After Spike left the club room he went out into the city to take care of some things for his parents. Afterward he stopped and grabbed a bite at his favorite fast food joint. As he ate his burger and fries, he thought to himself.

'So right now I have Twilight and Rarity in my harem. Which should I go after next? Pinkie Pie would be a likely choice, or is it too obvious. Fluttershy may be too shocked if I asked her next. Sunset Shimmer may be too soon. I could go for Rainbow Dash or even Applejack.'

Bahamut interrupted him, 'You are certainly taking this whole harem thing to heart, aren't you?'

'Of course I am, Bahamut. Asking the girls to be part of it is a delicate procedure. I just can't flat out ask them. I have to be calm and cool about it, not come off as some desperate horn dog.'

'I think we're a little late for that last part.' the dragon replied.

'Har-har,' Spike laughed in sarcasm. He then dropped his head down, 'This is going to be tougher than I thought.'

Outside the place in another building on the ground level, a figure decked out in black and wearing a fedora was watching him through the window.

After finishing his meal, Spike left the place and continued home taking a shortcut down an alley, until he felt a presence following him. He spun around and saw nothing. He cautiously looked around before sniffing the air with his dragon nose.

"Trouble," he said quietly, suddenly he jumped to the side avoiding an attack from three shadow-like ponies, "What the?" he gasped.

The three shadow ponies gazed at Spike with the intent to kill, "Get him!" one hissed.

They went to attack again, only for Spike to shift into his dragon form and spat fire in their direction. The three creatures backed off before flying around him in circles using their shadow bodies to blind him.

"Get away from me!" Spike unleashed a powerful fireball to knock them away. The three got up and gazed at Spike, "If you three wanna mess with me, well, you better be prepared for the consequences!" suddenly the three shadow ponies took off much to his confusion, "Hey, where'd they go?" he looked around until a new voice came up.

"Relax, young dragon. I only wanted to get your attention."

"Who's there?" Spike demanded, only for the shadow on the wall to come to life and drag Spike into it as he struggled.

Spike suddenly fell out of a shadow and onto a floor. He got up and saw the whole area was pitch dark, "Where am I? Hello?!" he called out.

"Welcome, Spike." came the same voice from before.

Spike looked over and saw Sombra sitting in an arm chair before a fireplace. He looked at Spike with a smirk on his face. Spike however was in shock as he recognized him.

"Sombra!"

"Oh, you've heard of me?" Sombra asked curiously.

"Yes. And from what I was told I am not impressed with you." Spike spoke.

"I see."

"You were the one who infected Rarity with Nightmare's essence!" Spike growled.

"Guilty, but it was a failure."

Spike's eyes tightened, and continued, "What do you want with me?"

"I simply wished to have a word with you, new dragon king."

"Well, you can forget about it. Because I have nothing to say to you."

"What a shame, because I have much to tell you. Some of it involves your relationship with the elements of harmony." he tempted him.

Spike hearing that was suddenly curious, "What do you mean?"

"Please come and sit down." he offered him a seat, as another armchair magically appeared before them.

Spike looked at the chair and then at Sombra feeling this had to be a trap. But Spike took a chance and sat down before Sombra.

"Can I offer you a drink?" Sombra asked as he poofed himself a glass of wine.

"Cola." Spike answered while keeping his guard up.

Sombra poofed a bottle of cola into Spike's claw who drank from it, "Now then I'm assuming you were told of my past and the Crystal Empire?"

"Yeah. You overthrew their rightful ruler and enslaved all who lived there. The Crystal Ponies were all happy until you took it all away from them!" Spike snapped.

Sombra remained calm, and answered, "I see. Well, my boy I'm afraid you haven't been told the full truth about my past."

"Full truth? What do you mean?" Spike inquired.

"What I mean is, I wasn't always like this... this... monster."

"Oh, really?" Spike crossed his arms.

"That's right. Allow me to elucidate on the tale not many knew about me." Sombra used his magic to show Spike his memories from long ago.

Spike watched as Sombra narrated, "Over a thousand years ago during the reign of Princess Amore, the Crystal Empire was indeed beautiful and filled with love. Then one day in the Snowy North, the crystal guards found a young unicorn foal lost and abandoned with no memory."

Spike watched the memory seeing the foal was Sombra with a normal unicorn horn colored gray and his eyes were green.

"That's you." Spike gasped.

Sombra nodded, and continued, "I was brought to the Crystal Empire and left under the care of the ponies at the orphanage. All I had was a name. Sombra. I was a slow learner compared to the other students, and was ostracized by the other children because I wasn't a crystal pony, nor did I have a cutie mark."

"Kids can be so cruel." Spike sighed while crossing his arms.

"Indeed," Sombra agreed, "But there was one other young pony who showed me kindness."

Spike looked seeing the memory show young Sombra with a young crystal unicorn pony filly who had a grayish heliotrope coat, a pale light grayish arctic blue mane, and light arctic blue eyes, "Who is that?"

