//------------------------------//
// The Taint of King Sombras Darkness 
// Story: The Kings Shadow 
// by Zandar13 
//------------------------------//

“What? No...NO! STOP!” King Sombra shouted in defiance as the true magic of the Crystal Empire flowed back into the subjects from the Crystal Heart, the very one that he had thought he had locked away to keep for himself, his precious crystal. As the bright blue magic radiated from the Crystal Heart, it soon infected and spread even further through his former servants and the power grew and grew until it receded back into the Heart only to implode with the power of love. The magic reached King Sombra and it penetrated into this very core, into his newly reformed body and he felt himself begin to burn and crack apart like a crystal being crushed under his heavy hoof. “AAAAGGHH!” The pain was too much to hide in silence for King Sombra and he yelled in anger of his defeat and in pain as he felt his new body, a physical pain he has not felt in a thousand years, tear asunder but right before his body completely exploded his mind went blank and he was spared the last few seconds of excruciating pain that would only drive his madness even further. As his body flew apart and into the wind of every corner, most if not all of it slowly burned away and turned into shadowy dust before mixing with the very air and dissolving itself into nature, never to be seen or felt again. All but one thing was destroyed by Princess Cadence and her power of love, King Sombras horn held together and silently flew into the distance and soared towards it new, unknown destination and home. 

Beyond lakes, trees, mountains, and deserts and flying by most life living below and in the air did his horn fly and it seemed like it would fly on forever but almost as quickly the horn struck an isolated rock in a dense forest, in the middle of one of the only clearings within it and it struck with the sound of thunder but heard by no one. As soon as the thunder clap ended the horn started radiating a dark magic from within and it oozed out of the broken end and glided down onto the rock and wherever it touched the rock sizzled and steamed but once it hit the ground the grass combusted and the dirt was singed black. The black ooze spread only a few feet from the rock before it sank into the ground but the rock continued to steam while the grass below burned brightly, as if it was seeking to kill all life and it took a few minutes before the blaze died down but the steaming continued on the rock in a few places. The horns magic died down as no more black ooze passed out and no more magic could be felt radiating from within. In time, no sound was heard and no life passed by this tainted area and the sight was quite a fright as a black scorched ring surrounded a steaming rock with a red horn jutting out from the top and there it would stand until called upon by unknown forces. 


3 months later........


“Cryssssstallll...........Cryyyyysstallll..........myyyyyyyy........CRYSTAL!” “GASP!” I awoke with a start as I heard that strange voice whispering but when I looked around I saw no pony in sight, no one at all. I quickly stood up and did a quick look around but was too scarred to go too far so I returned to my raggedy, brown blanket and lied down next to it and pulled it back over me and with one more look around, I put my head down and closed my eyes and slowly lulled myself back to sleep. “Come to meeeeeeee.......my.....crysssssstallllll. Coooooome to your Massssssterrrrr. Coooommmmme........ Cooooommmme............. COME!” “GASP” Once again I awoke with a start as that dark voice whispered into my ears, but it felt deeper than that, it reverberated within me and almost shook me and I darted up and around the area again to find its source but once again I found no one but this time I dared to look a little further to find my tormentor. But as before, no sign was found that any pony came and went so I decided to return to my make shift camp and looked up to judge the time and it was still mostly dark but some light was starting to creep along the top of the trees in the few spots where they broke out into the sky. With a groan and a slight cough I grudgingly lay back down and tried to get some more sleep but between the now paranoid thought that I would hear that strange voice and my own personal nightmare I just barely got a few hours of sleep before I naturally woke up thankfully on my own and not by that dark, dark voice. Once I stretched I did a quick brush off of my blanket and tossed it on my back and started to head out to find some food for hopefully most of the day. 

