//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: A new life // Story: What a wonderful world // by a touch of sparkles //------------------------------// Deep in the North, far from charted land was the Eye. Where the storms never touched and snow gently drifted down onto the frosted land. The nearly mountainous hills were littered with caves. Each a dedicated home to an umbrum tribe. One in particular had a very small tribe in it, but that family was introducing a new life. A dam licked her new-born clean. The colt’s large green eyes looked curiously at his dam’s crimson ones. It was all he could see through his blurry eyes as they met light for the first time. But as they adjusted he saw the rest of his family. The single pair of red eyes were his dam’s. Then there were three blue pairs, four yellow pairs and one orange pair. They all looked the same. Dark grey fur and flowy black manes. “huavee yoou thuo’gitee ofii aa naaimaee?” he heard the feminine voice come from one with yellow eyes. He didn’t know what it meant. “leite’s ssoee ifi huee’s hueea’laithuee fiirssoutee” his dam replied. Just as he got hungry and attempted to get his mouth to her teats, her legs unfolded from beneath her and straightened out. Rising her warm belly above him along with his food. He stared up at her wondering why she would do such a thing. He felt something push his rump upwards and his gangly hind legs scrambled to get beneath it. Who he assumed was his sire with blue eyes started to nudge his front legs to do the same things, not before his hind legs gave way and his back half flopped on the ground. “leeit huimaii dio itee huimai’soelafii” His dam told his sire. “jeusoutee giveinai’ aa huinatee” replied his sire, the back of his lips curling up slightly. He lay on the floor shuffling his legs around, trying to understand the lanky appendages. He copied what his dam did, putting the hard bits at the end squarely on the stony floor, then he pushed up with all his might. His body rose up as his shaky legs wobbled under the weight of him. Then they slipped from under him making him land flat on his belly with his legs either side of him. He heard multiple voices in the cave make almost bumpy noises. “yoou caanai dio itee” his dam said to him, despite not knowing what she said it spurred him to try again. This time when he rose he managed to keep control of his legs. He pushed each one forward and his body shifted. Finally, as he craned his neck upwards, he got his first meal. “Vacio, wahutee naaimaee didii wee seetelee onai?” “eerr, Sombra wasou’naitee itee?” his parents spoke to each other. Then his dam turned to him. “huelaiowe Sombra” he didn’t know what Sombra meant. But all he knew is that it belonged to him. “GET BACK HERE” his sire called out to his runaway colt. The pair sprinted along the snowy cliff side, snow flying up beneath them. “sorry” he apologised as he tried not to barrel over a tribe as his son weaved between their legs. It was only a week after Sombra was born yet his unrivalled energy was already becoming a hassle. He was already learning his words and what they meant (even if he couldn’t speak well) and he was a fast learner. As fast as his lanky legs carried him across the snow. He stuck his little silver tongue out at his sire. Just as a very large pair of purple hooves grabbed him around his middle and lifted him of the ground. He recognised the hooves as the ones that belonged to his god, Umbralis. Sombra squirmed in his hooves trying to get free. Not out of fear, just pure energy. “thank you. I don’t think I would’ve caught him” his sire thanked their God. His bottom half dissolved into shadow as he floated up, taking his colt into his for legs. “you have your hooves full with this one. From what I have seen he is the most energetic one of the bunch this year” Umbralis told his father. Sombra watched with curiosity as he rose and his membrane wings took him to the sky. Heavy wing beats filled the air. “let’s get you back, foods cooked” “FOOD” Sombra wriggled out of his grasp. “OH for the love of the North!” his hind legs reformed as he chased his colt again. At least this time he was going in a desirable direction. When they got back to their cave, Sombra was caught by his uncle Folwin. Folwin was his sire’s younger brother and had the same eyes. “RABIA, WHAT DID YOU EAT TO GIVE HIM THIS MUCH ENERGY?” Folwin shouted to the mare in the other half of the cave. “I ATE PERFECTLY NORMAL THANK YOU VERY MUCH” she shouted back to him. A pair of not quite as gangly foals appeared through the archway. Sombra seeing his cousins bucked his uncle and ran over to join them. Yesqen and Yesric were twins. Apart from the different genders, they were perfectly identical. The twins were a hundred years older than Sombra, still very much foals for umbrum. They would be so until they hit five hundred and puberty started and lasted for another five hundred years. For Sombra they were siblings. “foods done!” called Nevada. Nevada was his granddam, from his sires’ side. His other grandparents were still in their other tribe, whom he was yet to meet. She was the cook of the tribe, she had her way with food. It made Sombra’s mouth water by the sight of it, let alone the smell. Unfortunately he was still on milk. He sat next to his dam while she helped equally serve out the reindeer kebabs. He watched in jealously as the twins got their portion. Then she outstretched one of her hind legs and pulled him in with her tail. “you can eat once you turn one sweaty. But for now you still have to drink” she said to him softly while he reluctantly drank. While he did so his father finally made it back to the cave. Exhausted from the three hours he had spent playing chase he flopped down next to his wife. The beads around his neck rattling as they hit the floor. Rabia nudged his meal over towards him. “thanks” After tea the foals were much calmer. They sat and played with their bricks building little structures. Currently Sombra had built a little box hut for his favourite toy Binkie. The little umbrum plush was his first toy which he got the day he was born. It was made of leather and its mane was made of his dam’s hair, its tail made of his sire’s hair, along with being stuffed with it. It was squishy and floppy and Sombra adored it. He had used the blocks to make a home for it. “Dammi look! I made a cave for Binkie” Sombra happily clapped his hooves together as he showed his dam. “Well aren’t you clever” she grabbed the leather bag with her teeth, despite being a unicorn. “Why don’t we make it bigger” together they placed more blocks on top of the hut. Then there was a clatter. “Hey, why’d you do that!” they heard Yesric complain. “I didn’t knock it down you did” Yesqen argued with him. “Did not” “Did too” “Did not” “Did too” “Did n-“ “Kids” their sire Folre appeared beside them. They stopped arguing. “What did they do?” there dam Amarilla asked over her shoulder. “One knocked the others tower over” Sombra returned back to his hut, placing more blocks. Slowly the structure got taller and taller. He sat and reached up with both his front legs, but as he leaned forwards his body fell and he hit his chest and chin on the blocks. With a squeak from the fall his eyes started to water. “Oh Sombra, I’m sorry I didn’t see you. Come here” she pulled him in and held him to her chest. He huddled up as his eyes welled with more tears. “Is he alright?” Vacio hurried over when he heard the clatter. “He fell on the bricks” Rabia told him while giving small licks to his cheek to calm him down. Vacio pushed the bricks out the way and pulled Binkie out and gave it to his son, who cuddled it tightly. It wasn’t long until the pain left his chest and chin, but even so he was worked up. “I think that’s enough play for you” Rabia said as she bought him over to the campfire where he curled up by her belly. Slowly with the warmth of the fire and his dam he drifted to sleep.