by the pink princess, sometimes she would miss dinner to keep reading this account. She HAD to keep going. "The shade visited me again last night. Claiming it can unlock godly powers I have locked within my being, powers that could rival the mad god Discord. I do not know what to do, it has been only two days since I sent Celestia my letter that I'll be home. I have lost many a good soldiers to the elements and to hunger. I fear I feel myself slipping into that void. No I must stay strong! I must be strong for my men and my love, I will not give up! I will succeed in this Discord forsaken land. For Celestia." -Prince Sombra "Seventh or eighth day now without food or drink... all of my men are dead... but the shade still stands beside me, always faithful. It has told me my powers need to be unleashed if I am to survive this ordeal. How can I know it does not want to just use me? What does it want? Is it just a figment of my mind? Or a real creature that just wish to use me as a form of amusement? How can I be certain of things anymore? Last night I had a horrifying nightmare... I couldn't save her... she died in my arms... Then it spoke again. That raspy voice just mocking me. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it!" Sombra "I fed today... on the corpse of a former soldier... I had to eat... He was just taking up time to bury... I am a monster for even thinking that... I am a monster." "Today I will never forget. I let the shade give me the power I so desperately needed to survive. As soon as it did I felt so powerful. As though the blight I know as shades would tremble as I approach. With my new found strength I will return to my beloved! And we shall have peace. Soon my dear all will be right you'll be in my arms and I will be able to hold you with the knowledge I will never have to let go. I will make you feel like a goddess. Soon all will be right." "Disaster is what I can say happened! Luna has decreed me a monster! That lowly sack of filth! You will see I am your better, and you will beg for forgiveness. She has branded me a traitor for allowing the shade to give me the power I needed to even live. And Celestia just looked at me as if I had burned one of her guards at the stake. Madness! I have nothing now. I am nothing with out my dear Celestia. I marched to save our lands from the beasts of nightmares, yet I am now without her. Nothing. Many times during the night I would remember when she and I would stay up late just to gaze at her sister's night sky and admire the beauty, but nothing was as beautiful as her. Should I just give up? I think back to the battle and wish a blade would have caught me. I think about using my own sword to end this terrible reality of mine. What's the point of my life without you Celestia? Where would you be if I never met you? Would you be like your sister? Or would you be with a random noble that didn't care about you? Am I the only soul to suffer in this?" "This is the day I bring my hand down and create a world of my own. I have seen a great city filled with riches to plunder. I have seen their leader, old weak pathetic fool. Many times I have seen him with two guards with him. Easy prey. This city will become an empire under my hands as I push them into their new roles. The shade is still with me. Always there, always loyal. It taught me how to raise armies from the dead. They may be corrupted by the process, giving them the look of my old foes, but they will follow my orders without question. The time is nigh. My empire will become a dream no longer! Those that live in this city are so peaceful and loving, they will bend to my will or I will break them." "I have raised an army worthy of a king! A hundred thousand strong. So loyal. They hunger for the slaughter that is to come. I promised them blood and blood they shall receive! We attack as night falls to mock Luna as she has branded me a monster. She has a monster now. No she has a master of Darkness, Fear, and Death. A king of all that despise what they stand for. King Sombra. No longer am I a prince but a king. And all shall bow before me." Cadence couldn't stop reading this madman's rant to himself, to remind himself of who he was. She felt a tear roll away from her glossy eyes, he was a victim of circumstance. But by that situation he became a living, breathing nightmare for everyone that lived here. Cadence pulled a book she checked out from the Crystal library. "The Tyrant's Shadow: Life Under a Madman" "We fled as THEY came. They came like insects swarming over candy. We that hid during the siege could only watch in horror as these beasts born from some infernal pit of hell. Terror could describe those who could get away in time. The monsters came down upon them with unholy weapons. I watched as they killed my wife. I had to hide our daughter from them and sweet Love Banner, our daughter is safe. But those monsters don't rest until they have rounded all of us up. I have seen them leading my people to the center of the city, like something is supposed to happen. The guards are being cut down like animals. Some of my best friends were apart of the Crystal Guard Corps.---- It has been a few hours and I got my daughter to finally go to sleep... I cannot bear to tell her the fate of her mother. I will go to the palace to see if the invasion was routed. No it wasn't. We just fell like thin twigs in a breeze. Those things did horrific acts. Many of the nobles whom once lived here. They impaled upon huge black crystals that sprouted from the ground, those were the least of my worries. Until I saw HIM. He stood so still I mistook him as a statue. That was until I saw he used his dark magic to create two more massive black crystalline structures. King Diamond Vest and Queen Gem stone were brought before those Celestia damned abominations. That's when the true monster spoke. "I am your King now, these two shall suffer the fate all who oppose me will receive. I am your god. Obey my will and no harm will be done to you. Fight against me, and I will break you." And with those words he used that vile magic of his to pick both the King and Queen up high into the air, and set them onto those massive spikes. I have never seen such brutality in my life, both the royal couple could be heard screaming as the crystals entered their bodies. It entered through their groins and instead of holding there the crystal exited through their chests. I could barely hold myself together after I saw that, I still have chills thinking about it. But I will never give up hope."