Chapter 1: Fall of a King...
Harsh winds blew and snow swirled across the icy wastes of the Frozen North. To the south, beautiful lights spread across the sky, reflecting the love and hope the covered the lands beneath them. While the ponies to the south frolicked in joy, a shadow lay slumped on the ice.
“Curse them…” King Sombra muttered, his teeth gritted in pain. “Curse the Crystal Princess and her blasted Crystal Heart!”
To any being viewing the fallen king, he would have looked fractured. Pieces of his body seemed to simply be missing, with fissures spread across the intact portions of his form. Yet, with each passing moment, more shadows slithered across the ice and joined with him, filling in the gaps in his being.
Directing his Dark Magic to restore himself subconsciously, Sombra glared over his shoulder towards the Empire where he had suffered not one, but two defeats. “Light may be able to disperse the Shadows,” He hissed, “but one cannot simply destroy Darkness. I shall bide my time, and when the Light wanes, I shall be waiting to reclaim what was mine.” Limping through the snow, the tyrant looked for a place to rest, unhindered by the cold, due to the shadowy nature of his body.
Eventually, he came upon a large rocky outcropping protruding from the ice, and a quick examination revealed a gap large enough for him to fit into. Slipping inside, He looked around the cave… Only to blink in surprise at the worked stone blocks he saw, revealing it to be a constructed room, rather than a natural cavern.
“What is this place?” Sombra muttered, curiosity getting the better of him. His body almost fully reformed, Sombra pushed deeper inside. A half-rotten, half-frozen door at the end of the hall fell away easily, letting him into a larger room that was exposed to the sky.
A glance at the walls showed a ragged top, and the rubble at the edges of the room confirmed that it had once had a ceiling. However, Sombra’s gaze was drawn to the centerpiece of the room.
A grand and ominous throne, which would easily put the Crystal Throne to shame.
Or rather, it was grand and ominous at one time. Now, one of the sides laid on the ground next it, and a chunk was missing from the backrest, the missing portion likely among the detritus of the room. And yet, it was proof that the ruin was once a structure great importance.
"Hmm, perhaps I shall stay here until I have enough power to reclaim my Empire." Sombra pondered aloud. "If only this place had- Ah! Much better!" The fallen king went from pensive to excited at what he had just noticed.
It was a staircase.
More specifically, it was two staircases, one on either side of the throne, although the layer of snow and general disrepair of the room had let him overlook them at first. The one leading upward ended abruptly, where the second floor was missing. The other set of stairs, however, led downward.
A quick burst of magic cleared the snow and loose debris from the latter, and Sombra trotted downward, the act of satisfying his curiosity helped distract him from the shame of his recent defeat.
Going down several levels, the first few sub-levels being inaccessible due to collapsed passages, Sombra reached a level that spread out into a sprawling cavern. In the center was a gaping chasm, with a thin pathway leading out to a platform somehow suspended over the abyss. Along the sides of the cavern, more tunnels branched off. What caught the stallion's attention, however, was the shards of crystal littering the central platform.
Gingerly, Sombra stepped out onto the improbable bridge, ready to shift into his shadowy form to beat a hasty retreat, should the gravity-defying platform suddenly decide to start obeying the laws of physics. However, the stone held firm, and he quickly reached the crystal fragments that had caught his attention.
"How did these get here?" Sombra muttered as he examined them more closely. There was nothing unusual about finding crystals in a cave, but the nature of the crystals made them unusual. They were like the greyish-black crystals he made when he used Dark Magic, but with a bluish tint. "Did the being who inhabited this tower somehow know Dark Magic?"
Before he could ponder further, he was distracted by a noise from one of the side tunnels. "Dumb Quaver. Think he so great when Gnarl no here, just 'cause is next oldest. Make poor Skabb check dumb noiseses. Skabb show nothing here, then-"
As Sombra turn towards the grumbling, high-pitched voice, he saw the strangest creature he had ever seen. It had wrinkled brown skin with a scar across its chest, glowing yellow eyes, and ragged pointed ears. What was more, it stood on two feet, with two arms hanging by its sides. 'It's almost like those pictures I saw as a colt depicting Cave Trolls,' Sombra thought, 'but much, much smaller.'
However, while Sombra was examining the strange creature, it was getting over its shock at seeing the fearsome stallion standing there. Suddenly, the little brown creature sprinted down the tunnel it had come from, screaming at the top of its lungs. "Scary horn-pony! Scary horn-pony in Tower!"
The Umbrum blinked in surprise, as he looked after the retreating being, unsure if it's description of him was complimentary or insulting. He was still deciding whether or not to hunt down the miniature troll and punish it, when more sounds emerged from the tunnel, preceding a group of the odd beings, some clutching icicles or stalagmites as makeshift clubs.
"Horn-ponies not allowed in Tower!"
"Me smash horn-pony!"
"Me wonder if horn-ponies is yummy eats. Too long since had real meatses."
Sombra frowned, as the gibbering from the approaching mob made their intent - and stupidity - blatantly clear. A quick blast of Dark Magic made crystals burst from the stone in front of the mass of annoying creatures, halting their advance, and impaling a few who did not stop quickly enough. "You pathetic creatures would attack me?" Sombra sneered at them. "Do you have any idea who I am?"
This caused the creatures to begin muttering among themselves in confusion. Suddenly, the one with the scar that Sombra had seen first pointed at him, and declared, "Look! Scary horn-pony eyes be glowy like old Master!" This prompted comments from the others around it.
