//------------------------------//
// Breaking Through The Looking Glass 
// Story: The Kings Shadow 
// by Zandar13 
//------------------------------//

Screaming. Endless screaming pounded the ears of the two Princesses who had just momentarily arrived into The Crystal Empire, but the screams were not the only thing to greet them upon arrival. The smell of something burning invaded their nostrils and made their fur stand on end and if not through sheer willpower would make them heave the contents of their stomachs. But the sight of the empire in all its 'glory' would forever stain their minds and makes the screams almost seem pleasant in comparison. 

As they surveyed the land they saw countless horrors such as the multitude of bodies that seemed to be dead or dying littered on the ground while the one who still stand simply walk over them or even stomped on them while continuing to work. They saw children chained to machines and being forced to keep them alive while most likely their mothers and fathers slaved away working on things those very same machines brought forth. Yet the ones who had work remained silent and they could tell by their eyes that they had given up hope and simply worked while the ones on the ground tried to rise and cried out for help only to be met with silence or another hoof to their bodies as the workers walked over them in silence. 

One particular scream caught both of their attention and they fixed their eyes upon a stallion whose front right leg was missing and bleeding and screamed for help as his body was being dragged away by some sort of crystal abomination that looked like somepony has carved a crude pony body out of crystal then gave it life. But out of all the horrors they have witnessed this new sight gave way to a nightmarish sight, for the abomination dragged the screaming stallion to an open furnace and easily flung his bleeding body into the fiery inferno and quickly closed and locked the front while the dying screams of the stallion rose and rose until it slowly died out.

Tears rolled forth from both of the Princesses eyes as their minds tried to wrap themselves around everything they have witnessed but before they could act they were greeted by a new sound, the sound of maniacal and dark laughter that seemed to echo throughout their whole bodies and sank into their minds. They quickly turned their fearful heads towards the source to find a dark and evil looking unicorn wrapped in gleaming silver armor and a flowing red cape with a horned crown atop his smirking face. Clinging to him was a black furred unicorn with a teal mane who starred at the King with half-lidded soulless eyes and with his leg wrapped around her to keep her close he continued his horrendous laughter while starring right at the two hovering Princesses.

“WELCOME Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to my wondrous Empire! Are you impressed and awestruck at all its glory and beauty!” the King shouted as his mouth continued to smile in ill-fashion. 

“As Co-Ruler of Equestria and the Princess of the Sun I, Princess Celestia, ask you to stop this madness at once King Sombra!” the white furred Alicorn Princess demanded.

“If thou does not stop this insanity at once then I, Princess Luna, Co-Ruler of Equestria and Princess of the Night shall be forced to stop thou by any means necessary!” the blue Princess declared as she slowly began to prepare her magic in her slightly elongated horn. 

The only response to their demands was even more laughter but while he laughed he shoved the teal maned unicorn mare aside with force and he slowly but boldly walked towards the two and summoned his magic to create a pillar of stone that rose him from his spot until he was face to face with the two Princesses “If you cannot see the beauty of MY EMPIRE then you shall become my new Cryssstal SSSSSSSLAVESSSS!” as soon as he shouted he charged his dark magic and began shooting dark blasts of magic at his new objects of desire.

The two Alicorns flew and dodged most of them and had to summon a magic force field to fend off the rest. Princess Luna simply roared a battle shout and began to summon her offensive magic while Princess Celestia flew up and shed a few tears that the negotiations had failed “I am sorry King Sombra but your actions against the ponies of Equestria cannot be forgiven and by my light I shall defeat you.” as soon as those words left her mouth she summoned the power of the sun and a pure beam of sunlight enveloped her entire body. Her magic formed golden battle armor over her entire being and her once flowing multicolored hair ignited into flames and roared with power and heat and her once peaceful demeanor was replaced with a fearsome warrior whose power radiated like that of the sun. Once the sunbeam lifted her golden armor gleamed in the fiery rage of her mane and by the desecrated burnt lands of the Empire below and with one more magic charge her eyes glowed yellow and she looked right at you and charged while yelling “NOW BEGONE VILE SHADOW!”.


Greymane snapped back to reality and began to pace back and forth with a cold sweat while his adrenaline rushed and his heart pounded in anxiety as this latest vision of King Sombras past. While he continued to pace he slowly started taking deep breaths as he had learned to do in the past to ease the burden and after a minute or so he had stopped pacing and sat in front of the mirror and continued to breath deeply until he felt his heartbeat slow back down to normal. Once he was feeling normal he finally opened his eyes fully and saw that it was now dawn and his vision had taken him all night and into the morning and with that realization he slowly looked forward through the mirror to see if Princess Twilight Sparkle had returned but was greeted with the same forest that surrounded him all his life.