"Radiant Hope," Sombra answered, "The children mocked her as well because she had a big imagination. But to me she was the greatest friend I could ever have hoped for. Since that day we did everything together. We played, laughed, and enjoyed every moment we had with one another. But what we wanted most was to go to the annual Crystal Fair together."

"Crystal Fair?" Spike asked.

"A special event that has been part of the Empire for as long as it's been around. It's meant to restore the spirit of love and unity to the Crystal Empire so the citizens can protect it from harm." Sombra explained.

"Sounds like quite a special occasion." Spike admitted.

Sombra carried on, "Hope and I went to see the Crystal Heart in its spot. Little did I know I would be facing my greatest enemy and that I would have one of the greatest moments in my life. Princess Amore told us the Crystal Heart's reflection reflects what is in one's heart. When I looked into it all I saw was anger, hate, and darkness."

"Whoa." Spike gasped.

"Hope on the other hand saw herself as a Princess. When I was asked what I saw I told them all I saw was a shadow and nothing more. Amore told me I had the power to change it, but I insisted what I saw was nothing. I would eventually find out what I saw wasn't nothing. When the day came for the Crystal Fair, Hope and I were excited, but this feeling crept over me and I suffered aches and pains in my body. Hope refused to go to the Crystal Fair and stood at my side promising we'd make it next year. The day after the Crystal Fair I was perfectly fine, as if the pain never happened. I began planning ahead for next year's fair."

Spike watched the memories seeing the years pass with Sombra still bedridden on the day and Hope never leaving his side, "But every year it was the same thing. I'd be in pain and Hope wouldn't leave my side. As the years passed my desire to see the Crystal Fair grew and grew, and as it did so did my pain. Then one day I snapped, and my body started undergoing a change as if something evil deep within had began to overtake me. Hope used her magic to try and help me and eventually changed me back, and in the process she obtained her cutie mark."

Spike watched seeing Sombra turn back to normal, while Hope's cutie mark appeared and took the form of a caduceus.

"Amazing." Spike gasped.

"I was happy for her even though I didn't understand the meaning behind her cutie mark. But I discovered the ability to heal any ailment was very powerful magic. Magic not known to an average unicorn. Soon enough Hope came by with a letter from the two royal sisters Celestia and Luna. They wanted her to come to Canterlot and study with them. They knew she had to potential to become a princess which meant her reflection in the crystal heart wasn't a lie, and if she went to study with the two sisters she would leave me and without her magic I would fall apart."

"So you didn't want her to go?" Spike asked suspiciously, "You're sounding downright selfish right now."

Sombra frowned, "Be silent and let me finish." So Spike hushed up as the dark king continued his narration.

"If the reflection in the Crystal Heart showed Hope's true destiny, then it would only be a matter of time before the reflection I saw in the Crystal Heart would catch up to me. I ran to the snowy mountains up North, where I happened upon the one thing that would help me realize what my destiny was all along."

Spike looked and saw a big red crystal sticking out of the snow, "What is that?"

"It referred to itself as my mother."

"Mother?" Spike asked in confusion.

"The crystal told me everything. The truth about my past and what I really was. I was never a pony at all. I was an umbrum."

"A what?"

"An umbrum. A creature of shadow a smoke, better known as a shadow pony."

"Like those creatures who attacked me." Spike gasped.

"Yes. I am one of them given the form of a pony."

"But why?"

"The umbrum was what the Crystal Ponies and Amore had been trying to keep away from the Empire with the Crystal Heart. And that's why it affected me. I could never get close to it because it poisons me. The crystal said I had powerful magic brewing inside me, but it also makes me vulnerable. So they locked it away. But then the lock was removed. I remembered everything. Who I was and what I was meant to do."

"I don't think I'm gonna like this." Spike said knowing full well where this was going.

"I was afraid that my reflection in the Crystal Heart meant the darkness was to overtake me, but the darkness was me all along. Destruction was my talent and darkness was my cutie mark," Spike gulped, "The crystal informed me that the rest of my army was hidden away below the city and waiting for me to awaken them. All I had to do was destroy the Crystal Heart."

"So I returned that night to steal the Crystal Heart, until Amore confronted me. She knew what I was all these years and said nothing to me. She never said a word about it because she thought I had the potential to change and not be like the creatures she calls monsters," he said grimly, "I silenced her by turning her to stone. I realized fear was stronger than love and that fear could bend anyone to my will. Hope questioned my moves and choices, but I promised her I was righting what had been wrong for so many years, and with her on her way to becoming a Princess she would rule at my side."

"To ensure my victory I shattered Amore's statue and scattered her fragments throughout all of Equestria."

"Whoa," Spike gasped in fright, as he watched the flashback, "You truly are a monster. Don't you realize what you did?!"

Sombra looked down with a faint of guilt, "If I had any regrets, it was letting Hope run away when I still loved her."

"Loved?" Spike asked.

Sombra nodded, but returned to his dark persona, "Hope sought out the two sisters and told them of our tale. They decided the best thing to do to me was to vanquish me like they do to every monster. Since then I had the crystal ponies mining the caves below so that I could unleash the umbrum. But then those sisters appeared and defeated me. But I pulled off one last trick by making the empire vanish off the face of Equestria. I made those sisters pay by leaving them with the guilt of not being able to save the crystal ponies."