My search for food brought me deeper and deeper into this dark forest, I had heard rumors that a dark shadow had fallen in this forest from the few whispers I could hear while I scrounged for food a few weeks ago. But for right now, this forest is my new home and unless the wind in the trees can talk nothing in this forest judges me and looks down on me for being me. But I push those memories aside as I see a small bushel of berries up ahead and I hurry along quickly, thankfully when I am upon the bush I see that there is an abundance of berries, enough if planned smartly to last me maybe three days if I can find my way back to a water hole. I eat as many as I dare for now and I prepared to pick the rest but before I did I noticed a small shiny object just beyond the bush. I hopped over to it and picked it up in my hoof, it was a tiny crystal fragment and even though it was very dark in color it shined brightly and when I adjusted my sight a bit I saw that beyond in the distance there was a bigger shrapnel of crystal so I dropped the small fragment by the bush and hurried along to the bigger piece. 

When I came upon the new piece, I saw something strange, the crystal had not been dropped or placed in the ground but actually seemed to be growing out of the very ground itself and when I looked up again I saw that further ahead there was a bigger cluster of crystals growing from the side of a tree where the bark should be.  I have never seen anything like this before in the forest or anywhere else before. But before I could look to admire the bizarre beauty I once again looked ahead and I saw something even more bizarre and terrifying. In a clearing up ahead, right in front of me I saw rock right in the middle but it was steaming as if a dragon had just breathed fire on it and the ground since in a circle around it was all burnt but it also looked old, so how was the rock still steaming? But also amongst the burnt grounds were hundreds of crystals sprouting all over, some single and huge and others small but in clusters and some in between and like the tree I passed I saw that all the trees immediately touching the burnt ground had crystals growing like fungus all over its bark. But the rock only had one crystal growing on it, right on top in the middle but the stone around it was cracked, like someone had forced it in with a hammer and inside the crack was just pitch black, even the crystals shine on the rocks surface seemed unable to reach inside. But that was not the terrifying part of this scene, was scared me was the fact that the area seemed to be hazy and I felt like I was standing atop of mountain and looking down, knowing I was going to fall. I looked away and shut my eyes to try and shake this feeling off, this fear, this overwhelming fear. 

Only it was just a crystal and my curiosity peeked and I looked again but this time I felt nothing, no fear radiated in me and I saw only the crystal but I also saw something else, something inside the crystal. I couldn’t tell what it was but I saw something and I wanted to know, so I took a step forward but stopped short of the burnt ground. I started getting nervous and I felt something in me telling me to turn back but a new found curiosity within me urged me forward so with one more glance at the crystal I took one step onto the burn ground and heard little crystals crunch beneath my hoof. Nothing seemed to happen so I took one more step “MY CRYSTALS!” “GASP!” I jumped back and smashed into a tree full of crystals and most of them seemed to snap off and crashed on top of me and all around me “My beautiful, shining crystals. My gleaming starsssssss”. 

I laid still on the ground in hope that I was not hurt but my eyes started darting around in a panicked fury to find the speaker but yet again they eluded my gaze. I continued to be still but after a few minutes of hearing and seeing nothing I slowly started pushing crystals away until I had room to stand then shook off the rest, afterwards I examined myself to make sure I was not hurt and thankfully I was not. After carefully avoiding the rest I just wanted to run away and never come back to this place and hopefully leave that voice behind and I started to but I slowly stopped and looked back and found myself starting again at the crystal on top of the steaming rock. I knew it was wrong but I wanted to see it again and perhaps find out who was stalking me. So I quickly fetched my blanket and berries and made my camp right by the burnt grounds but made sure to not touch it or any crystals, in case that voice came back. I sat and ate my dinner but all the while I just simply stared and wondered and before I knew it hours had flown by and it was night time and by then I wanted to simply stare more but my eyes betrayed me and I spread my blanket over me and went to sleep. “Yes my cryssssssstal......sleeeeeeeeeep my crystalllll.......sleeeeeep for.....your.....king...”



