Villains United

by juststeph

King Sombra's Story

The next meeting began with all the creatures gathered around a fresh barrel of apple cider from Sweet Apple Acres. Even Discord could appreciate the sweetness of the cider, stealthily procured by Diamond Tiara for her new friends.

“Applejack made me promise that I wouldn’t see you anymore, but I lied!” the filly said gleefully. “Silver Spoon helped me bring it here.”

Flim and Flam were the only ones not to participate in sharing the drink.

The room suddenly darkened, and a smoke crept across the floor. Green eyes opened against the shapeless black fog, and a low voice rumbled through the room. “Crystals…”

“Can’t even enjoy good cider before someone starts yakking,” Gilda grumbled.

Nightmare Moon, similarly annoyed, made a gesture towards the smoke. “Go on, then.”

The eyes glowed, and every creature in the room could suddenly see the story unfolding in front of them.

--

The school didn’t look much different from other schools in Equestria, besides the fact that it was constructed from pure crystal. The fillies and colts playing in the front yard were crystalline as well, reflected even in the shape of their eyes. This was normal life in the Crystal Empire.

A young colt stood in front of the school, in awe of the gleam coming from everything and everyone around him. He noticed that he was the only one without gem eyes, and the only one with a horn on top of his dark head. His parents had named him Sombra, and everypony had always said he was unusual. This first day of school was the first time he understood just how true that was.

A unicorn had never been born in the Crystal Empire, as far as anyone could remember. They all knew of unicorns hailing from the southern kingdoms, but few had ever seen one. Sombra was an oddity. He should not have existed.

This first day of school was special because for the first time, he wasn’t just treated as a curiosity. He was treated like an outcast. The other foals jeered at him, pointed and laughed, even threw spitballs in class. At recess, one particularly mean-spirited colt threw a rock at him.

The rock hit Sombra in the horn, and he turned to face the colt who threw it, finally angry with this injustice. The unicorn’s eyes flashed a menacing green, his horn glowed, and suddenly the crystal colt had his feet slide out from under him. His head hit the ground and he began to cry.

Sombra just smiled. He didn’t exactly know what had happened, but the colt clearly deserved it.

From that point on, the young unicorn practiced his magic. He had no magic tutor, not even a book about magic in the Crystal Library. That first spark of magic had come from anger, and that was how he continued practicing. He visualized bad things happening to the ponies that teased him, and those things would happen to a ball or book in his room.

He started using his powers on his classmates, and the bullying quickly stopped. Sombra’s classmates grew afraid of him. The unicorn was treated as the king of the school, demanding his classmates do his homework and chores for him. His parents and teachers laughed, thinking it was just a childhood game.

When Sombra was older, he grew rebellious against his parents. He had come to realize that no crystal pony was immune to the harm he could bring them, including the adults. He threatened his parents many times, but could never follow through. In his heart, he still thought that they loved him as much as he loved them.

When he graduated, top of his class as he’d magically changed his grades, he overheard his parents talking to some of the other teachers. They complained that it had been difficult raising such an unusual child.

His mother used the word ‘freak’.

Sombra tapped into a power he hadn’t yet discovered. It was as if his heart had been removed from his body and replaced with pure, undiluted hatred. He screamed, and darkness engulfed the Crystal Empire. Their precious Crystal Heart vanished.

The crystalline coats of the ponies dulled. Their eyes lost their sparkle.

Sombra ruled for the next hundred years, using his spells to keep him alive much longer than any other pony. He outlived his parents, and then his classmates. He commanded the crystal ponies to bring him the crystals that they found. Crystals were the one thing that still shone with light in his new dark world, and he wanted to keep them for himself.

Then, his wonderful shadowed kingdom was attacked. Alicorns from the south tried to rescue the crystal ponies. They were the only creatures Sombra had met whose power rivaled his own. With ease, they removed his magical essence from his body. His physical form crumbled into the dust he should have been years ago. Sombra, now pure shadow, managed to cast one more spell—escape. He took his kingdom with him into the farthest place he could imagine. They traveled through time.

It was over a millennium for the rest of the world, but only an instant for Sombra and his subjects when they appeared once more. The unicorn was still incorporeal, and unable to overpower the ponies. Their crystal shine hadn’t been restored, so they walked around in a dull haze. Sombra watched.

A new alicorn from the south arrived in the empire. Sombra was far more interested in watching her husband—another unicorn. The white stallion was the only creature Sombra had seen that was like him. Bu he was unable to watch the unicorn for long before he created a spell that pushed Sombra out of his kingdom.

He waited outside the barrier, until the white unicorn emerged. Sombra tried to engulf him with his shadow, but the unicorn and six brightly colored companions ran too fast. Sombra managed to touch his horn, and felt a spark of magic that he hadn’t felt since losing his body. He could control this unicorn from that one touch.

He slowly broke down the shield and crept into the Crystal Empire, sowing darkness along the way. The ponies were becoming bright and crystalline again, but those crystals belonged to him. But as his shadow crawled towards the palace, he could feel his sanctuary within the palace invaded. Years before, he’d set traps to ensure that nopony could reach there, as that was where he had hidden the Crystal Heart. Yet there was one pony now making their way inside.

Once Sombra broke down the shield, he rushed to the top of the palace. As he got closer, his smoky shadow began to form into the shape of the proud unicorn he had once been. He felt himself becoming solid. Once he had the Crystal Heart, snatched it from the clutches of the falling dragon, then he would be have his full power again.

But then he was blindsided by the alicorn princess. She appeared suddenly, as if someone had thrown her there, to catch the dragon and the Heart. She restored the Heart to its podium, and the crystal ponies brightened. Every last one of them lost their dullness. The wave of light rushed across the empire, pushing back Sombra and destroying his body once more. He was doomed to powerless shadow for all eternity.

--

The shadows slunk from the room with another hiss of “Crystals…”

No one in the room was quite sure what to say. Flim and Flam both grabbed mugs of cider and in unison took long swigs.

“I remember him,” Nightmare Moon commented. “He found the same kind of dark magic that Luna found. When she faced him, I was able to find her.”

“Trixie would like being the only unicorn in Equestria,” the magician mused.

“There would still be creatures more powerful than you,” Chrysalis warned.

Comments

[Tachyon Xenophile]

[BronyRanger]

Are we gonna have a chapter for Lightning Dust soon?

[juststeph]

2379223
Pretty soon! I'm going in order of the episodes.

[Inferno demon Dash]

Damn.....Sombra learned two things during his life as far as I'm aware.

One: Don't fight any of the Gods of Equestria, you'll lose....seriously, they are Gods for crying out loud.

Two: Go straight for the kill instead of waiting, it's easier.

Poor Sombra