The Shadow of A Tyrant

A thousands years ago...
The Frozen North was unbearably cold that night. Snow completely blanketed the ground of the outskirts of the Crystal Empire as snowflakes gently fell around, leaving the Empire itself untouched. All of the Crystal Ponies were asleep in their homes, save for a couple of Royal Guards patrolling the entrance of the palace as well as the Crystal Heart. Unknown to them, a shadowy figure swiftly entered the city as if it was carried by the wind.

Once it landed, the figure then took the form of a unicorn mare with green eyes with red pupils, a black mane, a red horn, and a grey coat with a black crystal with thorns surrounding it as a cutie mark wearing a dark purple cloak with the hood up. In her mouth was a black basket with a bundle inside.

Lady Ira snuck away into a darkened alleyway as she levitated out a map of the Crystal Empire and put her hood down to look at the nearby crystalized building. That must've been it...Chestnut Falls' Orphanage. It was perfect, with her son living here, the Crystal Ponies would have no idea that they had an Umbrum living among them, one who would rise up and take over the Crystal Empire for the Umbrum to rule as their first step to dominate Equestria.

She stared at the bundle that was in the basket which contained her son, a light grey unicorn colt. Ira had named him Sombra after his mane color. Like most young Umbrum, he had arrived into the world as a shadow before taking the form his mother now saw before her. The only unusual thing about him was that he was born with green eyes and a normal horn which was unlike the green eyes with red pupils and red curved horns that Umbrum were usually born with. This made him rare among his species.

Her father, King Rabia, had ordered her to send young Sombra to the Crystal Empire, knowing that the few Umbrum who are born with a "normal" pony appearance who learn dark magic receive the normal Umbrum appearance. Agreeing with her father, Ira decided to leave her son in the home of the Umbrum's sworn enemies.

Ever since the Crystal Empire was founded a very long time ago, the Umbrum had been at war with the Crystal Ponies several years after the founding of Equestria. Working with the Windigos, they attempted to destroy the Twinkle-Eyed Ponies, the ancestors of the Empire's citizens, but thanks to the leaders, Corazon Diamante and her daughter, Canzone D'amore, they were banished from Equestria by the power of the Crystal Heart which was created by Corazon and Canzone using the love of their followers before Corazon sealed herself inside the Heart.

Ira slowly approached the entrance to Chestnut Falls' Orphanage. She knew for a fact that everything was going according to plan. Making her way to the front door, she heard a slight yawn from her basket and saw her son slowly opening his eyes. He gently hit his small hoof against his mother's snout, making her smirk.

"Good boy..." Ira smiled mischievously at him. "Now, go to sleep. Nopony must know that I'm here."

She levitated the colt's hoof and placed it back into the bundle before placing the basket onto the orphanage's doorstep. The grey unicorn mare then attached a note that read 'Sombra' on it to the bundle. Sombra reopened his eyes and stared up at his mother who was adjusting the note before he went back to sleep.

Ira smirked again and kissed her son on the forehead while whispering, "Make mother proud..."

Knowing that he had a bright future as the conqueror of the Crystal Empire and later Equestria, the female Umbrum tapped her hoof against the door loudly before going into her shadow form and slipping away into the alley near the orphanage. Soon, the door opened and a light brown Crystal Pony mare stepped outside.

"Hello?" Chestnut Falls called out while checking for the pony who could possibly be knocking at this hour.

Must be some trouble making foals trying to get a laugh... She thought in slight irritation.

Suddenly, the mare looked and saw a basket in front of her. She then found herself face to face with a unicorn colt with green eyes, a black mane, and a grey coat who was wrapped in a bundle.

"Oh, you poor thing...who would abandon somepony like you?" Chestnut Falls asked the colt. "Where are your parents? Do you have a name?"

She noticed the note attached to the bundle and read aloud, "'Sombra'. So, that's your name? Well, I'm going to take care of you until somepony adopts you. You're in good hooves now...Sombra."

With that, Chestnut Falls brought the colt inside of the orphanage.

Nine years later...
Sombra was living his life in the orphanage, learning everything a pony as young as he was could, but being smarter than the other foals he considered his peers. Chestnut Falls even managed to give him private tutoring since she was aware of him not having many friends and being an outcast.

