The story of the dark unicorn King Sombra from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
Past[]
| “ | One thousand years ago, King Sombra, a unicorn whose heart was black as night, took over the Crystal Empire. He was ultimately overthrown, turned to shadow and banished to the ice of the Arctic North. But not before he was able to put a curse upon the empire; A curse that caused it to vanish into thin air! | „ |
| ~ Celesta telling the story of King Sombra |
King Sombra's early life is left completely unknown in the TV series (unlike in the comics). It can be speculated that he was once a normal unicorn, possibly a resident of the Crystal Empire, until he began studying dark magic, and had delved so deep into it that it corrupted him into the tyrannical abomination he is today. It is also implied that he murdered the previous ruler of the Crystal Empire so he can take it over.
What is known is that Sombra was an extremely powerful unicorn whose heart is said to be as black as night. Using his dark magic, Sombra took complete control of the Crystal Empire and established himself as its king, turning it into his dark domain and enslaving the crystal ponies, and most likely planned to do the same with the rest of Equestria. He also hid away the Crystal Heart, the most prized and powerful artifact of the Empire, at the very top of the castle and set up traps around it to keep it from ever being used against him. Fortunately, Princesses Celestia and Luna arrived and used their combined magic to depose him, turning his body to shadow and banishing him to the Frozen North, ultimately sealing him into a crevice of ice which closed up.
However, Sombra foresaw his own defeat and, out of spite, placed a curse of his own upon the Crystal Empire; one that caused it and all those within it to disappear completely. Celestia apparently knew that the Empire would reappear one day and set up patrols to watch and inform her if it should, knowing that Sombra would likely return along with it.
Season 3[]
The Crystal Empire[]
Part 1[]
| “ | Shining Armor: We'd better get moving. There are things out here we really don't want to run into after dark. Fluttershy: (gulp) What kind of things? Shining Armor: Let's just say the Empire... isn't the only thing that's returned. |
„ |
| ~ Shining Armor to the Mane Six about Sombra's return. |
Shadow Sombra.
A thousand years after Sombra's defeat, the Crystal Empire reappears but, as a side effect of the spell, the Crystal Ponies have no memory of their kingdom before Sombra took over, and the mere memory of the evil king himself causes them pain. At the same time, Sombra breaks free of his confinement, but remained in his ghost-like shadowy form. He attempts to retake the empire, but Princess Cadance, who was sent to the empire alongside Shining Armor by Celestia to protect it, is able to cast a protection spell around the city which kept him out. Unable to enter, Sombra continues to stalk the arctic, waiting for Cadence to lose her strength and drop the shield while attacking others who attempt to enter, especially at night.
Celestia then sends Twilight Sparkle and her friends to the Crystal Empire to help protect it. Shining Armor meets them at the train station to escort them to the empire, and also warns them of Sombra's presence in the arctic. Just then, the evil unicorn appears and chases after the heroes. Just as they nearly reach the empire, Shining Armor stops and confronts Sombra, allowing the others to make it through the barrier. Shining Armor attempts to blast him with his magic, but the blast just pasts through his shadowy body, and he then envelops Shining Armor in darkness. Shining Armor is somehow able to escape Sombra and get through the barrier, but his horn is covered in black crystals, preventing him from using his magic.
When Cadance begins to run out of strength, her barrier briefly deactivates so Sombra prepares to invade.
Part 2[]
| “ | The Crystal Heart has returned! Use the light and love within you to ensure that King Sombra does not! | „ |
| ~ Princess Cadence encouraging the Crystal Ponies to banish Sombra. |
Before Sombra can enter the Crystal Empire, Cadence is able to gather enough strength to reactivate the barrier. Noticing this, Sombra attempts to rush it, only to have his horn cut off but he then grows a new horn while the one that was lost melts into the ground and grows dark crystals from behind the barrier, much to Sombra's delight.
Twilight and Spike search for the Crystal Heart, which is the key to protecting the Empire. After a while, they then decided to investigate the castle, where nobody would dared to look during Sombra's reign. Utilizing the same dark magic that Sombra uses, Twilight reveals a secret staircase in the throne room. After travelling down the stairs, they run into a door enchanted by Sombra to hypnotise whoever looks at it into confronting their worst fears. In Twilight's case, she envisions Celestia telling her that she failed her test and won't continue her studies, only for Spike to snap her out of the trance. Spike gets brainwashed too and thinks that Twilight was banishing him, but Twilight sees through the enchanted door's purpose and shuts it, releasing Spike from the spell and comforting him about his fear. She then casts a spell of light on the door to make it truly open. Meanwhile, the crystals grown from Sombra's horn slowly spread all over the empire, terrorizing the crystal ponies and making them lose hope, despite the Mane Six's best efforts to keep their spirits up.
