//------------------------------// // Long Live the King // Story: Silver Gaze: the Pony Who Would be King // by FireOfTheNorth //------------------------------// Chapter Four: Long Live the King Silver Gaze found himself lying within the doorway of the Shrine to the Ideal Masters with no idea exactly what had happened or how much time had passed since his encounter with the Ideal Masters. But, he knew that they had kept their end of the bargain at least. He could feel the absolute power crackling beneath the surface of his flesh. When he exercised his power, black and purple magic swirled from his forehead. He checked his reflection in his alchemy equipment and confirmed that there was no horn there; he was still an earth pony. Yet somehow he could now cast magic just like a unicorn could. But just because he had no horn didn’t mean that his appearance was exactly the same as it was before. His light gray coat seemed a shade darker than what he’d been born with, and his mane was swept back crazily over his skull. As he used his magic, a purple mist seemed to trail from the edges from his eyes, as if he was leaking pure energy. After testing out his powers a bit more and becoming accustomed to them, he left the shrine and headed out toward his first target: Embershard. * * * The town looked quite peaceful as Silver approached it, the sun glinting off the crystal towers in the afternoon light. He considered turning back, or at least going around the town. After all, the worst they’d done to him was throwing him out on the orders of Crystal Empire’s ruler. But, he’d made a promise to the Ideal Masters that he would take revenge on those who had wronged him and he would give them their souls. When the Ideal Masters asked for his soul, he would be forced to give up this power, and if they saw him spare this town now, they might ask right away. Silver wanted to be able to use his powers to topple Prince Emerald Wave, and that would never happen if he gave them up so soon. He approached the town gates. If they let him pass through, he’d do nothing, but if they tried to stop him . . . “Hold it!” the gatekeeper ordered as he checked a poster, comparing the pony sketched upon it to Silver, “I can’t allow you to pass.” “I just want to go through the town,” Silver said. “Can’t allow it,” the gatekeeper said, drawing the attention of the nearby guards, “You’ve been banished from the realm, so you’ll just have to turn around and go back the way you came.” “Stop!” one of the guards said as Silver tried to step through into the town, and thrust his spear up under his chin. “I wouldn’t do that,” Silver said, looking down at the spear. “Why?” the guard asked, “What’s an earth pony like you going to do?” That comment implying he was a helpless earth pony hit a nerve in Silver. Far too many times somepony had done the same thing to him, treating him as inferior because of his race. Within, something just snapped. And now that he had the power to do something, he took the opportunity. Purple mist billowed from Silver’s eyes and his irises shifted from a steely grey to dull red. The guard looked puzzled at the change in his appearance before a slicing blade of dark gray crystal shot up from the ground and cut him in half. The other guards scrambled to attack Silver, but he turned his gaze on them and mounds of gemstone shot up from the ground, crushing or immobilizing them. As the gatekeeper tried to run away, Silver directed a blast of pure magic at him, causing him to be wracked by agony before his heart stopped and he slumped over. The nearby townsponies going about their business stopped and stared in shock as the guards were brutally murdered. They turned tail and attempted to run as Silver strode into Embershard, blasting away the walls of crystal he had erected. Jets of magical flame blasted down the street, consuming the town’s residents as they tried to flee. The mist from Silver’s eyes seemed to grow stronger and a green light glowed within them as the townsponies were killed and their souls were sent to the Ideal Masters. The earth pony felt a sudden jolt of energy from within as it happened, unlocking powers he didn’t know he had. Pouring his energy into his magic, Silver caused jagged mounds of crystal to rise from the ground, shaping them into vaguely ponyish shapes. With a blast of power from his forehead the statues came to life and galloped off through the town to take care of the problems he couldn’t take on personally. As the screams of ponies killed in the distance by his minions reached his ears, Silver trotted confidently up to Pleasant Meadows’s shop. “Frozen Heart!” he yelled, his voice booming across the town, “Come out!” When nopony exited the alchemy shop, Silver frowned and tore the whole front of the building off with his magic. The shop began to collapse, the debris crushing Pleasant Meadows as he tried to escape. Frozen Heart slid down the rubble to his friend, the trailing ends of his bandages whipping in the wind that Silver had unknowingly conjured. “Face me!” Silver demanded, but Frozen Heart ignored him and continued to work on pulling Meadows out from under the collapsed shop. The green light in Silver’s eyes burned brighter, and his pupils constricted to slits. How dare he ignore