In the begining
It was a long time ago, long before the first Hearths Warming songs were ever sang. It was a time of unsure essence, when the three pony tribes were still separated, fearful of one another. Magic was a wild thing that kept the world in constant turmoil. Words, of even their most basic form, had yet to be created. One thing that did exist inside the minds of every pony, dragon, yak, zebra, or any other creature with the gift of life, was the primal understanding of FEAR.
On one of these ancient nights that stretched on longer then anycreature would have liked, a small, but very powerful unicorn filly had wandered away from her parents. She couldn't see a hoof infront of her muzzle, and was growing more and more afraid of what could be lurking in the darkness. In her heart, she begged for the bright light from the sky to cast away the darkness, and in doing so, cast her first spell.
A small light sprung to life on the tip of her horn. The little filly was amazed! She had seen other unicorns use glowing light from their horns to lift small objects, but never had she seen one make light!
Her joy was short lived, as the light she projected shadows from the forms around her, as well as her own shadows. Her own silhouette was cast against debris and tall rocks around her, creating horrible images that struck great fear into the little filly's heart, thinking these shadows were monsters with life of their own. Falling to the ground, the little filly covered her head with her front hooves, clenched her eyes as tightly as she could, thinking that could keep the monsters away. In her mind that knew no words, the little filly wished that the monsters would go away. For several long moments, the little filly wished this, her heart beating so fast it echoed in the dark silance.
The little filly jumped up and screamed when she felt something touch her. But was quickly silanced by a hoof to her mouth. Her father had woken up when he realized his daughter had wandered off and followed her strange light right to her. He grabbed his daughter and flung her over him so she dropped over his back. The little filly felt safer with her father there, and her light spell flickered out. Because of that, the filly or her father did not see what was not right around them.
The shadows that the filly created with her horn, were still there, even though she wasn't!
Her magic had gone out of control, and out of her fear, believing the shadows to be actual monsters, the filly had enfused her magic with her fear, and inadvertently given that fear infused magic to the shadows she made. Taking it all in as their first breath of life, the three shadow monsters, made from her own warped shadows, moved about with wills of their own . But all living things require something to live. And before they were given a name, these first monsters of the world knew what they craved, what could feed them, what their bodies desired.
FEAR
The shadowy forms that would be soon known as the Umbrum, an old word meaning 'shadow', ventured out and quickly caught up with the filly and her small tribe of unicorns. Their camp fire was small and dying, but enough light was left to give the Umbrum a form in the darkness. They let loose a howl like chuckle, deep and horrid, like a lion's roar, letting their prey know they were there. The small tribe of unciorns awoke quickly and gathered in a circle, with their foals at the center for protection against these monsters. The adults held up spears and sharp sticks against the shadowy monsters, but their weapons did no harm to the monsters. The weapons passed right through them without causing themany harm, making the Umbrum laugh and chuckle at the unicorn's failed attempts. The more the Umbrum laughed and proved there was nothing the unicorns could do, the more fear set in the hearts of those unicorns.
It was the Umbrum's second time taste of fear, and it was just as sweet as the first. The Umbrum could never get enough of it, so it seemed, and continued to circle and taunt the unciorns, the deep roars sending chills down the little pony's backs. The Umbrum learned then that they could alter their bodies, take forms that weren't so flat, but more like smoke, giving their bodies depth. Four long crooked legs, long muzzles with flat teeth that stuck out from their muzzles, wild manes that flowed like treetops in the wind, eyes appeared that were as white as sour milk. Their more detailed forms only made the unicorns more fearful of them. The Umbrum circled the unciorns more, ready to pounce and drain them of every last drop of fear they had.
That was, until a little filly, the same little filly who gave them life, jumped up from behind her father, looked the Umbrum right in their glowing white eyes, and in a very rare occurrence in these old times, showed no fear. Out of some beliefe, the filly focused her mind on one thing, the light she had made before.
She cast the spell once more, creating a small light from her horn. The Umbrum were hesitant, pulling back a bit, but found the light was not strong enough to harm them, and returned to closing in on the little ponies.
The filly refused to stand down. She had discovered something deep within herself, and refused to let it flicker away. She fed more fuel to her inner fire, and with it, the light on the end of her horn grew brighter and brighter!
The light shot out and hit one of the three Umbrum. The creature let out a horrifying scream before running off into the darkness. The other two Umbrum were reluctant to retreat, but the light from the young filly's horn began to glow brighter still. The light started to hurt their shadowy bodies. The two monstrous shadow creatures gave up on their pray, and fled deep into the woods, out of sight of the pony tribe.
Once everything was clear, the rest of the tribe turned to the little filly as a mark appeared on her flank of what appeared to be the image of a sun with a few star shaped sparks. Everypony cheered for their young savior, who would later take her father's place as leader of their tribe.
The two Umbrum, that were forced away by the unicorn's bright light, raced faster then any creature in the land. Their bodies allowed them to weave in, out, and around obsticals with ease. The two Umbrum took shelter on a mountain peak, where the raging weather and high altitude would keep anycreature from finding them. The two Umbrum never found the third who had been wounded, but they didn't really seem to care.
One of the two, a male, stood proudly as one could after running away from a fight, looked down from the peak of the mountain, then stood up on his back legs, kicked into the air and let loose a loud howling roar. The sound carried off and seemed to shake the mountain itself. His howls of rage and anger swirled the wind around the mountain, and from his breath creatures of similar form to he and the other umbrum emerged from the wind and snow, given life from his rage, the same way the Umbrum had been given life from unicorn magic powered by fear. The whinnying creatures that gallop in the air above the mountain would be later called Windigoes by the ponies.