Sombra, King of All

It's time for some SOMBRA HEADCANONS!!!
Now...let's get practically some stuff out of the way. Umbrums arent a thing in my verse, forget about em, yeet, gone, bye. Also forget about the Crystal Empire for a bit, because I'm gonna tell you how everything came to be.

During the Age of Beasts (before ponies, unicorns, and pegasi co-existed in peace), Tirek and Discord and other monsters and enemies roamed the land free. They did as they pleased and caused all sorts of chaos, but believe it or not, there was somewhere safe where the monsters wouldn't go. Up North, in the rigid cold where The Frostbitten lived. They lived in the harshest weather with the thickest coats, and it was enough to keep them safe from the monsters lurking far away. But it was hard--all they had around them was unforgiving cold and stones, living the nomadic life, feasting on salt and bats in whatever caves they found. They had horns, but their magic was limited to tracking gems and making light or heat, not much else. It was a miserable life, but they still had a King and Queen to guide them.

They also had a Prince. Prince Sombra.

On one of their many days being snowed into a cave, Prince Sombra decided he was tired of eating worms and chewing on rocks to satiate his always empty stomach, and ran away. He didn't know where he was going or how, but he just wanted a land where his people would thrive. Somewhere where they didn't have to be scared of monsters, and they just stay forever. During his blind flight into the cold unknown, he became tired, weak....and eventually succumbed... until he saw it. The terrifying silhouette, huge and monsterous. Tirek. Lord Tirek.

Sombra screamed and tried to escape, but he was plucked up quite easily. Amused, Tirek noted, "I've yet to see a pony who actually lives here. What business do you have here?" "I'm no pony! Let me go, or else!" "Ah, a feisty one....worry not, I have no patience to tear through all that fur of yours." He set Sombra down and contemplated him. "Now answer me. What business do you have here?" "I would have no business if it weren't for monsters like you. We have to live here in the dreary north just so we might have a chance at life at all--and what for? Every day is snow and starvation, and I'm sick of it! I want a land free of monsters and free of suffering!"

This interests Tirek greatly, as he sees a golden opportunity... he offers Sombra this: "I'll give you a kingdom, small not-pony. I'll give you the power that the ponies have and more, and you can use it to make your kingdom. Since you already live here anyway, I doubt anyone else will try and make their way into your kingdom. No one will know about it but you, your people...and me, of course. But if all your people are fur coated popsicles I have no interest in eating you or eating your weak magic."

Sombra can't believe his ears. But.... he couldn't pass this up. Even if Tirek just killed him then and there somehow, that would be better than going back to his family with nothing. It was worth a shot, a chance, anything at all.

And Tirek delivered.

Sombra went back to his people a hero, his magic capable of causing towers of crystals to grow and plants of green they had never seen before. Entire structures were created and he could make a barrier that stopped the snow itself. And with his magic, he found the best jewel to power the new home he was making: the Crystal Heart. His parents were confused, but glad, and the Crystal Empire was born. All the praise and worship he got, all the kind words and gifts.... he expanded the Empire daily, watching it grow like a well tended garden of amethyst and jade. He loved it more than words could describe. But there was a problem.

The Frostbitten. They didn't seem to like it enough--even disrespecting it. They just stomped all over the walkways, sometimes left trash here and there....they never went around and wiped down the castle from end to end with the passion he did. He swore he could feel their hoofsteps in his skull whenever they trudged up or down a flight of stairs, or accidentally dropped a platter. They would just sleep about in his kingdom while  he did all the work. Even his own parents seemed not to care. When they passed and people requested they be put in a crystal coffin, he laughed. Ridiculous! His crystals holding the corpses of disgusting animals? Never! And when he demanded more respect from them, they had the audacity to rebel? No! 

So began the enslavement. Ponies being forced to expand the kingdom, build statues and tend to his every desire. He could feel everything in this bubble he made, his own little snowglobe (except the snow was on the outside.) His powers became more extreme; mind control, the ability to take another Frostbitten's magic, bringing out the worst fears in others. But crystals began to die the angrier he got. The Crystal Heart was breaking, sometimes letting out screeches of turmoil. But that just meant the slaves were slacking, they weren't working hard enough! More, harder! You idiots! He didn't know how long it had been in here, he just knew that The Frostbitten kept making more slaves for him and that was all that mattered. That was until Celestia showed up.

She and Luna barged in through the barrier like it was nothing to liberate the Frostbitten, but he wouldn't allow it. His gorgeous kingdom, whether it was colorful or black, it was all his! All of it, and all of the Frostbitten within it! While they were saving his kind, he prepared a massive spell. One that would change everything. As the Queens were getting some of the last ponies out, he raised his reddened horn and a beam of darkness came down from the sky. Before Celestia and Luna knew what was happening, a massive dark pulse sped across the land, turning everything and everyone it touched into crystal. They along with as many as they could save made it out in time, but what was left after the spell was an empire black statues in the snow, with Sombra trapped among them. The Queens decided to take who they saved back to the safety of Southern Equestria, but when they came back, all evidence of the Empire was lost to the snow. No matter how much they dug or what magic they used to track it, there was nothing to be found.

At least not until many, many years later.

More on that at a later time. Hehe. 

Art (c) mylittlegami