him now? A sheet of crystal shot up from the ground, separating Frozen from Meadows and sheering through the cloths covering the necromancer’s face. Focusing his powers, Frozen burned through the crystal, allowing him to reach for his friend again. Before he could, Silver caused crystal to rise up and encase Meadows entirely, his scream silenced as the crystal filled his mouth and burrowed down his throat. “So, I see you ignored my advice,” Frozen said, fuming and turning to face Silver, “You went to the Ideal Masters anyway. What price did you have to pay for this? Your soul, your mind, or perhaps you sold all the goodness within you!” “I paid nothing for this power,” Silver said, allowing crystals to rise from the ground and lift him up so that he was looking down on the necromancer, “Only a fool like you would willingly sell his soul.” “You do not know what you are dealing with,” Frozen said defiantly, “You may not know it yet, but you have sold something. I suspect it truly is the goodness in you. Why else would you attack a defenseless town that has done you no wrong?” “Done me no wrong?” Silver scoffed, causing the crystal he was standing on to form a ring around the necromancer, entrapping him, “They dragged me from this very shop and threw me out of town! And you! You tried to dissuade me from seeking the Ideal Masters. Am I glad I didn’t listen? If I had, then I’d be poor and starving, trying to eke out a living making and selling potions. Now I could be a king!” “King? You’re no more than a puppet for the Ideal Masters,” Frozen said, “I tried to keep you from falling into the same trap I did, but you didn’t listen. Now I have to do what is right and destroy you, lest your corruption spreads.” Before Silver could respond, Frozen sent a blast of green fire shooting out from him in all directions, melting the crystal Silver stood upon. As he leapt into the air, Silver found that crystal instantly jumped up from the ground to meet him. He jumped from pillar to pillar until he was on solid ground again. He ducked as a blast of flame shot over his head and erected a pillar of crystal to block the next attack from Frozen. Silver sent his own waves of fire around at the necromancer, catching his cloths on fire and burning them off. Frozen countered, blasting pure magic at Silver and breaking his shield into shattered splinters of crystal. Silver lowered his head and blasted pure magic at Frozen as well. The two blasts met in midair, pushing against each other and radiating heat from where they met. A groove began to form in the ground as the two energy beams and the ponies that controlled them fought for dominance. Silver felt additional power enter his body, strengthening him, and with a slight pain in his forehead the dark energy began to advance toward Frozen, forcing him to his knees as it pushed his attack back. “The Ideal Masters have abandoned you!” Silver cackled as the bubbling purple light neared the walking corpse. “No, I abandoned them, proudly,” Frozen said as his magical attack waned, “Do not wait to do the same until it is too late.” As he finished speaking, the necromancer dropped his power, and the pure, undiluted magic from Silver crashed into him, burning him away until not even ashes remained. The unkillable pony was finally dead. Silver stared at the small crater in the ground, shocked by what had just happened. He’d actually won, and it was all because of this new power he wielded. With this, he could do anything. A faint buzz in his head alerted him that his crystalline minions had returned. As he turned around to look at them, he was surprised to see a crystal pony standing between them. He wore a crown upon his head, but his foreleg was broken and his royal robes were scorched, bearing testament to the fact that he could very easily have been dead at this moment. “What is this?” Silver asked. “I am the count of this town,” the crystal pony said, prostrating himself, “Embershard surrenders to your might and will do whatever you command.” “You wish for me to rule over you?” Silver asked, intrigued. “Y-yes,” the count stammered out, obviously terrified, “You are obviously fit to be our king, if you wish.” Silver had known he’d been right a few minutes ago, but this was added confirmation. He could be a king now, and he would be. If the ponies of Embershard were willing to serve as his slaves, then he’d allow it. “Very well, I shall be your king,” Silver Gaze said to the count. “Of course, your majesty,” the crystal pony said, rising, “If I may ask, what shall we call you?” “You may call me King Sombra,” Silver said, coming up with a name out of the blue, and it seemed to fit. * * * The next day, Silver left the remains of Embershard, a few of the town’s ponies following him. Apparently, seeing everypony else in the town killed had convinced them to stay near to their new king and fight for him. Now they were on the way to Chrysolite, where Silver intended to repeat the successes he’d had at Embershard. With his newfound powers, he couldn’t see why he wouldn’t. He’d felt his strength increase tenfold in the past day, imbuing him with more power than he ever could have imagined. His physical appearance had changed as well, which he’d noticed the night before in Castle