Chapter 1: Resurrection
The cheers from the ongoing festivities from the Crystal Empire could be heard from over 20 miles away, the ever glowing lights brightened the sky like the North Star pointing you in its direction. And it was 20 miles away from the Empire that the bits remained that was once King Sombra laid. The piece that was once his horn began to glow, the rest of the pieces began to shake before dissolving into the snow, a thick, black smoke then rose from the white powder and began circling above the ground. A transparent black bubble then began to form as a figure began to form inside of it; the horn then flung up as the shadows whipped past the figure like a small tornado, it then attached itself perfectly to its forehead as the winds stopped and the remainder of the shadows turned into his mane and tail. His eyes then opened, they were the eyes of the one and only King Sombra, he looked at the far off glowing lands that was once his and rightfully his. The sounds of laughter and cheering flooded his ears as his anger rose higher and his face grew hot; the expression on his face was only of hatred. Hatred toward Princess Cadence, Prince Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle, her friends and most of all: that dragon called Spike. He had almost won! He was so close! Only to have his plan foiled by a baby dragon! His anger rose, his blood boiled and his hatred was seething. Why hadn't his plan, everything he had set up beforehoof, worked? There was only one simple answer, Twilight was powerful and she had reinforcements. eight to be exact. Which to be fair, when he resurfaced, he wasn't expecting any reinforcements. But thinking of the fact that the Princesses had already been one step ahead of him only rose his anger and hatred even more.
"I will get the Empire back," he growled. "And when I do Prince Shining Armor...your wife and your sister will be the first to die!"
Even with this swear for revenge, he knew he wouldn't be able to tackle this alone or without some sort of fortress. As he looked around at his surroundings, he realized that he was now East of the Empire and not too far from the Crystal Mountains which was probably the most apt for somepony to go when they are in hiding and trying to figure out their next move. Sombra then turned himself into smoke and transported himself toward the mountains. He thought of plans, figuratively tossed them aside, thought about them again and ending with the same result. His frustration was becoming more and more apparent with every idea he threw aside knowing they would all end in his defeat. While he thought, he flew over the mountain tops he kept his eyes open for a place to build his fortress. After five hours of gliding past the pillars of glittering snow, ice and crystal, he was about to give up and search somewhere else, he then finally found a mountain pass big enough for him to build a palace. It was wide enough to build something suitable and it was deep enough for him to be hidden from the sight of the Empire. He was instantly satisfied with the location, landed and turned back into his deformed pony self. For cautionary reasons, he knew he had to keep his magic levels to a minimum or else he'd be discovered, building a fortress was no big task when it came to a unicorn with his level of magical talents so he wouldn't be discovered and nonetheless, he needed protection. He remembered the spell to use as his horn lit. The earth began to shake, at first Sombra thought the residents of the Empire might take notice, but remembered that large chunks of crystal and ice break off from these mountains enough so his worrying was subdued. As the world around him shook, black crystals formed at the bottom of the pass and slowly crept upward which created a palace that looked as if it was carved out of the ice of the mountain and given a black tint; when he finished, he decided to create his own army. His horn lit again once this was decided and he created twenty guards out of the same black crystal material. These guards were different from the ones in the Empire, these guards would follow his orders and his orders alone without any questioning from them. They were created with his magic and thus, they knew nothing else but to serve their new king, Sombra did this intentionally so he wouldn't risk being betrayed by any of them. If he had real, living and breathing guards, they would undoubtedly rush off to the Crystal Empire and tell the royals of his whereabouts. Sombra could not risk being discovered before his eventual plan could get into action. Once they were created, he ordered them to scope the perimeter for intruders and/or predators, in which they immediately saluted him and set off to do obediently.
As soon as they were gone, Sombra escaped to his new study, which was small but still had all the books he would need to keep him entertained. But right now, he couldn't read, he had to come up with something, and he had to come up with something fast! He tried thinking about what went wrong the other times he'd tried taking over, what was it he didn’t have? His thoughts were then interrupted by one of his guards.
“You're highness,” he said bowing.
“Report,” Sombra ordered.
“There are no signs of intruders or Arctic wolves anywhere around the perimeter sire.”
“Good, and it better stay that way. Though, if you do catch an intruder, bring them straight to me, I shall deal with them.”
“Yes, King Sombra. Will there be anything else?”
“Tell the others to stand guard outside, in case we get some...unexpected company.”
“Yes sir, any other orders?”
"You are dismissed."
The guard bowed and left obediently; Sombra could go back to his thoughts of plans of how to gain the Crystal Empire back. As he went deeper and deeper into his thoughts, it seemed as if the only conclusion of what he didn't have: was a weapon. He needed a weapon of some sort, something powerful enough to assist him in battle, he'd need assistance, but where to obtain such powerful magic was the problem. Twilight Sparkle was out of the question, even though she had proven herself to be more powerful than him it was less than likely she'd join his side without resistance. The same went with Princess Cadence and Princess Luna, Cadence wouldn't be easily swayed as she is now crowned 'The Crystal Princess,' and as for Princess Luna, 'The Princess of the Night,' had shown in the past that she had temptations, but she had taken those temptations and buried them deep inside herself. By now, it seemed like his only choice was defeat, unless he raised a weapon himself. As that thought processed in his mind, an idea then came to him, he knew what he needed. A child to train, more specifically, a unicorn. He would train this child in the art of Dark Magic to assist him, gender did not matter in this situation. Male or female, they would be the perfect asset, ally and leverage to earn him the Empire back. He ransacked his study to find map of the current Equestria, as soon as it was found he rolled it out on a table and mapped out his course. Within a week, he began his search for the right child. Telling his guards to stay on duty and to throw trespassers into the dungeon and to keep them there no matter the circumstances. Sombra searched for the right unicorn to stand with him, to no avail, he had decided early on to inconspicuously look through the orphanages. By either making himself look like a normal passerby or looking in on the children at night. He didn't know what kind of magic he was looking for, the orphans he had come across clearly had nothing else to contribute, except being whiny about missing their parents. But Sombra decided on orphans because he knew that nopony would make as much of a fuss if an orphan went missing than if a foal that had parents went missing.
For weeks, months, years even, nine years to be exact, he searched through every corner of every town and city in Equestria and keeping a low profile in the process. He had almost given up his search, that is, until the fateful day he finally found his student in a small town called Ponyville.
And the filly's name was Heart’s Desire
