During King Sombra's reign over the Crystal Empire, Mother's Day has been little more than a holiday to dismiss as no longer important in his life. Now, facing a destiny-altering decision that may cost him his iron-hoofed grip on the Empire, he has to face the fact his pony half needs and still wants the advice of a creature who not only leads the most feared race in Equestrian history, but also happens to be his mother.

How do you tell King Sombra, the most feared King in all of Equestria, that he has NOT been ruling the Crystal Empire his entire reign, but instead a race of pan-galactic, hyper-intelligent beings running a 10 million year program on the planet have? Worse, how do you follow that up with the news that this is all in pursuit of discovering the question to the answer of Life, the Universe and Everything?

Very, VERY carefully.

An insane cross-over with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

An innocent question about a reference from a newspaper Sombra's consort Nyx pulls back from the future turns into a quest for the King of Shadows to teach the Sith how to properly run a universe of slaves. He has the experience, after all. Unfortunately he just doesn't understand that movies aren't real and what Nyx hopes will be a romantic date out turns into a nightmare in Appleoosa!

Inspired by Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Cover Art by eskerra

We love comments and upvotes! They tell us what you want to see more of when lauding our King of Shadows as we do more writing and world building. Please be sure to check out his other tales. We also encourage you to stalk (watch) us and follow our blog for updates to this and our other currently ongoing stories "The Mad Seeress of the North", "The Birthday Wish" and "Frozen Shadows"! Enjoy!

With Hearts n Hooves Day approaching in the Crystal Empire, King Sombra is faced with the unpleasant reality that he has been neglecting the affections of his chief consort, Nyx. It makes him realize some things about himself he isn't particularly happy to face.

Please leave a thumbs up or down and let me know in the comments what you like and/or didn't like about The King's Gift. If there is another angle to which you want to see something like this go in the future, let me know that too. I am open to experimenting with new ways to write our King of Shadows as long as they aren't grossly out of character.

My offering to us dirty Sombra plebes for Hearts n Hooves Day 2016. Artwork by the wonderful Pixel_Spark.

UPDATE: 2/21/16 - A sequel is in the works with my collaborator, Tale Weaver. Look for "The King's Problem" coming soon!

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: 5/17/16 - The King's Problem is on the back burner for now but I haven't forgotten about it. PM me if you want me to let you know when it's out, or better yet, follow me here at Hail King Sombra and you will automatically get the blog update with the link AND it will show up in your feed.

YET ANOTHER BLOODY UPDATE: I left a scene out in the final version because it slowed things down and didn't really fit the story going on between Nyx and King Sombra. It is more of a here-is-the-King-being-powerful-and-intimidating-his-enemies so if you like that awesome kind of thing, check it out here in my blog at Deleted Scene from The King's Gift.

We love comments and upvotes! They tell us what you want to see more of when lauding our King of Shadows as we do more writing and world building! Please be sure to check out his other tales. We also encourage you to stalk (watch) us and follow our blog for updates to this and our other currently ongoing stories "The Mad Seeress of the North", "Frozen Shadows" and "Sombra of the Sith"! Enjoy!

Dr. Whooves is worried. A time disturbance is radiating out from the Frozen North, it's origin a thousand years before his and Derpy's time. He knows from these facts alone it must have something to do with the tomb of the Crystal Empire and more notably, King Sombra. But how does one reach a place time-locked under a hundred million tons of ice? And why does Princess Celestia and Princess Luna insist Sombra's sentence is for eternity? The answers lie with a Marazon TimeWitch who claims she not only knew King Sombra, but was his consort. Can Whooves keep her from killing the Two Sisters long enough to convince her his way of fixing time is better than the alicorn blood she feels she must spill?

The beautiful cover art is done by the very talented writer & artist Pixel_Spark, another dirty Sombra plebe

We love comments and upvotes. They tell us what you want to see more of when lauding our King of Shadows as we do more writing and world building! Please be sure to check out his other tales. We also encourage you to stalk (watch) us and follow our blog for updates to this and our other currently ongoing stories The Mad Seeress of the North, "Sombra of the Sith", "The Prince's New Sweater" and , "The Birthday Wish"! Enjoy!

Every side - both good and evil - have their champions and their supporters. Do not presume NO ONE in the Crystal Empire was on King Sombra’s side when he returned to reclaim the Crystal Heart and his throne.

The Times Neverwhen series explores “what ifs” - those alternate realities that exist side-by-side with the world of Equestria we are all familiar with. It may share similarities with the series “Dark Crystal Fires - The Chronicles of King Sombra”, but it does not share the same reality with it or any others currently in my worlds.

Loosely based on the story arc: Fiendship is Magic, but with a little twist!

We love comments and upvotes. They tell us what you want to see more of when lauding our King of Shadows as we do more writing and world building! Please be sure to check out his other tales. We also encourage you to stalk (watch) us and follow our blog for updates to this and our other currently ongoing stories "The Mad Seeress of the North", "Sombra of the Sith" and "The King's Mice"! Enjoy!

Artwork by the ever-talented Krossan over on Deviant Art. Enjoy =D

One race's enemy can be another's savior. The Two Sisters never thought to even ask, and history is left to be written by the winners.

In a final effort to escape the prisons underneath the Crystal Kingdom, a race prepares their champion - a tiny child who may not survive to receive his new calling to save his people.

Shamelessly cute sleeping baby Sombra by the uber-talented madpony punzil504.

Book One in Dark Crystal Fires - The Chronicles of King Sombra. This is a complete, standalone story that will be followed by others telling of his life, adventures and reign in this universe. Please be sure to watch us and follow our blog for updates!