"It true! Glowy eyes like Overlord!"
"Can horn-pony become Overlord?"
"Minions finally get new Master!"
"Preposterous!" Shouted a new, more well-spoken voice, as another being emerged from the tunnel. It looked like the other creatures, but with a jester's hat on its head, a missing eye, and a short staff topped by a miniature skull in one hand. And then it began to sing.
"You would compare this fool to our Master?
A pony as 'lord? 'Twould be a disaster!
You fools might be craven and crass,
But I say he can kiss my a-augh!"
Unwilling to put up with its insulting warbling, Sombra solved the issue with another blast of Dark Magic, this one slamming into the singer, sending it tumbling back down the tunnel. Rather than be upset by this, however, the other creatures laughed or cheered at the display.
"My, my, how impressive." Yet another new voice, as well spoken as the last, but sounding older, and came from the direction of the stairs Sombra had descended, rather than the tunnel the strange creatures had come out of. "I had thought all unicorns were beings of Good, prancing in meadows and using their magic for healing and growing flowers and other such disgusting things. It does my shriveled heart Evil to see such casual violence from one of your kind."
Sombra's eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected... compliment? The tone seemed to suggest as much, but the phrasing left him uncertain. Turning back towards the entrance, he saw a being hobbling down the last of the stairs that looked like the other creatures... in about the same way that Sombra resembled an ordinary unicorn. This one was obviously older, swathed in a brown cloak, with a staff tied to its back, and yellow eyes that held far more intelligence than the other gibbering creatures. A glowing yellow crystal hanging from the top of the staff provided a weak illumination. "I am no weak, traitorous unicorn, I am King Sombra of the Umbrum," Sombra said. "And since you don't seem inclined to attack or insult me, perhaps you will tell me what you are, or what this place is."
"An Umbrum, you say?" The elderly creature said, stroking its chin in thought. "Why, I haven't heard that name in centuries. Perhaps longer. It can be so hard to keep track of the passage of time between Overlords. As for what we are, we are Minions, unwaveringly loyal servants of the Overlord. I am Gnarl, the Minion Master, and Adviser to the Overlord, and this," the being calling itself Gnarl paused to gesture to the cavern around them, "is the seat of the Tower Heart, nestled beneath the Overlord's Tower. Or at least it was, until the stubborn forces of Good killed our Master, destroyed and plundered the Tower, and turned the Tower Heart into a Light-blasted mockery of its former Evil glory."
"Well, that is... unfortunate," Sombra said. "I understand well how irritating it can be to have everything you have worked for be foiled by a handful of 'heroes', and-" Suddenly, Sombra stopped as something the Minion had said clicked in his mind. "Wait... a Tower Heart... turned to spread Light... Are you talking about the Crystal Heart?"
"Oh? Is the what those sickeningly adorable Crystal Ponies decided to call it?" Gnarl asked, his tone full of distaste. "I suppose it is an apt enough name for what it has become. Although I must say, I'm surprised that an Umbrum would be familiar with it. From what I remember of your kind, Light Magic is supposed to be particularly dangerous to you."
"I do not need the reminder," Sombra growled through gritted teeth. "Once I have regained my power, I shall see the blasted Heart shattered under my hooves!"
"Hmm, perhaps we might be of assistance," Gnarl said, stroking his beard in thought.
"Oh? What are you suggesting?" Sombra asked, a glance confirming that the other 'Minions' were content to simply sit around, some seemingly entranced by the crystals he had created or the corpses of their fellows impaled on said crystals, while he spoke to the elderly Gnarl.
"Why, only what comes naturally to a Minion, of course," Gnarl replied with a twisted grin. "After all, our purpose for existing is to serve the Overlord. If you were to retrieve the Gauntlet and be Evil enough to be accepted by it in turn, we would recognize you as our Master, to do your bidding. This tower, such as it is, would be yours, as well. Why, while the former Tower Heart maybe a Goodly perversion of what it once was, with your power to create Dark Crystals, we may very well be able to fashion a suitable replacement."
"Hmm," Sombra tapped a hoof against his chin in thought. The prospect of gaining an unwaveringly loyal 'army' (in the loosest sense of the word) was certainly tempting, as well as gaining a new 'tower' (again, in the loosest sense of the word). However, the former king knew that things were never that simple. "What is this 'Gauntlet'? And what did you mean by 'retrieve' it?"
"The Gauntlet is..." Gnarl paused, momentarily unsure of how to describe it to a being that lacked hands, before settling on a more generic explanation. "It is a powerful magical artifact. Although not designed for one of your... equine stature, its magic adapts it to fit the user, so no doubt it shall take on a more appropriate form for you. However, when our previous Master was defeated, the Gauntlet was stripped from him, the magic protecting it lost with the Tower Heart. While I have been unable to retrieve it myself, I have determined its location. However, those that guard it are physically powerful, but they lack magic, meaning they should prove no threat to you, Overlord-to-be."
"Go on," Sombra prompted, liked the sound of the prospective title quite a bit.
"The Gauntlet is currently located in the land to the north, which the ponies call Yakyakistan."
Author's Note
And with this comes my first attempt at an MLP crossover. And of course, there was only one stallion worthy of the title Overlord! ^_^
Will Sombra recover the Gauntlet as easily as Gnarl predicted? What will come of this Evil new alliance? Find out in future chapters of 'The Umbrum Overlord'!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
