Disclaimer Despotically not mine

A/N: Written for the ‘tell King Sombra’s backstory in under 300 words’ challenge on Equestria Daily.

Origin of a Tyrant

© Scribbler, November 2012.

It is an incontrovertible fact of the universe that everything must have an opposite. How else can anything be defined unless it is compared with something else? Without sadness, how could you ever know you’re happy? Without cold, how would you know what warmth is? Without night-time darkness, how could you appreciate daylight?

Without evil, how could you understand goodness? Without hate, how could you recognise love? Or maybe it’s the other way around…

The Crystal Empire was a beacon of goodness in the ancient world. Regular ponies travelled from far and wide to visit and gawk at the wonders inside its gleaming walls and spend time with the beautiful crystal ponies. Citizens lived in harmony, taking for granted how lucky they were. It was no more than their due, after all. They were the crystal ponies; ergo they were perfect and their empire could be nothing less. No other empire was as successful, as blissful, or as prosperous. Their power was unsurpassed; their magical advances unmatched. By the time most pony kingdoms were building mud huts, the crystal ponies were enchanting their way to a life of luxury and laziness.

As the crystal ponies became complacent in their supremacy and careless about containing their surplus magic, they failed to notice a cloud forming above their glittering city. Maybe they complained about unwanted shade on a sunny day, but they didn’t think any more about it. Maybe they noticed the morning mist cleared slower and slower, but they didn’t suspect anything sinister.

That is, until the day the glittering Crystal Empire woke to find its streets filled with that mist, heard the echo of metallic hooves emerging from it and saw its first glimpse of curved, grinning fangs.

“Greetings, slaves. I thank you for bringing me life.”