“Arise....my crysssstalllll....rise and seeeerve me......rise.....Rise........RISE!” “GASP!” I jolted awake yet again due to that dreadful voice and I whipped my head around to find him but I still could not see him. How did he elude me when he sounded so close? But once the fear subsided my gaze was drawn to the clearing in the forest, to the top of a steaming rock surrounded by crystals buried within the burnt ground where the single shining crystal grew, at least it was a shining crystal yesterday. Today when I looked upon the crystal it still had a shine to it but the inside that housed the mysterious object swirled about like ink in water, I wanted to have a closer look but I was reminded of the voice when I stepped on the burnt ground yesterday. Yet the urge in me grew and grew and gnawed at my mind and it drew me closer, my hood stopped just beyond the dark circle but now that I knew that I might hear the voice again I prepared myself and steeled myself to any surprise and with a few strengthening breaths I took my first into the circle and waited for the voice. But to my surprise I heard nothing, no voice, no wind, no birds or animals, nothing but my ragged breaths. With the gift of silence upon me, I took another step then another then another and I found myself in the middle of the burnt circle and halfway to the now darkened crystal and now I felt the tiny crystals embedded within the dirt crunch under my hoofs and with every step they began to emit a warm glow but not enough to hurt or burn me.

I almost began to wait for the voice to appear but I threw away that dangerous thought as I took a few more steps until I was upon the steaming rock and I saw the ever darkening crystal up close and I began to study it. Now that I saw it up close, it looked like crystal itself was growing around the thing inside of it and from what I could see it looked like....a horn? Maybe some sort of unicorn horn perhaps, but that’s impossible! No, that’s morbid! The only way to remove someones horn is when they are dead, who would steal a horn from a dead unicorn and crystallize it? Yet with that morbid thought swirling in my mind, I still wanted to see more and know more about it, I wanted it. “Yessss......my crystal” “NO!” No, no, no, I don't want it, why would I want it? No, that voice again! I missed him again, he sounded so close, like he was right next to me. But now I looked at the dark crystal and I just stared at it and looked deep inside it, at the dead unicorn horn resting still while the blackness stirred and whirled around it. Wait. No. It looked like the black liquid was also turning green and purple and it started to bubble “Yesssss.....come closer.....clossssser” from within the cracks in the rock a black ooze started to trickle from within and spurt like a fountain “Come to me......my cryssssstal”  I leaned in closer and the black, green, and purple began to twirl around the horn and it shattered the crystal shell and I saw the horn clearly. 

It was red from the tip down but the base had a hint of black but I could also see where it was broken from the owners skull, perhaps this was the owners magic still leaking and pulsing even after death. Whoever owned this was very powerful for their magic to linger on and it was getting stronger and was leaking out from the tip and into the stone now. The black ooze had covered the rock entirely and was oozing around my hoofs and covering the rest of the burnt area but not touching me, but now I didn't care, for the horn pulsed and drew me closer and now I felt my hoof rising to it and when my hoof was close to any ooze it crawled away so I only touched stone. Just mere inches away from the horn, my hoof now lingered just above the horn “Yes.....yessssss.......Yesss!” I lowered my hoof and finally rested it against the horn and when I did the menacing looking magic exploded from the rock and the black ooze circled around me, trapping me in a shell with the crystals now surrounding me and the horn hovered in front of me. The crystals provided the only light as if the sun reflected through them still and I could see a form taking shape from the horn but the shape was made of shadows “ha...ha..ha..Ha..Ha..Ha..Ha...HAHAHAHAHAHA! Yes! You have come at last.....my...new...crysssssstal....slave!” With that the voice finally had a form, a form of shadow and the blood red horn which glowed with the dark magic. The magic erupted and the black ooze lunged at me and swallowed me whole and my whole body went numb and my mind blank. 

