Fall of the Crystal Empire is a Fan Animation based on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic created by Silly Filly Studios.
It presents a fan representation of the defeat of King Sombra by Princesses Celestia and Luna and the disappearance of the Crystal Empire a thousand years before the show began. It can be seen here
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Not to be confused with L-Train's Fall of an Empire, a symphonic metal opera about Sombra's origins and the Crystal empire.
Tropes present in this animation include the following:
- Adaptation Personality Change: Notably King Sombra - who, in the source material, is a Defiant to the End No-Nonsense Nemesis of few words. In this animation - he's much more talkative, has Suicidal Overconfidence, and is a Dirty Coward against another threat.
- Alto Villainess: Luna's voice changes noticeably when she becomes Nightmare Moon.
- Badass Boast:Nightmare Moon : You claim to know fear ? I shall show you true terror!
- Bittersweet Ending: Sombra's been defeated and Luna's staved off Nightmare Moon for now; however, the Crystal Empire has been banished and the viewer knows Luna will eventually give in to the nightmare anyways.
- Bling of War: Celestia and Luna both don impressive sets of armor styled similarly to their normal regalia from the show. And Sombra, of course, dons his hybrid royal regalia-battle armor.
- Break Them by Talking: King Sombra attacks the princesses verbally throughout the battle. Calling out Celestia on her impurity despite her stature, and Luna's willing subservience to her sister.
- Casting a Shadow: The main focus of Sombra's powers, though shown to be more versatile here than in the original cartoon. It also makes him almost invincible, as he's able to shrug off any injury, even being impaled by Celestia and Luna's weapons.
- Cool Sword: Luna is the only combatant who (initially, at least) doesn't use some form of polearm; she instead wields a sword with her cutie mark at the base of the blade and a crossguard styled to resemble her wings.
- Creator Cameo: Sombra is voiced by Zedrin, who was the lead animator in this and many of Silly Filly Studios' other videos.
- Deal with the Devil: It is alluded to that Sombra got his powers from this. Celestia mentions "dark pacts" he had made, and Luna refers to his powers as being "gifted" when she was "born" with them.
- Dream Weaver: Sombra is able to turn into smoke and getting engulfed by him results in becoming trapped in a nightmare. This tactic takes Celestia out cold, but when he uses it on Luna, it only makes her pissed.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:Sombra: Relentless... why such lengths to protect your petty imperialistic interests?Luna: (standing protectively between Sombra and Celestia) You're a fool if you think that's what I'm trying to protect.
- Also during his We Can Rule Together conversation with Luna, he gets her entranced until he mentions making everyone fear the night when she wants them to love it, and her.
- Evil Tastes Good: Sombra remarks that he can taste Celestia's wrath, and that it is delicious.
- Furry Reminder: During Sombra's attempt to turn Luna to his side, Luna gives a horse-like snort in contempt.
- Gemstone Assault: Sombra can solidify his darkness into black crystals that impale or immobilize enemies.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Sombra does this when assuming his shadow form, and Luna does it when she gets particularly enraged near the end of the battle, as well as when she delivers the final blow to Sombra as Nightmare Moon.
- Gone Horribly Right: Sombra spends his entire battle with Luna trying to persuade her to turn against her sister. And after hitting her with his nightmare-inducing attack, he actually successfully turns her into Nightmare Moon, but instead of joining him, she just kills him.
- Healing Factor: Both Luna and Sombra are able to close their wounds. Luna does this with Instant Runes, while Sombra patches himself up with darkness.
- Hellish Pupils: The first indication the viewer gets of Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Luna does, at any rate.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Happens to Sombra when he subjects Luna to his dark magic. Gets even worse for him when Nightmare Moon strikes him down with his own weapon.
- Instant Runes: Luna uses these frequently during the battle; they're mostly used to provide her with a speed boost when charging Sombra, but they also appear later on healing minor wounds inflicted by Sombra.
- Lightning Bruiser: Celestia and Luna seem to play to this in their fighting styles, whereas Sombra seems to be more of a Mighty Glacier by comparison.
- Mind Rape: As in the cartoon, Sombra inflicts this on Celestia and Luna to incapacitate them.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Sombra's claims to Luna, that he understands the night more than Celestia ever could.
- Oh, Crap!: Sombra has this reaction when Luna becomes Nightmare Moon.
- Pistol Whip: A rare non-firearm example, as Celestia jabs Sombra in the face with the butt of her halberd while fighting him.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Nightmare Moon gives one to Sombra just before defeating him.Sombra: What... are you?Nightmare Moon: I... am a nightmare.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:Sombra: So. Much. HATRED!
- Pyrrhic Victory: Sombra is defeated, but the Crystal Empire is banished as a result.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Luna gives one to Sombra as she transforms into Nightmare Moon.Luna: You think you've found an ally in darkness? Do you comprehend the powers you were gifted with, the same powers I was born into? Where do you think the shadows all go to hide from the precious light? Just who do you think stands against them? What you posses is a mere fraction of their might, the same might I stand unyielding against each and every night. You are nothing compared to them. You are nothing compared to me! You claim to know fear? I shall show you true terror!
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Celestia and Luna personally engage Sombra rather than endanger their military forces against his powers.
- Shout-Out: While the phrasing is different, Luna’s "The Reason You Suck" Speech begins with her basically telling Sombra, "You think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it!"
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Celestia and Luna do this several times, but Sombra naturally ignores it.Celestia: Silence, you cur!
- Sinister Scythe: Sombra wields a black, jagged scythe during the battle. Luna later commandeers it when she becomes Nightmare Moon, and also modifies it, turning it into a pale glowing scythe in the shape of a crescent moon.
- Spectral Weapon Copy: Luna creates transcluscent swords that are presumably made of hard moonlight.
- Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Luna is able to generate phantom swords of various sizes from thin air.
- Stealth Pun: When wearing her helmet, Luna's mane is tied back in a ponytail.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: Sombra is so sure of the superiority of his powers to those of the Princesses that he is caught completely offguard when he provokes Luna's Superpowered Evil Side.
- Sword Beam: At one point Princess Celestia fires a large golden beam at Sombra from the tip of her halberd.
- The Slow Walk: Luna performs this while giving the above-mentioned speech to Sombra, casually picking up and examining his scythe along the way.
- Super Window Jump: Celestia and Luna do this by smashing through a stained glass window at the start of the battle against Sombra.
- Villain Has a Point: Despite saying it while trying to turn Luna to his side, Sombra does accurately predict that Equestria would face other significant threats after him, and also correctly predicts that the underlying conflict between Celestia and Luna would come to a head.
- Voice of the Legion: Sombra's voice goes in and out of this, presumably because of his dark magic.
- We Can Rule Together: Sombra tries this on Luna after he sees how much Celestia secretly fears her, though it doesn't work.
- What the Hell Are You?: Sombra's reaction when Luna becomes Nightmare Moon, as seen in the Pre-Mortem One-Liner entry above.
