Chapter 1: Hatred and Fear

"Ah, another beautiful day in the Crystal Empire..." Twilight sang out as she stepped onto her balcony, overlooking the entirety of the Empire. From here she could see the dreary and depressing residential area, filled with young ponies unaware of what their future held in store for them. Next to them were the mines, where many of their parents struggled to find even a single gem to please their ruler. From beyond the buildings and slums of the Empire Twilight could see the cold white north, it's frozen winds still blowing towards the city. As she thought about the ponies she had sent out into the wasteland to find new sources of gems, a chill ran down her spine.

"Oh, it's quite chilly this morning, I should have Spike make me a cup of tea" Twilight thought to herself as she turned to head back inside the castle, which was nice and toasty thanks to her fireplace, which was made entirely out of rare gems. She added a few logs to the fire before ringing a tiny diamond bell that sat on her nightstand.

*Ding, Ding*

"Yes Twilight?" a deep and gruff voice said from the door, which Twilight turned to greet happily.

"Good morning Spike, could you fetch me a cup of tea?" Twilight asked lazily as she walked over to the large dragon. Ever since they got here he has been growing. It could be from all the gems he eats, but there are rumors that he has been stealing a gem every now and then from the treasury. Of course, Twilight doesn't mind it, he does enough work to be allowed to take a gem every couple of days. As Spike left the room his tail trailed behind, nearly getting caught as Twilight shut the door with her magic. Twilight waited a couple of minutes for Spike to come back up, a hot kettle in one claw, a full cup in the other.

"Here you are Twilight" Spike said quickly as he set them down next to Twilight, bowing his head as he did, "I hope I didn't make you wait too long"

"It is fine Spike, you can go now" Twilight said happily as she moved the cup towards her snout so she could sip her tea while listening to the Empire toil down below. As Spike left the room Twilight allowed herself to have a small giggle as she thought about what brought her to this point. When she first used her magic to discover the hidden staircase in the castle she felt a rush of power and strength, even more so when she used it to open the strange door she had found at the bottom. At the door though, the magic caused a hallucination, one of Celestia exiling her for failing to save the kingdom, and out of anger Twilight attacked Celestia, using the dark magic to destroy her. When Twilight came to she knew what would work out best for her. She gave up on trying to stop King Sombra, and instead devoted her time to taking over the Empire for herself. As she exited the castle she tricked everypony into believing that the heart was nowhere to be found, and then turned on them, locking them all away in the dungeon.

"GET BACK TO WORK!" a guard pony yelled from outside, followed by a loud snapping sound from his whip.

"AH!" a high pitch squeal could be heard from the same area, probably coming from the pony the guard had hit. This was almost like music to Twilight's ears now. At first it was unsettling, but when the gems started to come in by the hundreds, it started to sound sweeter and sweeter. A few days ago a group of the workers gathered together in an attempt to protest the horrid working conditions they had. It ended in them howling rhythmically for Twilight so she could sleep, and the ring leader was thrown into the dungeon, not even getting to say a final goodbye to his family before he was taken away. The whole ordeal brought a smile to Twilight's face.

Somepony might wonder how Twilight is allowed to get away with all of this, her friends certainly do. Every time they ask  Twilight laughs and smiles, before telling them the secret. Fear. With the entire populace in fear of you, nopony is going to stand up against you. No matter how much they hate you, they are all too afraid to do anything, knowing what happens to those who do. In the first day after Twilight took over the Empire there must have been, at least, five riots, each ending with the ponies involved being forced out into the winter wasteland, forced to survive with nothing.

*Knock, Knock*

"Yes?" Twilight asked, somewhat annoyed that somepony had interrupted her morning tea.

"I'm sorry for interrupting ma'am, but King Sombra is here to see you" a guard pony said from the other side of the door, his black armor shining in the light from Twilight's fire.

"Oh, Sombra's here?" Twilight asked lightly, looking outside to see where the sun was in the sky, finding it to be around noon, "Let him in". The guard pony's head quickly disappeared behind the door, opening it a second later to let Sombra come through. He looked around lazily as he entered, spotting the kettle sitting on the nightstand.

"Can I have a cup?" Sombra asked slowly.

"Sorry, only one cup" Twilight said mockingly, making Sombra frown.

"Darn, I was hoping to have some, Spike always makes the best tea..." Sombra trailed off as he look at the tea kettle and Twilight, who was happily sipping on her own cup.

"What brings you here?" Twilight asked quickly, wanting to know why he was bothering her today.

"Well, I was wondering if you would like to go out today, see the people and check on the-" Sombra said, clicking his hooves against the floor nervously. He wasn't stupid, he knew Twilight's magic would be more powerful than his, so he wasn't going to do anything to upset her.

"Are you trying to get me to go out with you?" Twilight asked, glaring at Sombra, who jumped back slightly at her tone.

"Well, maybe?" Sombra said, not fully sure what his plans really were anymore thanks to how Twilight was acting. She sighed angrily before setting her tea cup down.

"I'll be down in ten minutes" Twilight said quickly, looking at Sombra so angrily that he left the room, leaving her alone so she could get ready.