He sighed and hung his head low before he quickly glanced at the message she left him before she teleported away ' My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle and I will return, I promise', when he tore his eyes away from the message his heart had mixed feelings about this recent development and this latest vision. First he thought about the vision and how he had never seen this one before, he had seen every other vision multiple times before but this new one had finally picked up where the others left off but he also thought that it was a weird coincidence that he was about to meet Princess Celestia for the first time and then he gets a vision showing her rage and power. 

But now that he knew who that was he now knows that he had seen her once before and that was when he had seen her fly into Ponyville before he was imprisoned but now all he could see her as was the raging warrior about to strike. He shook those thoughts aside as he focused back on the message then back to Princess Twilight Sparkle and his spiked for a moment at the thought of hope that he would be rescued and he allowed himself a brief smile of happiness before he smothered it. No, he most likely would not be rescued, especially by Princess Celestia who saw and battled King Sombra at the height of his domain and was most likely forced to due battle with the King once more thanks to him. 

Even though his mind was telling him to give up and giving him thousands of reasons why his heart just kept pounding on and telling him to believe in the lavender Alicorn and trust her to fulfill her promise. Maybe Princess Celestia would not free him but perhaps Princess Twilight would instead, she had listened to his story and she could of just left him there without a word but she had promised him herself and even left a message to remind him, so either she was cruel or truly wished to free him. But with his luck, either option was up on the table and he could not blame her for doing the first one.

Many similar thoughts rampaged throughout his mind and he debated on whether or not either Princess would come and free him or simply leave him in his perfect prison for his crimes against Princess Celestias subjects and her rule. While his heart continued to hope eventually his mind won over and he hung his head in sadness and rejection as he slowly gave up hope that she would come back or would even bother to free him if she did return but no matter what negative outcome he promised himself that he would not get mad or upset at their decision since he knew his crimes and accepted it long ago. With his thoughts clouded by darkness and shame he closed his eyes and slumped his head against the invisible glass and sighed sadly as his mind began to wonder and a single long tear began to fall.

THOOMP

The sudden sound surprised him but he remembered it as the sound of Princess Twilight teleporting away yesterday but now it was most likely a return trip, his eyes sprung open but he did not remove his head from its spot as his eyes darted the same green grass as his mind exploded at the new possibilities but before too long he heard two different sets of hooves walking towards him and now he was sure that Princess Twilight had returned as promised and most likely with Princess Celestia in tow. His heart lept for joy inside but he dared not show such emotion in this delicate situation as the two sets of hooves came closer and closer until they stopped and from his spot he could see the golden hooves and white fur on his right while lavender fur stopped on his left. 

His body refused to move to meet them both and his body trembled in fear and sweat began to glisten in grey fur and the very same sweat dripped off his body but disappeared once it hit the mirror world grass and his breathing became ragged. He knew he should greet them or say something but as soon as he saw those two sets of hooves his body was locked in fear but his mind was absolutely clear of any thought and simply held the image of those same hooves he stared at. Seconds pass without a word and very soon a minute had pass in silence but it did nothing to calm his nerves or mind, just the fear of the unknown poisoned his mind like the King had down to him many years ago. 

“Please raise your head Greymane, you have nothing to fear my little pony” said an unfamiliar voice whose words just seemed to explode in his mind but only due to the fact that they instantly calmed him and filled his body with warmth and just seemed to erase all his worries and woes. As his body ceased to tremble he took one long breath and slowly raised his head but as he did a small sliver of doubt spread in his mind and as he continued to raise his head he kept his eyes averted down. 

“Please Greymane, look at me. I only wish to look into your eyes and see you” the voice pleaded in a sadder tone and with any courage he could muster he took one more breath as he slowly moved his eyes up until he saw the smiling face of the pure white Alicorn with multicolored hair which flowed in the wind, the golden crown that sat on her head along with the other golden accessories that adorned her tall and lanky body. But it was her purple eyes that had him captured, they were beautiful as they just seemed to go on forever but held many emotions that swirled like a whirlpool but at that moment they were an odd combination of happiness and sadness. 

“Hello my little pony, I am Princess Celestia and it is an honor to finally meet you” her soothing voice called out and as she finished she placed a single hoof upon the mirror and gave a smile so warm is felt like the sun was shining on him after a rainy day and filled him with a warmth he had not felt since his mother died. With his own hoof he brought his up and met her own upon the opposite side of the mirror and tears flowed down his face and a smile blossomed upon his face as he continued to stare at her.

His mind once again shattered but in a good way as all previous thoughts of malice and ill will about the identity of Princess Celestia vanished and even the raging warrior he saw in his vision gave way to this shining beacon that offered him a genuine smile and filled him with hope beyond measure. A slight movement to his left cause him to shift and look at Princess Twilight who was also smiling and had a few tears rolling down her face and collected on the real world grass as she gazed upon the scene and Greymane couldn’t help but smile even wider a the sight of her. She had kept her promise to come back for him!