Embershard’s mirrors. His coat had subtly darkened another shade of gray and his mane and tail now seemed to flow in a weak ethereal breeze, like he’d heard Equestria’s Princesses’ did. The purple mist seemed to flow from his eyes nearly constantly now, and he caught flashes of greens in the whites from time to time. He also realized that his vision was now perfect, and he had no need for the glasses that had been correcting his sight for years. A small knob had formed on his forehead, perhaps a precursor to a unicorn’s horn. If one was to appear, Silver hoped it would be permanent, that way he could still use magic even after giving his powers back to the Ideal Masters. He still knew inside that one day he’d have to make a decision about the power he’d been given, and he’d have to decide to give it back, or else lose his soul. But, he didn’t want to think about it at the moment. Right now, he just wanted to relish the feeling of strength. At last, he no longer had to take the scorn and the ridicule of the races that considered themselves above him. Everypony who’d ever claimed an earth pony like him would never amount to something were wrong, the crown upon his head proved that. His thoughts ceased their wanderings and returned to the present as he neared the town of Chrysolite. Unlike Embershard, the emerald towers of Chrysolite did not sparkle in the sun. The dark storm clouds that followed Silver Gaze blocked out the light of the day star, shrouding the land in gloom. The dark king strode up to the gates proudly, daring the guards to challenge him. “Greetings, traveler,” the gatekeeper said, standing and trotting over to Silver as he entered the town, “What has brought you to our humble town, and why are your companions so heavily armed?” “Do you not recognize me?” Silver asked before turning to a nearby guard that was scratching his head, “Or perhaps you? After all, it was you who helped to throw me from this town into the cold without any of my possessions.” “Silver Gaze?” the guard asked, fishing through his saddlebags for the banishment poster. “That’s right,” Silver replied, “I had very little, it’s true, but you took everything from me, and threw me in the dungeon for no more than asking questions.” Crystal shot up from the ground, lifting the guard into the air and pinning his limbs. The other guards shouted and ran to help, but Silver erected a wall of crystal in their path, keeping them from reaching him. “Do you deny it?” Silver asked, trotting closer to the immobilized pony. “N-no,” the guard admitted, “But it was just orders! Please don’t kill me!” A part of Silver wanted to spare this pony; after all, he had most likely just been following orders. But that rational part of his mind was drowned out by the dark rage surging inside of him. Hatred powered Silver’s abilities, and as he thought of what had happened in this town, it grew, until the crystal restraining the guard crushed him into pulp. The Embershard ponies took it as a sign to rush around the wall of crystal and attack the remaining guards. As they busied themselves with attacking the guards at the gate, Silver trotted through the town, causing a stack of crystal to raise him up so that he could see over the buildings. His irises turned red and his pupils constricted as he sent waves of flame down the streets, setting the fleeing townsponies afire. Buildings crumbled and melted into sludge as he turned his gaze upon them, reducing Chrysolite into a pile of rubble in a matter of minutes. One particular building he turned his personal attention to. Propelled by the shafts of crystal sprouting from the ground, Silver made his way over to the alchemy shop in the poorer part of town. The front of the building was torn apart as Silver focused his power on it, and the elderly alchemist within fled as the shop crumbled around her. A falling piece of crystal pinned her hindleg to the ground, and she struggled to pull herself free before looking up at her attacker. “What did I ever do to you?” she asked, staring directly into Silver’s burning eyes. “I was in your shop when the guards came after me,” Silver recounted the event, “And what did you do to stop them? Nothing!” “There was nothing I could do,” the elderly alchemist said, “They would have thrown me in prison too.” “Excuses,” Silver scoffed, “Everypony always has an excuse for why they won’t help me, but it always comes down to one thing, doesn’t it? You think your hide is worth more than mine because I’m a lowly earth pony. Well, you’ll be making no more excuses for your actions!” Silver let loose on the alchemist, blasting her with the full extent of his magic. A pain throbbed in his head as the small knob grew and his eyes blazed a green so bright that it seemed white. The alchemist screamed as her blood boiled away and her flesh burned like paper under the magical assault. When Silver ceased his attack, nothing was left of the mare but a scorched crater in the ground. * * * Much like in Embershard, after the town had been reduced to practically nothing, the ponies of Chrysolite surrendered and offered themselves as slaves to serve beneath King Sombra. Silver stayed in the town only long enough to have the blacksmith he’d recruited make him a set of armor before setting