Twilight and Spike end up reaching the very top of the castle where they finally find the Crystal Heart, but Twilight triggers a magic alarm that alerts Sombra. Thus, he activates a trap that imprisons Twilight within a wall of dark crystals that she can't even teleport out of. With no way out, Twilight entrusts Spike to take the Crystal Heart to Cadance, despite her promise to Celestia to attempt to save the Empire herself. Cadence then finally succumbs to exhaustion, causing the barrier to fall and allowing Sombra to wreak havok on the empire once again. Some of the crystal ponies attempt to flee, but Sombra cuts off any chance of escape, proclaiming that they will all be his slaves once again. Spike then appears with the Crystal Heart, which enrages Sombra, who declares the heart to be his alone. He travels through the ground in shadow form, leaving a trail of dark crystals, and then creates a larger crystal to lunge at Spike with while reconstituting his physical form. However, both Spike and the heart are rescued by Cadence, who inspires the crystal ponies to use the love inside them to defeat Sombra for good while returning the heart to its rightful place. Sombra commands them to stop, but they refuse to obey him any longer.
King Sombra defeated.
Together with the heart, the crystal ponies spread their love throughout the empire, dispelling all the dark crystals infesting it. The love then reaches Sombra, causing him to be destroyed by shattering into pieces. With Sombra gone, the Crystal Empire is finally restored to its full glory.
Season 5[]
The Cutie Re-Mark[]
King Sombra in the alternate-timeline.
The first of many alternate timelines temporarily created by Starlight Glimmer, King Sombra succeeds in retaking control over the Crystal Empire, having never been defeated by Princess Cadance due to the change in the timeline. Using magic helmets, he brainwashes the crystal ponies into his soldiers to fight for him in a war against Celestia against the rest of Equestria. He is winning the war as he manages to conquer half of Equestria. When Twilight returned to the past to stop Starlight, the timeline is changed again to where Queen Chrysalis is able to take Equestria while Sombra did not return.
Season 9[]
The Beginning of the End[]
Part 1[]
King Sombra resurrected by "Grogar".
King Sombra is revived by Discord (who was in the form of the ancient tyrant Grogar) and is summoned to his lair, where Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, and Cozy Glow accuse him of being the one who summoned them there. However, "Grogar" reveals himself as being the one to summon them, much to the villains' astonishment, as they had all thought he was a legend (except for Cozy Glow, who had never heard of him before). "Grogar" proceeds to tell the group of his plans to eliminate Twilight Sparkle and her friends and demonstrates his power by giving Tirek enough magic to partially revive his strength, also causing him to tell Cozy Glow of the stories that he had heard of "Grogar" when he was younger and for Sombra to do the same afterwards. "Grogar" goes on to state that he's been watching over all of them and asks them why they think that they've always been beaten by the same six ponies, Chrysalis interrupting Sombra before he can respond. "Grogar" rebuffs all of their answers and points out that the Mane 6 have always won because they work as a team, and demands that they all do the same in order to take over Equestria.
King Sombra refusing to join "Grogar" and the other villains.
However, Sombra refuses to join "Grogar", claiming that he will take the Crystal Empire back for himself and destroy anyone who gets in his way. Unphased by this, "Grogar" tells Sombra to go and try to take over the Empire again, even offering to transport him there on the conditions that he can keep it if he succeeds, but will serve him once he fails, claiming he will destroy him again if he refuses to abide by his terms. Sombra agrees and proceeds to arrogantly proclaim how he will overtake the Empire, before an annoyed "Grogar" whisks him away. Sombra proceeds to lay siege to the Crystal Empire with ease, brainwashing the crystal ponies and royal guards into serving him as he approaches the castle. Inside, Princess Cadence sends out a message to Twilight before she and Shining Armor notice that Flurry Heart is missing and find her in Sombra's clutches. Sombra then forces Shining Armor and Cadence to surrender, capturing the Crystal Heart and fully taking over the Crystal Empire afterwards.
Upon receiving Cadence's message and summoning her friends, Twilight decides to retrieve the Elements of Harmony from the Tree of Harmony to defeat Sombra. Back at the Empire, Sombra is seen relaxing on his throne, amused by Flurry Heart's attempts at attacking him, only for the Mane 6 to arrive to challenge him. Unconcerned, Sombra forces his opponents to endure their own worst fears (making Twilight see a vision of all of her friends being controlled by Sombra while Princess Celestia and Luna show disappointment in her, turning them into Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker as a result), and suggests that they should surrender, as nothing can beat their own fears. However, Twilight and the others overpower Sombra's visions with the Elements, revealing that they were only facing their fears long enough for Spike to free his captives.
