@Background Pony #7FD9  
Rabia and her group of rebels sure could have been used more prominently.
 
They are sheer terror and she is one heck of a monsterous villain.  
“I get pretty big when I feel threatened!” Interesting statement she says. Implying she is driven by fear of light magic using creatures.  
What I believe happened was she took Sombra from his true mother who “voulenteered” (was stolen from) to give up Sombra to the cause.  
Considering that Hope had already met the Umbrum as a lonely child it is likely they had already implanted in her the thought to meet and warm up to Sombra, therefore creating an emotional bond between them. She would stick by him as he would kill Amore and take over the Empire, releasing the Umbrum. This does not happen, due to her “betrayal” (wanting to help Sombra) and his failure to defeat the princesses. Hope regrets her decision and sets out on a journey. She ends up meeting the Umbrum in person. Spending a long time with them as her new family she sets out to save them and reunite with her lover. During the Siege, she finds out the horrifying truth about the Umbrum and Rabia’s manipulation of both of them. With Hope fearing the savage, prejudiced monster staring down at her with hatred and Sombra unsatisfied with fulfiling his destiny and disilusioned with Rabia’s decisions and the Umbrum’s actions, as well as losing control as Emperor, they decide to banish them from whence they came from and embrace their love, before they both end up minced meat.
 
Really good story, like a twisted Beauty and the Beast meets Romeo and Juliet. If only It’d gotten a fully fleshed out format, coulda been a series of it’s own…

@TheSultanAkbar  
that makes sense too for sure!

@Background Pony #7FD9  
Yeah, sure, they are the same, implying she is also the one talking to Hope, but remember, Rabia is spinning the tale to appear sympathetic and like a victim. No reason she wasn’t lying to Sombra too. She only says “We are Sombra’s kind” and Sombra being “our son” not explicitly stating “I am his mother”.

@TheSultanAkbar mother.  
Just because it doesn’t say in the later comics doesn’t really prove that rabia isn’t his mother. It’s a simple connecting of dots: Text bubbles are the same, Rabia refers herself as Sombra’s mother to him with the text, later comics Rabia talks to Hope, asks what has become of their son, (same text bubble) and then Hope goes into the Umbrum prison to be greeted by Rabia.
 
There’s nothing that confirms Rabia to not be Sombra’s mother. To comment on her not having motherly features, well it’s already confirmed Umbrum are cruel and have no feeling, and why changelings are afraid of them, so of course she’s going to be a terrible mother figure hahahaha!

@Background Pony #7FD9  
OK. Rabia is the leader of the Umbrum resistance against the Crystal ponies. She devised the plan to transform Sombra and sneak him into the Empire but she isn’t necessarily Sombra’s mother. The Umbrum speaking to Sombra isn’t shown to be her and if it is it’d make sense she’d pose as that. In Siege, she never states her relationship with Sombra and never displays any motherly features.

@TheSultanAkbar  
…What? Just gonna end it at that, or are you waiting for a reply?

@Background Pony #7FD9  
Not neccesarily.

@TheSultanAkbar  

Rabia the manipulative savage. Not even his real mom, she never acknowledges this.

Rabia was indeed a terrible mother, and this is so damn cute of an idea!