Time moved as sluggish as the black ooze that has eaten me and it seemed like forever until I heard the voice again and when he spoke the area around me turned into a light hazy gray and his shadowy form and blood red horn walked toward me but the closer he got his horn started to reveal a crown that dawned about a face that menacingly smiled at me “Hello my new crystal. My name is King Sombra and you are the poor soul who had found my horn. After my shameful defeat in MY CRYSTAL EMPIRE against those insolent FOOLS who dared use my precious crystal heart to destroy me after my one thousand year imprisonment!” His anger exploded around him as both his dark magic and the black ooze swirled around him and various shapes formed, most likely of the ones who he spoke of. “What do you want of me, King Sombra? Why did you choose me?” Another menacing laughter erupted from within the shadows and the oozing forms and dark magic soothed and retreat back into him “Why you ask? Because, my dear new crystal, I have seen your heart and your fears and I enjoyed them. The fear of rejection of your fellow ponies because of how you look and act. The fear of laughter and humiliation because of the lack of a cutie mark. The fear of loneliness yet being afraid of asking for company. So many fears, so much sadness, so much pain. That is why I chose you, my dear....Grey Mane. Oh yes, I even know your name but soon it wont matter.” “Why wont it matter? I still do not know what you choose me for!”. Another amused chuckle quietly erupted from the King “I need a new body, my shadow form can no longer be sustained since my original body has now been destroyed, thanks to those meddlesome ponies and their pet dragon! I will not only reclaim MY EMPIRE, but I will also conquer ALL OF EQUESTRIA! Starting with the defeat of Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and this new princess who has claimed my THRONE!” 

Once more the dark magic and black ooze erupt from within the King but taking no form and only as random spells in the air but quickly calm down and slink back to the King once more. Once he calmed down he picked up a evil laughter “You may struggle if you like but why suffer even more in your already painful and dreaded life? I will win in the end, my magic will bring out your fears and I will break your spirit. But as I said before, I like you and your fears and I would rather have you....unspoiled. Besides, if you willingly give me your body your mind will meld with mine and you will survive and we can take revenge on all those who have wronged us both.” The Kings form stepped forward towards me and with each step the dark magic left a flaming hoof print in his wake and the black ooze slowly crept up and swirled around my hooves, just waiting to strike and devour me once again but most likely the King kept it at bay for the moment “So, what will it be, my crystal?” But before I could answer the Kings eyes brightly glowed green and my own eyes were drawn into them and I saw all my fears all at once but they were actually happening, all of them laughing at me, humiliating me, rejecting me and hating me over and over again “No, no, NO! Stop it! No, please stop it! Please!” my eyes began to sting when my tears began to flow “Why?! Why do you hate me so much? Why! I just want to fit it! Why can't you be my friends? Why? WHY!” I began shouting and repeating these sort of things as my heart shattered into thousands of pieces “Please! King Sombra! I beg of you to stop this! PLEASE! I don't want to see this anymore! I never want to see this ever again! PLEASE STOP IT!” I fell to the floor and collapsed and even though I felt myself slipping and falling asleep I still saw these nightmares unfolding and taunting me and just before I fell it all stopped and I was wide awake and standing again like I had never moved and in my confusion all I heard was his laughter once again but I could not think or say anything and just listened to his echoing laughter.

After what seemed to be endless hours of his laughter I finally gained the will to speak “Why? Why did you show me that?” “Why you ask? Don't you see? If you let me in then we can make it so that no pony in all of Equestria will ever laugh at you or hate you. No now and not EVER!” The dark magic swirled around me violently and flashed images of my fears again then the black ooze splashed over the images and then they changed from them laughing to them bowing and smiling and  mouthing the words “We love you” Is this real? I thought to myself, can anyone truly love me? But before I could think another thought the images all melted away into a pool of dark magic and black ooze and both images of bad and good mixed together and swirled around in a vortex until both dissipated and I was left staring into nothing “Well, what do you think my crystal? How did you like seeing that possible future?” “Possible future?” “Yesssssss, tis a possibility if you let me in, if we become one, if we do this together, my crystal” I began to think of living my life without fear, without being hated, without being alone. “Do  you really want me King Sombra?” A small chuckle escaped from the shadow of the King “Yes I do, my crystal. Yesssss.....I......doooooo” My mind was a flurry of images and thoughts and even though a small nag at the back of my mind told me to say no, I chose not to listen and I said “Then, I accept you, my King” and I took a small bow to my new King and to my new self.