Cadence then reclaims the Crystal Heart and uses it to dispel Sombra's influence from the Empire, freeing everyone from his control. In spite of this, Sombra proclaims that he will win in the end, before being seemingly destroyed by the Elements. Having saved the Empire again, Twilight and the Mane 6 return the Elements to the tree, only for Sombra to appear and destroy both.
Part 2[]
Sombra reveals that his supposed demise back at the Crystal Empire was merely a ruse to fool the Mane 6 in so that he could trace them back to their source of power and destroy it; and now that he has done so, they will be unable to stop him. Despite this, the Mane 6, minus a disheartened Twilight, try to fight back against him, only for Sombra to imprison them all, realising that, with them out of the way, he can conquer all of Equestria for himself, planning to overtake Ponyville first. Sombra then considers using his magic to brainwash the Mane 6 as well, but decides against it, as he is already forcing them to endure their worst fear by taking control of Equestria anyway before leaving. Sombra goes on to brainwash all of Ponyville — including Spike, Starlight Glimmer, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the Mane 6's other friends—into becoming his slaves and takes them to conquer Canterlot, while the Mane 6 are forced to deal with the Everfree Forest's overgrowth thanks to the Tree's destruction.
King Sombra taking over Canterlot.
Sombra storms Canterlot with ease thanks to his brainwashed army, and barges into the Princess' throne room, only to find that it is empty, making him believe that Celestia and Luna had run away from him in fear. Soon, the Mane 6 arrive in the Princess' throne room with Discord (back in his true form) and engages Sombra, who attempts to blast them with magic. However, Discord dispels all of Sombra's attacks with ease while commenting that, even though he expected Twilight and the others to handle things by themselves, they still win because he is their friend, though in doing so he accidentally prompts Sombra to target Fluttershy instead, making Discord take the blast for her. Sombra gloats at his victory and begins to decide how he will eliminate the rest of his enemies, while, at the same time, Discord gives his friends a heartfelt speech about how they don't need him or the Elements to beat Sombra since all they have ever needed to win is each other.
King Sombra's final defeat and death.
Disregarding Discord's claims, Sombra attacks the Mane 6, who, now inspired, begin to fight back, generating more magic than ever. Baffled, Sombra demands to know how the Mane 6 have the ability to stand up to him even when he destroyed the source of their power, although Twilight claims that he never did, with her and the others reminding him that friendship is magic, before using their power to destroy him once again and remove his influence from Equestria. Due to how powerful the Mane 6's magic was, Sombra's skin is tearing itself apart while he quickly turns to dust as well and disappears into the light, destroying him once and for all.
Later, Celestia and Luna return from fending off the Everfree Forest and state that they will hold off on making Twilight and her friends the new rulers of Equestria until Twilight feels she is ready, causing Discord to reveal that he faked his injuries in an effort to push Twilight to become the great leader he knows she is, additionally revealing that he could have defeated Sombra any time he wanted. Back at "Grogar's" lair, Tirek and Chrysalis ask him about how Sombra's plan went, and "Grogar" shows them that he had been defeated yet again. Choosing not to revive him a second time, Discord (back in his Grogar disguise) uses Sombra's destruction as an example to the others of what happens when they try to abandon his plans, making them nervously agree to serve him.
Legacy[]
Despite him being gone (both before and after his resurrection), King Sombra had built up a dreadful legacy for himself, with ponies often making mentions of his terrible crimes from time to time.
Seasons 3 to 7[]
King Sombra was briefly referenced in the twelfth episode of Season 3, "Games Ponies Play" when Rainbow Dash says the Crystal Ponies "lost a thousand years to an evil king's curse."
King Sombra does not make an appearance nor is he even mentioned in Season 4. However, in the premiere, "Princess Twilight Sparkle", Twilight briefly uses the same magic as his to activate a potion that allowed her to see into the past.
King Sombra was mentioned again a couple of times in the Season 6 premiere, "The Crystalling". Spike mentions King Sombra while telling the crystal ponies about how he was defeated. Twilight later reveals the reason that King Sombra merely hid the Crystal Heart in his castle is to prevent the Frozen North's weather from breaching the Empire. This explains why Sombra never destroyed the Crystal Heart in the first place.
In the Season 7 finale, "Shadow Play", Pinkie Pie mentions Sombra while recounting the threats Equestria has faced over the last thousand years to Star Swirl the Bearded.
Season 9[]
King Sombra is mentioned a few times in the episode, "Uprooted".
