Author's Note

This AU takes place where somethings happen earlier then in Cannon (I.E. Sombra leaving as a Colt instead of being a young stallion and Radiant Hope getting the letter from Starswirl Instead of Celestia and Luna, getting it as a filly instead of a young mare.) and one Umbrum was smatter then the rest

Prologue: The Umbrum

The snow slowly fell, slow and hard, hoofs printed themselves in the snow as a young colt ran through the snow, tears running down his face quickly turning into shards of ice that fade away under the white frost of snowflakes, soon enough he collapsed in the snow, he wanted to run from it all, to run from his home, to run from his friends, to run from his problems, but most off all, he wanted to run from his destiny, but in trying to run from his destiny, he ran to it.

“Sombra my dear. What is wrong? Why have you come here to see me? Is your work done already?” a husk, echoing voice called out to the grey colt.

The Colt named Sombra raised his head in fear and confusion, “Who?”

“Don’t you recognize your own mother when you see her?” The red crystal echoed, “I’m the one who brought you into this world.”

“I don’t understand.” Sombra said, leaning up, turning to the crystal, “The crystal guards found me out here.”

“And haven’t you ever wondered how you got here? haven’t you ever wondered why you are different then everyone else? Why you don’t have one of those silly little-”

A husk, mocking voice echoed through the snow. “Oh, don’t listen to those Bozos”

Sombra Flinched, quickly looking around, “W-who said that.”

Suddenly, a purple smoky skull charged at Sombra, in a matter of seconds he quickly got up and was about to run, when it stopped and started to laugh, slowly revealing its whole body. “Oh, you should have seen the look on your face.”

Sombra, slightly paralyzed, shuddered looking up at the… thing, semi-towering over him, “W-w-who are you, W-w-what are you.”

The Purple skeletal figure looked down, their white eyes giving Sombra the feeling it’s stare was piercing his soul, “Who Am I?” they turn away, before bending backwards, bending till they were looking right at Sombra, “What am I?” Their head slowly tilted 180 Degrees, simply staring at Sombra… before it cheerfully yelled “Well I’m glad you asked!” It quickly ducked down under Sombra, popping up besides Sombra with a more relevant size to him, pointing at themselves. “I am an Umbrum, like you,” -they point at Sombra, slightly pushing him- “And like those Bozos stuck in that gem”

Sombra was even more confused and concerned, “W-w-what do you mean I’m an Umbrum?”

“Oh right,” -The Umbrum put their purple hoof like limb to the bottom of their skull, pondering- “I guess they never taught you what we were in that little School in the crystal empire, So let me make this simple.” -they extend their hoof to Sombra- “You’re not like the other ponies, you’re an Umbrum, a shadow pony, like me and those bozos stuck in that gem.”

“We can hear you; you know!” the red crystal said.

“Oh, just ignore those bozos, their just mad I didn’t get trapped like the rest of them” The Umbrum taunted before turning his head back to Sombra. “You see, those silly little ponies are afraid of us umbrums, they want use gone, and for a fair reason considering the fact we use to destroy their empire like every 15 moons or so.”

Sombra, visibly shaken tucked his head between his hoofs, “B-b-but they’re not afraid of me… right?”

The Umbrum gave Sombra a pat on the back, “Not you in particular, they don’t even know your one of us. Those silly little ponies think your just one of them, a silly little Colt. The crystal heart on the other hand, or as you ponies say; hoof, knows what you are.”

“I-I-is that why every crystal fair I can’t move, why I feel sick to my stomach. Why I almost…” the Colt couldn’t finish his sentence, he didn’t want to think on what would happen if hope wasn’t with him when that happened.

“That’s right,” the Umbrum exclaimed, “That crystal heart is used to keep dark magic out, that’s why every time the fair comes around, the love of all the ponies charge it up, and it targets all that magic onto any source of dark magic, I.E. you”

The red crystal attempted to intrude on the conversation, “That’s why you must destroy it, before it destroys-”

The Umbrum threw a snowball at the red crystal, “Oh shut it, we’re way too far for the crystal heart to even affect us, as long as you’re out here, that little trinket of theirs will never touch us.”

Sombra slightly cowered less, removing the hoofs from his head, “You mean, I won’t be in danger out here?” he curiously asked.

“Well from the crystal heart yes, but we don’t want you go get buried in the snow now, do we?” asked the Umbrum.

Sombra shook his head.

“Well good news my friend,” -they grabbed sombra and turned him to the south- “I know just the place, a place with waaaay less snow than what’s out here, one with many a pony, a place so far, yet so, so, worth it.”

“W-w-where?” Sombra asked curiously.

“To the only other town here in Equestria, Cantalot.” The Umbrum said slowly sliding his hoof through the air.

Sombra hesitated for a bit, he had heard about Cantalot, after all that was where Radiant hope was going there to train under a great unicorn Starswirl besides two others, but would they allow him to even stay at Cantalot, what if they found out what he was and threw him out, or worse, but there was also the chance to see Radiant hope again once she left the Crystal empire, a low but still possible chance to see her every now and then, and that was a chance the young colt couldn’t refuse.

The Umbrum opened its mouth, but before they could even speak Sombra yelled out one would, “YES!!!”

“You know, you should really wait for someone to finish their sentence, but what the heck, let’s go!” The Umbrum enthusiastically said, slowly ‘walking’ besides Sombra.

The red crystal attempted to call out for Sombra in one last plead, “Sombra, If you have not removed Amore’s weapon The Heart by the next Crystal Fair, it will destroy you, DESTROY YOU!”

But the Umbrum shrugged it off, “ya, ya, destroy him, yada, yada, who cares, he’s not going to be in its range!” and with that, The Umbrum walked off with Sombra.

The Snow raged on and on, like it normally did, Sombra and the Umbrum simply continued, the Umbrum circling around Sombra like a crow circling something shiny, hours pass, Sombra almost falling over on more than one occasion, the colt shivered time to time, the simple red scarf and Trapper hat weren’t the best at keeping him warm, but soon enough, the number of snowflakes started to decrease.

“We’re almost out of the cold.” The Umbrum said to reassure Sombra, and slowly, the snow faded as the dark grey cloud stopped, and the white grass became green, flowers scattered through the grass, all different and vibrant colors.

Sombra was stunned by the sight of it all “this Cantalot.” The colt said in wonder.

“Nope,” -The Umbrum pointed far out, pointing to the mountain far away- “see that mountain over there, far, far, very far away, from here you might not see it, but that’s where Cantalot is, come on, let’s get going!” The Umbrum quickly dashed away, leading to Sombra giving chase.

“Hay, wait for me” he yelled, but one thing was for sure, it was going to take the rest of the day to get there.