Beginnings and the first key
Author's Note
For the story of Umbra Mist, we must begin with the story of Silver Moon.
Beginnings and the first key
Silver Moon was from the time that Equestria was formed. He was a unicorn, and a powerful one at that. At a young age he was hidden away in the crystal empire by the princesses, to be trained by Sombra in the art of magic, to be used as a secret weapon if he was needed.
When Sombra turned, so did his student, and Silver turned to a life of harassment and violence, and he gave himself the name of Shadow. When Celestia came to defeat Sombra, she learned of Silvers fate, and took pity on him, and after defeating him in magical battle, she erased all the evil from him, but before he was defeated, Shadow made a prophecy, a powerful prophecy, that one day, one of his descendants would reawaken him, and they would become his vessel.
To make sure that the promise would never become truth, Celestia locked Shadow’s dark power away in the Dragon lands, his evil will in Yakyakastan, his vengeful spirit in Griffonstone, his corrupted memories in the Canterlot library, and his restless soul somewhere in an unmarked altar, as to let him live as Silver Moon again, without his past to weigh on him. He lived for many years and had a family, before passing peacefully in his sleep. Silver’s descendants were watched carefully, to prevent the prophecy from reaching truth, but little did Celestia know, that while he had his dark powers, Shadow bedded a mare, who bore his child.
Now begins the story of Umbra Mist.
The unicorn Umbra Mist was born in Manehattan, roughly one hundred years before the events of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, to a somewhat poor family, whose ancestors originated from the crystal empire right before it disappeared. He got his cutiemark at a young age, after he found he was quite proficient at making illusions. For a few years he was able to provide for his family, until his parents caught an incurable disease, and a result, died. After the loss of his parents, he was able to more than just create illusions, and was able to make his illusions real, by channeling his emotions. This made him thirst for knowledge and power, which he was not able to achieve in his home of Manehattan, so he moved to Canterlot to further his studies.
While in Canterlot, he stumbles upon a very old scroll that details the events of the Crystal Empire, of what happened to Shadow Moon, and where Celestia locked away the key parts of him. He thought that by unlocking and collecting the keys, he would be able to grow stronger with his magic, so he set off to find the first key, Shadow Moon’s spirit, hidden in a cave somewhere the Abysmal Abyss, in Griffonstone, a place where the inhabitants were once almost as greedy as the dragons.
So he traveled east, across the Foal Mountain, through Fillydelphia, then across the Celestial Sea, then finally climbing the Hyperborean mountains to reach Griffonstone. Umbra Mist disguised himself as a Griffon, as to not draw attention. As he headed towards the abyss, he noted that Griffonstone looked like a dilapidated boondocks of a town, with the houses falling apart, and the inhabitants treating each other like dirt. It was a place that Umbra would not be staying in long.
So Umbra set off to the Abyss, avoiding as many Griffons as possible. As he approached the edge of the abyss, he pulled a length of rope out of his bag, and tied it around a nice boulder. He started to rappel down the edge, eventually passing a ledge that had a weird golden idol on it, but he ignored it, since it was not the object of his quest. He continued down, and down, then down some more, until he came upon a small round hole in the side of the abyss, just barely big enough for his hoof to fit into. Umbra pushed a front hoof into the hole, as far as it would go, then sent a magical current down his leg, and slowly turned his hoof, until a faint lock click could be heard.
The opposite side of the abyss shuddered as part of it slid inwards, then sideways, forming a cave opening. Umbra pulled his leg out, then pushed against his side of the abyss, propelling him to the cave. He let the rope drop, then lit his horn, then headed into the cave. He trotted along, deeper and deeper, finally coming to a small alter, with something that resembled the bottom of a goblet, the first key. He picked it up and wrapped it in a cloth, then put it into his bag, then headed out of the cave.
Umbra used magic to climb back up the abyss, thinking about how easy it was to get the key, while also collecting his rope as he went. As he reached the top, he heard voices approaching, so he quickly collected the last of his rope from around the nice boulder, then disguised himself as a rock and hid. The voices grew louder, and Princess Celestia and four guards came into view. They were talking about one of the five seals having been broken.
Five? Umbra thought to himself. The scroll had only mentioned the places where the four keys could be located. So he listened closer, hoping to hear more about the seals. After a long period of hearing nothing about the seals, Umbra was about to try to get away, when Celestia said something else, about the fifth seal, somewhere in the undiscovered west, in a place where only she knows where.
Umbra wished he could stay to hear more, but knew he had to get out of there before Celestia discovered that the key was gone, so as soon as the group’s backs were turned, he galloped away, still disguised as a boulder. As soon as he was sure he was out of earshot and viewing distance of the princess, he dropped the illusion, and pulled out a map and a compass, to find his way to the next key, Shadow Moon’s power, located somewhere in the Dragon Lands.