Spike watched seeing the events unfold and the royal sisters watched from the distance of where the empire once stood. Both Celestia and Luna were stricken with guilt and shame for their pyrrhic victory.

"But Hope would be the one to suffer the most. She betrayed me to save the Empire that had done me nothing but wrong. Eventually a thousand years later I had returned and tried to take back the kingdom. But your Princess of Love used her magic to keep me out, but couldn't hold forever. When her force field fell I returned and went far below and found the prison which held my umbrum army. I managed to release a select few of them, until that Prince Shining Armor rediscovered the Crystal Heart I hid away and reactivated it. The umbrum I freed escaped while the Crystal Heart overpowered by body and destroyed me!"

"Then how're you still alive?" Spike inquired.

"The umbrum I released gathered up the fragments of my body and restored me. It took awhile but it was well worth it. Since then I made some interesting friends who I felt would be beneficial in helping me take back he Crystal Empire."

"Let me guess, Nightmare Moon and Queen Chrysalis?"

"Correct. I was surprised to have learned that Princess Luna would have turned dark after finally realizing she was being overshadowed by her elder sister. But then you went and purified her, and locked Chrysalis away into crystal!"

Spike frowned at Sombra's words about Luna, and asked, "Why show me all of this? What're you trying to tell me?"

"To be weary of your friends the Elements of Harmony." Sombra warned Spike

"What? What do you mean be weary of them?"

"Friendship is nothing but a farce. If it comes down to it they will terminate you for the good of the land if you ever pose a threat. Just like Hope sold me out."

"You're wrong! Twilight and the girls would never betray me! And I would never pose as a threat to them because I'm not a monster like you!"

"You really think so?" Sombra asked, as he took a sip of his wine, "Because I can see it in your eyes. Deep down there is a monster brewing inside you and I'm not talking about the dragon within."

"I don't believe you."

"Believe or don't believe, that's up to you." Sombra replied, "But remember sooner or later they'll turn on you."

"You have no right to say that. You don't know them like I do. Twilight saved me from dying she gave me a purpose!"

"Was it because of friendship and love, or was it because she wanted to reawaken the dragon king and get it on her side?" Sombra taunted him.

"That's not true." Spike growled.

"Sure it isn't," Sombra muttered, "Well, I think we've had a nice enough chat. Time for you to go." he activated his magic and a shadow portal appeared behind Spike and sucked him inside.

Spike fell out of the portal and was back in the alley seeing it was nighttime. Spike looked at the portal as Sombra's eyes showed through it, "I think it's best we keep this meeting between us. Tell anyone and I will slag them one by one. Until we meet again Dragon King." the portal vanished.

Spike got off the ground visibly shaken from what he witnessed and was told. He was so scared he could barely walk straight. He tried to get himself together as he made his way back home with so much on his mind.

At the Drake residence, Spike sat at the dinner table barely touching his food, which didn't go unnoticed by both his parents and Twilight.

"Spike, are you ok?" his dad asked.

Spike looked up, "Oh, I'm fine, dad."

"Are you sure?" his mother asked, "You've barely touched you dinner."

Spike sighed, "Sorry. I guess I'm not as hungry as I thought I was. Please excuse me." he got up form the table and left.

The Drakes watched their son leave with much concern, while Twilight looked the most concerned out of both of them.

Spike sat on his bed still lamenting over Sombra's story and what he said about the girls. He didn't wanna believe him but something stirred him up and couldn't shake it off.

The door opened and Twilight entered, "Spike?"

"Oh, hi, Twilight."

"Are you sure you're ok? You haven't been yourself since you got home. Did something happen?"

"Nothing really. I just had a lot to think about."

Twilight thinking she knew what he meant spoke, "Well, after hearing that Sombra was the cause of Nightmare's possession of Rarity is still hard to take in. But we rescued her, and I know if Sombra strikes we'll be ready for him." she smiled, until she saw Spike get up and look at her with worry in his eyes.

Spike took her by surprise by throwing his arms around her and embracing her, "Spike?" she asked.

"Twilight, promise you'll never abandon me." he pleaded, as tears started falling from his eyes.

"Spike, what brought this on?"

"Please! Just promise me you or anyone else won't ever abandon me!" he begged, and continued to cry.

Twilight not sure what started this, was confused. But she did know in times like this those who're close to her when hurting need comfort. She wrapped her arms around Spike holding him close in a comforting embrace.

"I promise you, Spike. I'll never leave you. And I know the others will never leave you as well." she whispered while calming him down.

Meanwhile in Sombra's lair, Tirek appeared and spoke to him, "Have you done what you needed to do?"

"Yes. I have sewn the seeds of doubt into the dragon's mind. Soon those seeds will grow and spread like poison in the bloodstream. And when he gives into despair we will eliminate him and the elements of harmony." he laughed, while Tirek smirked seeing they have gained an advantage now.