out for Beryl. He had a few more followers now, more than enough to replace those he’d lost in the last battle, and as he approached Beryl, he approached it as a king leading his troops to war, as he should. The guards here didn’t waste a moment in questioning the purposes of the ponies marching on their gate. They attacked immediately, determined to defend their town. Silver’s eyes glowed as he sent a wall of flame through the gate, incinerating all the guards. His followers rushed through after the attack, putting the town’s residents to the sword. As Silver Gaze’s rage built, so did his powers, and he found the dark clouds swirling over his head coming down to lift him up. He became one with the haze, looking over the entire town and shooting bolts of lightning down on it. As he spotted a familiar pony galloping through the streets, he separated himself from the clouds and jumped down. As he sailed through the air, Silver got a good look at Beryl and sent waves of crystal through the town, tearing buildings to bits and trapping future slaves. Crystals jumped up to meet him as he reached the ground, slowing his fall enough that he didn’t splatter. He landed right in front of a yellow-coated crystal pony, causing him to pull up short. “You!” Silver practically hissed, and realized that his tongue now seemed to be pointed, as were his teeth. “I don’t know you!” Quartz Trust yelled, “What do you want?” “What I really want to know is what you wanted,” Silver said, hopping down from his crystals and trotting around the terrified crystal pony, forcing him to keep moving to keep his attacker in sight, “In that library, why did you tell me about Frozen Heart and then report me to the guards for looking up on him? It was as if you wanted me to get in trouble.” “Wait, you’re that one earth pony that was banished,” Quartz said, realization dawning in his eyes, “Aren’t you?” “That’s right, but that’s not what I asked,” Silver said, scowling, “Why did you try to get me thrown out of town?” “I don’t know,” Quartz said, “I guess . . . I thought if I could turn in a necromancer I’d be respected in this town!” The glow dulled a bit in Silver’s eyes. This pony seemed to have the same problem as him, being discounted by his peers, though for a different reason. Did he really have to kill him? In fact, did he really have to kill any of these ponies to prove his point? Maybe, if he showed them how powerful he was in a nonviolent way they’d respect him all the same. “And you seemed like such an easy target,” Quartz continued to speak, “After all, I don’t know who would stand up for an earth pony.” With that comment Silver snapped, and all the rage went flooding back into him. Now he knew why he had to kill all these ponies. Even now, when he was destroying complete towns, crowned as a king and wielding the power of a god, ponies still refused to respect him because he was an earth pony. But all that would end soon. When he toppled Prince Emerald Wave and took over the Crystal Empire everypony would respect (or at least fear) Silver Gaze. He barely even noticed as his magic tore Quartz apart, leaving no trace that he had ever existed. * * * The Crystal City loomed large in front of Silver Gaze and his makeshift slave army, the Crystal Palace rearing above the other buildings and reaching up to the heavens. The dark clouds that had followed him to Embershard, Chrysolite, and Beryl now seemed to be held back in a barrier outside the city. For some reason, his magic couldn’t yet reach the Crystal City, probably due to the Crystal Heart; all that was about to change. Sentries had seen their approach, and guards and soldiers of the Empire were ready to push back the attack. As soon as they charged from the city toward Silver Gaze and his army, they were torn apart by jagged shards of crystal rising from the ground. Silver’s magic tore the ponies outside the Crystal Heart’s protection apart, either by literally slicing and dicing them or entrapping them in pillars of gemstone. The slave army burst through the defenses, hacking at the guards and clearing a path for Silver to enter the city. As he stepped inside, he felt a sudden surge of power from within, and the clouds burst through, shrouding the city in darkness. Pure energy radiated from Silver Gaze, and he sent tendrils of it out through the Crystal City, converting the buildings into gray and twisted forms of themselves. Fire burned in the streets as he directed it with his gaze, and his followers rampaged through the streets, killing anypony who put up a fight and taking prisoner anypony who didn’t. Silver set his sights on the Crystal Palace, and tendrils of gray crystal began to mar its pristine sapphire surface, taking over the seat of the Empire’s government. He galloped down the streets toward it, eschewing traveling by crystal. He was victorious over Prince Emerald Wave and would soon have his revenge. He wanted this moment to last. “Silver!” a sapphire crystal pony shouted, running out in front of him. “Shimmer?” he asked, pulling up short. “What’s going on?” she asked as she trotted up to Silver Gaze, “What happened to you?” “Long story,” he said, his rage and desire for revenge mysteriously fading as he stopped to talk to his friend, “The important thing