The news of the overthrow had spread around the Crystal Empire in less than an hour. Ponies ran at their full pace to warn other villages of the rush of guards coming, but found it was too late, and they were killed on the spot. The guards held the populace in their homes as they waited for Sombra, who was planning in the Crystal Castle, designing a plan to break the ponies wills and make them his.
He was hunched over a piece of parchment, quill and ink scratching furiously, filling the room with a tearing sound. His eyes glowed green and red as he thought of what he could do. He had calmed down from his earlier moment of glory and rage, and his thought processes were becoming more sane, making any good ideas impossible.
"I just need some damn idiot to come in and piss me off," he muttered, striking his ironclad hoof onto the table, breaking off a small chunk of the crystal.
"Sir!"
Sombra turned and saw Gallium, captain of the Crystal Guard, standing in the doorway of the room.
"What is it?" he hissed, stabbing the quill into the parchment.
"The guards have established themselves all across the Empire, sir," Gallium replied, sweating nervously.
Sombra smiled and stepped forward. His eyes were glowing brightly, and he felt anger surge into him. He stomped onto the stallion's foreleg, snapping it and causing him to pitch down to the floor.
"Don't call me 'sir' dumbass," Sombra said, turning back to the parchment as ideas flooded into him. "I am your king. Call me 'Your Majesty.'"
"Y-yes, Your Majesty."
The captain crawled from the room, and Sombra scribbled faster and faster as his plan flooded into his head. He had to learn some new magic, but that was ok. He did not have to learn it yet.
~
Sombra came out of the room and turned to the guard next to him. The guard shrank back slightly, and he smiled at the sight.
Sombra controlled the guards with fear. He could kill them at any time, and he made sure they knew it. Every once in a while, he would kill a random guard that was somewhere throughout the Empire with a spell he had read in a book by Starswirl the Bearded, a unicorn from Canterlot who was an expert on all kinds of magic, including dark magic.
"Grab a pony from the street," he ordered. "Then bring them to the front of the castle. Preferably a unicorn or pegasus. If they're a child, that would be even better."
"Yes, Your Majesty, right away!" the guard shouted, running down the hall.
Sombra followed slowly, turning the corner and grabbing a guard's spear as he went. The guard did not speak and allowed his weapon to be torn from his grasp. Sombra continued until he arrived at the front of the castle, where a few ponies were gathered haphazardly, watching as the guard dragged a small pegasus filly onto the steps.
Sombra cast a spell to amplify his voice and spoke, "All denizens of the Castle Town will come to the steps now!"
He grabbed the filly and brought her up to the top. He held her tightly, and her tense body never tried to struggle. The town's ponies were out in front of him within five minutes, spurred by fear of punishment.
"Ponies! Look upon me!" the king cried out, lifting the filly with levitation. Gasps and screams came from the crowd.
He brought her back down, and he took a wing in his mouth. The feeling of crystal was arousing against his tongue, and he pulled, biting into the wing with sharp teeth. The filly writhed and screeched, tears rolling down her face onto Sombra. He heard cracking as the wing tore from the body, and a loud snap as it separated. The filly fell motionless, shocked into stillness, her cries filling the air and crystalline blood spilling onto the floor.
Sombra grabbed her up again, this time taking the spear from the ground where he let it lay.
"So, filly," he said, bringing it underneath her. "Where would you like to be impaled?"
The filly only stared in fear, shuddering as the cold metal point of the weapon grazed her hind legs, slowly rising up in-between them. She shook her head quietly, tears pouring faster as the blade pressed right on her privates, cutting lightly into her.
"Not there," she whispered, choked. "Please."
Sombra smiled cruelly and moved it away, not bringing it down, causing it to leave a cut as he moved it back on her body. He started moving up again, digging deeper into the filly's crystal skin.
"Here?" he asked, grinning wildly.
"No, please!" the filly yelled, thrashing around. "Don't stab me!"
Sombra laughed and impaled the filly straight through her legs. She gave a slight twitch, then fell still. He drilled a small hole in the ground and placed the butt of the spear in it. He let the crowd stare at the corpse as blood ran down the spear from between the filly's legs. He heard vomiting and screams.
"I will do this once a day," he said to them, and they cried out in rage. "You will come to work for me, and be my slaves. Until then, ponies will continue to die."
Sombra walked back inside after setting the bottom of the spear on fire with a small spell. He went back to his plan. In the room, a guard stood, a letter in his hand.
"What is it?" he asked, spreading out the parchment.
"News from the south," the guard replied, holding out the paper. "Somepony has told the Equestrians."