Instantly the black ooze was no longer held back in check and struck my legs and climbed up and over my body and it stung like fire but I did not yell out and soon my whole body was covered from head to tail in the black ooze and I felt my body change. I felt my bones crack, my muscles rip, and even my skull was splitting apart and I had no choice but to yell out in pain and agony, it was nothing I could ever imagine and even though I did try to yell my voice was also lost and just for a split second the pain subsided and I blacked out but the very next second came something even worse, everything that broke was being reformed and morphed into something else and the pain of feeling my body transform was even worse than it splitting apart. My body went numb and my only thought was of the pain that I could no longer feel and after a few nightmarish minutes everything stopped and I finally felt my body but now I felt some new things. My body seemed to be taller and my legs seemed heavier and stronger, even my mane felt thicker. “What did you-” I stopped speaking as soon as I heard a different voice come out of me but it was strange because I sounded just like him, I sounded just like his disembodied voice. I was about to speak again but I stopped when I saw the Kings head smiling at me as his eyes surveyed me “What is it my King?”. He stopped immediately and stared at me and the black ooze formed an oval shape in front of me and when the object formed the ooze dripped off and revealed a mirror and I saw my new body. I still had my gray colored body as before but that was the only thing that stayed the same as I saw a thick, muscular body with a long and thick flowing black mane, I even had a horn upon my head now and when I started looking at my new head and face I stared because they both seemed familiar. But before I could think of why, the Kings face slowly phased through the mirror and drifted closer to me and I finally knew where I had seen the face before, it was the Kings face and the horn was the same one that was sticking out from the rock! 

“Why do I look like you?” “BECAUSE YOUR BODY IS NOW MINE!” and before I could react his whole shadow jumped into me and I felt something pushing me but my body did not move yet I did and with a slight struggle I felt as though I fell off a cliff but instead of falling down I fell forward into the mirror and I closed my eyes to brace for the impact but it never came. I kept my eyes closed until the feeling passed and when I did open them I was welcomed to his now maniacal laughter and I saw my new body right in front of me laughing but I could tell I was not laughing “What did you do?!”. His answer was his continued laughter but I also noticed the black ooze forming another oval shaped object and just as before the oozed dripped off to reveal another mirror in front of my now turned body and I saw not only my new bodies reflection in the new mirror, I also saw my old bodies reflection in the old mirror “WHAT DID YOU DO?!?” 

Now the new body turned and faced me and I saw that the eyes were of the Kings and the horn was ablaze with dark magic “Whatever do you mean, my crystal? I got you to say yes to allow your body to become my new body! I must thank you for easily saying yes, I would not of enjoyed taking over a damaged body but in the end I still got what I wanted and you will get what you want, my precious crystal” “What do you mean! How will I get what I want! I thought you needed me! Why?!” “But I did need you, my crystal, I needed your body to reclaim my body! And of course you will get what you want, I have placed your soul within that indestructible mirror and I will leave you where you found me. Now you will never hear and see  any pony ever again! No pony to hate you, no pony to leave you, and no pony will kick you out of your new home! Isn't that exactly what you wanted, my crystal?”. 

I was aghast and speechless and once again I felt tears began to flow from my eyes as I slowly realized his betrayal and that I should of listened to myself and should of never have trusted him. I slumped to the ground and stared at King Sombra as he smiled at me and while I stared the black ooze surrounding us melted away and revealed the forest where I found him. But now the rock was void of any steam and the horn was gone and from what I could see all the crystals had shattered and were slowly melting into the ground and disappearing, all but one. In front of the mirror a single blackened crystal stood and King Sombra could tell that I was puzzled and he simply performed his dark chuckle “You shall stay in that mirror for all eternity and your world is now whatever is reflected but you shall have no need to eat or sleep and I shall leave you one gift” His horn glowed and his dark magic shot into the crystal and made it glow “This crystal shall show you my history and will allow you to see through my eyes as I enslave all of Equestria! Thank you, my crystal. Thank you and goodbye” I struggled to speak but I found no voice and then he was gone and I was left all alone, again. After I fully realized what was going to happen I stared at the dark crystal and it glowed again and I began to see the history of King Sombra and all of his evil deeds. At the end of it I finally found my voice as I stared in horror and looked ahead to the closest town “What have I done?” 


To Be Continued.........