is, I can finally be respected by the other races.” “Come inside,” she said as a wall of fire rushed over a nearby block, “Maybe you can figure out what’s going on here.” “What’s going on?” Silver said, “I did this.” “You?” Shimmer asked, “No, you couldn’t; you wouldn’t. This is terrible; you’d never do anything like this.” “It was the only way I could force them to respect me,” Silver defended himself. “Respect? This is fear,” Shimmer said. “What’s the difference?” Silver asked, “The leaders of great nations are ‘respected’ because other nations are afraid of them. Great warriors and mages are ‘respected’ because ponies are afraid of what might happen if they were to disrespect them. Nopony fears me, an earth pony alchemist, so nopony respects me. But now I’m more than what I was before, and ponies finally have a reason to respect me.” “There is a difference. Stop this madness,” Shimmer pleaded, trotting closer to Silver, “I respected you, and not because I feared you, but because I appreciated your brilliance. The Silver Gaze I knew, he could make potions that could do anything from practically nothing. But he was a good pony, and he would never do something like this. He would never kill innocent ponies just to make his point, because he knew that one day ponies would respect him for his talents.” Silver’s gaze softened, and the purple mist evaporated from the corners of his eyes. “Be that pony,” Shimmer said, coming even closer, “Come back to me.” The rage and anger within Silver all faded away. He looked around in horror at what he’d done. Homes were destroyed and lives were ruined, all because of his selfishness. This wasn’t him. Shimmer was right; he would never have done something as horrific as this before he’d gotten these powers. The Ideal Masters must’ve tricked him; that was the only explanation. His mind was made up; he would return to Shimmer and be the stallion he was before, and he would make up for all the terror he’d caused. “Shimmer, get back!” a stallion’s voice interrupted Silver as he was about to speak his confession. A deep blue crystal unicorn galloped out of Shimmer’s home and placed himself between her and Silver Gaze. “It’s okay,” Shimmer said, pushing him aside. “Who is this?” Silver asked, looking at the crystal unicorn. “Silver, this is Prince Midnight Glow,” Shimmer introduced him, “Something was wrong with that love potion you made for Emerald Wave, and it’s made him and Princess Timely Blossom unable to keep from staring into each others’ eyes. We’ve been searching through your research notes trying to find an antidote, and we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well in that time.” Silver watched as his world shattered around him. Shimmer was with somepony else? Well, why not? Did he think even for a moment that a crystal pony like her would even consider an earth pony like him? He’d thought she was different, but the sad truth was that she was just like everypony else! Rage burned inside Silver, hotter than before, and the mist returned to his eyes. Crystals popped up through the road as his anger spilled into the world around him. “So, you’ve abandoned me for him!” Silver said, his voice growing to a roar. “It’s not like that,” Shimmer said, “I didn’t hear from you for months, I thought you were dead. And then the Empire started falling apart, ponies starving from famine, a dragon destroying Onyx, my focus was on curing the Prince and Princess. Then, one thing just led to another.” Silver was broken up inside; he felt so utterly betrayed. The one pony he’d thought he could trust, the one pony he could’ve called his queen, had stabbed him in the back. His heart was broken, torn apart like all the bodies he had ripped asunder during his bloody journey to reach this point. Everything became very still, the roar from within Silver drowning everything else out. It was in that moment that four voices whispered in his ear as one. “So, what is your decision?” “YES!” Silver practically screamed within, selling his soul to the Ideal Masters. Darkness consumed Silver Gaze, tearing through his insides and leaving only all-consuming rage behind. His broken heart shriveled and blackened, never to feel pain or fear or rejection again. His coat darkened another shade and his mane disintegrated into darkness, flowing in the breezes of the Soul Cairn instead of his own world. His irises turned blood red, and the whites of his eyes turned permanently green, the purple smoke billowing from the edges becoming a permanent feature. The stump on his forehead grew out into a blood red horn, curved and wickedly sharp. Power beyond anything he’d ever known surged through him, evaporating the tears remaining in his eyes. Dark magic built up around his new horn and surged out in a beam stronger and more deadly than anything he’d ever cast before. As the beam struck Shimmer, she was consumed instantly, her scream trailing through the air even after her body was reduced to nothingness. “You just killed her!” Midnight Glow exclaimed, taking a step back from the now-unicorn, “She knew you, Silver Gaze.” “Silver Gaze is dead,” the dark unicorn proclaimed in a barely comprehensible growl as he advanced on the crystal unicorn, dark magic building over his horn, “I am SOMBRA!”