One day, outside in the playground the orphanage had, Sombra was approaching three foals who were playing together.

"Hello, may I play with you?" He greeted.

The three foals ignored him as one with a pink coat whispered, "Why do they even keep him around? He's not even a Crystal Pony, just a normal old unicorn."

"He doesn't even have a cutie mark, so why should we even bother with him?" A light blue foal asked while rolling his eyes.

"To answer your question, Sombra: no, we won't play with you." The pink foal told Sombra.

"Yeah, other ponies will think we're weird like you." The blue foal scoffed as he walked off with his friends.

Sombra let out a sad sigh and just stared at the ground before he heard a voice reassure him, "Don't worry about them. They said the same thing about me when I first arrived."

He was then approached by a unicorn filly with dark blue eyes, a light blue mane, and a purple coat. Sombra was shocked that this filly had approached him since nopony had ever done this to him before.

She's so pretty... He thought in amazement.

"If you want, I can be your friend. We can be weird together." The filly suggested.

"I would like that. It gets awfully lonely for me." Sombra nodded.

"Good! My name is Radiant Hope!" The filly grinned.

"I'm Sombra." He told her. "So, why are you here? Where are your parents?"

"My parents? Well, my mother died when I was born, so my father left me here several months later. What about yours?" Radiant Hope explained.

"I...don't know. Miss Chestnut Falls wouldn't even tell me. She just said that I was left on the orphanage's doorstep." Sombra shrugged.

"I remembered my father taking me to something called the Crystal Faire before he left me here. I don't remember it though." Radiant Hope told him.

"Crystal Faire?" Sombra asked. "I think I remember that it was mentioned in the books as some celebration that helps power the Crystal Heart which protects the Empire from harm."

"You can come with me once we save up enough bits!" Radiant Hope grinned.

"Sure." Sombra nodded.

Soon enough, the two became the closest of friends as they learned and played together. The two foals who bullied them would still whisper that they're weird and freaks, but they didn't care. Sombra and Radiant Hope managed to even collect as many bits as they could in order to save up for the Crystal Faire.

One day, the young filly woke up her friend as they walked down the hall to the entrance of the orphanage together.

"I've never seen the Crystal Heart in person before. I've only seen it in pictures in the books." Sombra said to his friend. "Can we see it?"

"Of course we can! Race you there!" Radiant Hope smiled before running out of the orphanage with Sombra in tow.

Soon, the two foals arrived near the front of the palace where the Crystal Heart was in all it's glory.

"Isn't it amazing?" The purple filly asked with a grin.

"Yes, let's take a closer look." Sombra answered with a nod.

Little did they know was when they got closer, they had briefly gotten a glimpse into their futures. Radiant Hope saw that she was the Royal Healer for the Crystal Princess. As for Sombra, he saw a shadowy monster with green eyes with red pupils and a curved red horn.

"OW!" Sombra screamed as he felt a sharp pain in his head and collapsed onto the ground.

"Sombra!" Radiant Hope gasped, running towards him.

She then used some of the magic she learned, healing him. Suddenly, there was a brief flash of light and she looked at her flank and saw her cutie mark: a gold caduceus.

"Is there something wrong here?" A motherly voice asked from behind Sombra.

With a groan, Sombra woke up and saw a unicorn mare with amber eyes, a dark pink-blue mane, and a light pink coat with a snowflake in between some lace as a cutie mark wearing blue royal regalia.

"Princess Amore!" Sombra gasped in surprise.

"You know, they say that the Crystal Heart can show your future." She said to the two foals.

"Wow! I hope it comes true then! I saw myself as the Royal Healer!" Radiant Hope exclaimed happily.

"It may come true, but we control our futures." Amore nodded before turning to Sombra. "So, what did you see, Sombra?"

"It was scary, Princess. I saw some monster made out of shadows that looked like me..." Sombra explained with a worried expression.

"Fascinating...you know, it may not happen since you control your destiny." Amore told the colt.

"Princess, I wish I didn't see it." Sombra said in fear.

"I understand, Sombra. Not knowing what lies ahead can be frightening, but you have to make the best of your time now." Amore reassured him. "You and Radiant Hope better run home now."

The two foals nodded and walked back to the orphanage.