With a shaky voice he began to say “I am sorry Princess Twilight, but I had thought you would not return. But I am happy to be proven wrong. (He turned to face Celestia once more) and it is 'hick' it is an honor to meet you and I....I....” his voice cracked as his cries took over for a moment before he spoke up again “and I am so happy that you came”

A small chuckle escaped Celestias lips “Of course I came, I could not afford to ignore something as important as this” she replied with that warm smile of hers but even though he was happy he was slightly confused at this statement.

“Im-important? How am I important your majesty?” before Princess Celestia could answer he quickly turned his head to Twilight “Did you tell her everything I told you yesterday? Because” with that he dropped his hoof and looked back at the ground “With everything I did, I should not be somepony of importance unless for punishment”.

“Of course I told Princ-” Twilight was cut off by Celestia “Punishment?! Why would I ever punish you for?” Celestia said with nothing but pure concern and worry.

Even though she said it worryingly all his emotions came boiling up “BECAUSE of me King Sombra escaped! Because of me hundreds or thousands of ponies had to face King Sombras cruelty and evil! Because of me he gained a physical body! Because I was weak and sad and angry and lonely and a fool I had fallen for his false words and let him loose! Because of me.....because of me.....” his emotions had won over him and his tears boiled over and took over all words and left a silence as his words sank in.

“I know” was all Celestia responded with.

With those two simple words it snapped Greymane out of his sad state and made him look at her with much confusion and with a few sobs he finally spoke” Then why am I important? Why did you come back for me? Why dont you hate me!” Greymane had unintentionally shouted that last part but his confusion had taken over his manners.

“Because Greymane, everypony is important. No matter how small or big a role they play. A filly, an elder, an office worker, a miner, a popular model, a lonely stallion, a Princess, or even a homeless mare. They are all important and you are no exception in my eyes. Yes what you did was wrong but your actions were not done out of malice or hatred, they were manipulated by a pony whose heart was shallow and black and he twisted your regrettable experiences in life to serve his dark plans. You only wanted somepony to simply be your friend and he used that against you. I am sad that we had not found you sooner to help and to allow this to happen. For that and everything that was done to you I apologize and hope you can forgive me” after she was done she bowed before him with a few tears sparkling in her eyes.

Greymane was speechless as his mind once again wrapped around her words that bounced around in his mind and for a long minute he sat in silence before he realized that he left Princess Celestia in silence with her of all ponies bowing to him! “P-p-p-please Princess Celestia! You do not need to apologize to me! I never blamed you or any pony for anything. I knew what I did was wrong and I knew that it was no ones fault but my own and I thought that with King Sombra trapping me in here was the perfect punishment for my actions. Even before I knew you I could never blame you and after getting to know you now I can say for certain that you did nothing wrong. I was simply dealt a bad hand in life but since it was my life I had to play it out and live on. So please rise Princess! I do not deserve this”

With those words Princess Celestia rose from her position and offered another smile “Your certainly a wonder Greymane, usually others would be at least a little mad or upset but after everything I can only imagine you still find yourself to be humble and calm”

For a while he remained silent and thought about her words then he did something he himself did not suspect he would ever do again, he chuckled at a silly thought “Well, after going insane and regaining my sanity within eight years can have strange effects” 

For a brief moment Celestia was confused but joined in his chuckle “Though I do not know exactly the meaning behind those words, I can agree with you that that would certainly have strange effects on anypony” with that she gave another short chuckle “Discord would probably be the best example of that”. After her little joke Twilight gave a short snort and stifled her laughter before Celestia continued “Now, with all that out of the way how about we get you out of your little 'mirror world' and get you back to the 'real world'”

Greymane took a step back and began to think and think and think while Celestia prepared to use her magic but before she could he shouted “WAIT! NO! YOU CAN'T!”

Taken back by the refusal she let her magic die down first before asking “Why? Do you truly no want to be free?” she said confusingly to which Twilight agreed with.

Greymane rubbed his left leg with his right “It's not that exactly but if I were to leave now I do not think I would be able to exist in the real world since I do not have a physical body. King Sombra currenly holds dominion over my body” with that he sighed and look down as he now had another reason to stay imprisoned despite all that just happened.

But instead of a gasp of realization or questions to be asked all he heard was another slight giggle from Princess Celestia as she charged her horn and a yellow glow slowly enveloped her horn “I don't think that will be much of a problem” but before Greymane could respond he saw from behind the two an object wrapped in a blanket slowly being levitated over by Celestias magic and being set to her left, his right. After she gently layed it on the ground she withdrew her magic, Greymane squinted his eyes to see what it was before his eyes blasted open in surprise and his mouth twitched before he finally spoke “That's me. That's my body”



To Be Continued...