He is also mentioned in "Sparkle's Seven", where it is shown that Princesses Celestia and Luna decided to have Shining Armor increase security in Canterlot following Sombra's previous attack on it.
In "She's All Yak", Sandbar lists King Sombra and Cozy Glow as two ponies worse than Yona.
He is briefly mentioned in "The Last Crusade" by Mane Allgood, who lists him as one of the main reasons why she and her husband Snap Shutter decided to come to Ponyville and spend time with their daughter, Scootaloo.
In "The Ending of the End - Part 1", Sombra is mentioned a number of times when it is revealed that Discord had been posing as Grogar and was using him and the other villains to create a threat that would push Twilight and her friends into becoming confident rulers of Equestria. In "Part 2", Twilight has a picture of Sombra included in a thought chart when trying to come up with a way to defeat Tirek, Queen Chrysalis and Cozy Glow.
In the comics[]
- Main article: King Sombra in the comics
Reflections[]
King Sombra of a parallel world appears in the seventh arc (Issues 17-20) of the comics. He is the polar opposite of the Sombra from the show, as he is a good ruler of the parallel world where Celestia and Luna are evil. He is in love with Celestia of Prime Equestria.
However, this version of Sombra would suffer a terrible fate in allowing himself to be taken by evil to protect his beloved Celestia and both their worlds from destruction, becoming just like the King Sombra from Celestia's world. But even after being taken by evil, this Sombra mourns his beloved Celestia, now lost to him, possibly forever.
In Friends Forever #4, it is shown how King Sombra captured a Crystal Bard and enslaved him, making him read books for him after the Crystal Bard escaped King Sombra with his royal guards trying to recapture him but the Crystal Bard became smarter than him.
Fiendship is Magic[]
In Issue 1, Sombra's backstory (at least in comic canon, in which Amore has a different cutie mark than described in the Journal of the Two Sisters) is revealed; he was an Umbrum disguised as a pony to enter Equestria and release the other Umbrum, who were imprisoned in another dimension. Sombra initially didn't want to turn evil, and was friends with Radiant Hope, and was affected by the power of the Crystal Heart, but after a talk with the Umbrum, he embraced his dark side. He turned Princess Amore to crystal and shattered her to pieces, before being banished by Celestia and Luna, but he threw Radiant Hope outside of the Crystal Empire. In the present, it is shown that Sombra is now a ghost tied to his horn.
Siege of the Crystal Empire[]
In Issue #34, Radiant Hope recruits Queen Chrysalis, Lightning Dust, Iron Will, and the Flim Flam Brothers to attack the Crystal Empire as a distraction while she finds Sombra's spirit and horn, and uses her healing magic to bring him back to life.
In Issue #35, Sombra releases the imprisoned villains, and he encrusts Twilight's horn with dark crystals, allowing Chrysalis to defeat her. Celestia and Luna arrive to fight Sombra and Chrysalis, but due to Hope's intervention, Sombra turns Celestia and Luna to stone.
In Issue #36, Sombra and Chrysalis get into an argument when Chrysalis is against Sombra's plan to release the Umbrum, knowing they will cause despair, thus preventing her from feeding off love. Threatened with being turned to stone, Chrysalis retreats with her Changelings. After Princess Cadance and Hope discover what the Umbrum are really like, Hope tries to convince Sombra not to release them. Twilight arrives, having been restored by the other Mane 5 with the power of friendship, and shoots a magic beam at Sombra, but Hope jumps in front of him and takes the hit. Sombra then releases the Umbrum.
In Issue #37, Sombra, now emperor, turns Shining Armor to stone at the command of Lady Rabia in a reference to Governor Tarkin destroying Alderaan. He is about to do the same to Twilight and Cadance when Twilight tells them to do this at the dais where the Crystal Heart is so everypony can see it happen. Sombra goes to take Hope with him, to which she reveals that her supposed destiny of becoming a princess did not come true because she left her training to look for him. Sombra was affected by the realisation that not only was the Crystal Heart's prediction not true, but she chose him over becoming a princess. When the "rebels" attack the Umbrum, Rabia tells Sombra to eliminate Twilight and Cadance and Hope takes out the Crystal Heart. Rabia tells Sombra to smash it, but instead, he unleashes its power, re-imprisoning the Umbrum and saving the Crystal Empire. Sombra is disintegrated by the Crystal Heart's power, but before he can be completely destroyed, Hope saves him with her magic, and together she and all four princesses restore him to physical form, turning him into an actual pony similar in appearance to his mirror-world counterpart. Together, Sombra and Hope decide to restore Princess Amore.