Twisted Shadows

A forest. Darkness, not the kind of darkness he was used to, enveloped him. He shuddered at the cold, otherworldly, almost evil feeling of this almost endless power. Suddenly, he heard deep, seemingly ancient voice chuckling somewhere far away. Abruptly, the scene changed to a desolate, charred plain with gloomy mountains rising off into the distance. The dark power swirled around him, and the voice chuckled louder. “Soon” it moaned, “Soon.” Then everything was gone…

“Morning Twilight, where are you going this early?” asked Spike, groggily as he crawled out of his basket. “Spiiiike, it’s almost noon!” chided the purple Unicorn. “I only let you sleep late because you were up all night re-shelving all of the books after I um…” “After you took them all down to find a book that was on your bed the whole time. I know.” Said Spike rubbing his head. “If you need me, I’ll be back in my basket.” He yawned and got back into his nice warm bed and closed his eyes. “Oh Spike. I guess you can have the day off. I need to go pick up some more ink and parchment. I’ll be back soon!” she said as she trotted out of the library, but the baby dragon had already drifted off to sleep.

Twilight strolled through the evening air in Ponyville after a full afternoon of running errands. It wouldn’t have taken as long if Pinkie Pie hadn’t come along and made her try out some new cupcake recipes. As she left the main street that ran through Ponyville, she saw something move in an alley. She stopped and strained her eyes to see what had interrupted her walk home. Darkness was quickly approaching and almost nopony roamed the streets. She could just make out a dark figure standing at the back of the alley. That’s strange… She thought. Nopony lurks in dark alleys in Ponyville. Well, except for Pinkie Pie. Maybe she needs something? At any moment, she expected her earth pony friend to come bounding out to greet her, however, the dark pony remained motionless. The curious Unicorn tiptoed over to the alley keeping her eyes locked on the shadowy figure, which now seemed larger than the average pony. Much larger. “Pinkie?” asked Twilight. “Is that you?” the she said, expecting a trick. The figure motioned for her to come closer. She inched forward, mentally preparing to use magic if things got out of hand. She finally stood in front of the cloaked and hooded figure, now realizing that it was the nearly twice the size of a normal pony. “C-Celestia?” Twilight stammered, but as soon as the quavering word left her mouth she knew she was wrong. The figure twitched suddenly, and seemed to weaken, but even so, this pony definitely had an overwhelming and strange aura of power. “Twilight Sparkle.” Said the pony in a deep voice. Twilight was taken aback. Not only was this NOT Celestia, it was a male pony, and he knew her name. “W-what! What do you want from me?” Twilight’s horn began to glow with her pinkish-purple aura. The pony chuckled and his hood fell away, revealing a deep purple coat, spiky purple and black mane and a sharp, pointed horn. His intense green eyes locked with Twilight’s as his horn glowed with a bright purple aura. His cloak seemed to melt away into darkness and revealed a lean, muscular body and huge, powerful wings. The small Unicorn in front of him gasped, “An Alicorn?” He chuckled slightly and said, “Yes, and I need your help.”

He had arrived in Ponyville shortly after noon, concealed by shadow, of course, to look for… them. For centuries, even millennia, they had been the only things he thought about. Now the time had come to act. This place sure has changed a lot since the last time I was in Equestria. Hell, the last time I was here, this place WAS hell. He chuckled a bit at his little joke. No. This is no time for jokes. I have to concentrate. I was told I would find the Elements of Harmony in this place. And once I have, well, the rest should fall in to place. He materialized from the shadows in a dark alleyway off of Ponyville’s main road. Being the master of shadow and darkness, he could completely conceal himself as long as there was some amount of shadow around. He preferred to jump between shadows to walking or flying. It was much less conspicuous which allowed him to sneak around undeterred by curious ponies. Suddenly, he noticed a small purple Unicorn slowly coming towards him. “Pinkie?” she asked. “Is that you?” Is she talking to me? Who is Pinkie? The name stirred something in his memory. Could this be? No. There are plenty of other mares named Pinkie. This couldn’t be the Unicorn I’ve been looking for. He had to find out. He beckoned at her and she cautiously came closer. “C-Celestia?” she asked. What!!! Only close friends or relatives call her that! She MUST be… His stomach did what felt like a triple backflip and mind went completely blank. A thought finally came to him. I was right! She thought I was Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter! So she is… He racked his brain to remember this pony’s name. “Twilight Sparkle.” He finally said. The startled pony readied her magic and said “W-what! What do you want from me?” He lowered his hood, and magicked his cloak away to expose his wings. Twilight gasped. “An Alicorn?” His mind was buzzing with thoughts of being so close to this Element, no, HIS Element. He snapped back to the lavender pony in front of him and said, “Yes, and I need your help.”

Twilight’s mind was buzzing with questions. Who is this strange, purple Alicorn? What does he need my help with? Can I trust him? The Alicorn blinked. “So?” he asked. “Will you help me Twilight Sparkle?” He can’t be THAT dangerous. After all, I helped defeat Nightmare Moon AND Discord. I could take on one Alicorn if I needed to, right? “Sure. I’ll help you.” She said, still trying to make sense of the situation. “But we need to get something straight first. You obviously know my name, but I don’t know yours.” To her surprise, the Alicorn blushed ever so slightly and said, “Obsidian. Obsidian Shadow. I would prefer you to call me Shadow.” “Well Shadow,” said the purple Unicorn. “We can talk more at my house. Follow me. The two ponies left the alley and made their way to the library in the crisp night air.

Back at the library, Twilight lit some candles and said “Make yourself at home. Try to be quiet though my assistant is asleep in the next room.” Twilight took a seat on the floor in front of the wooden coffee table in her kitchen. Shadow awkwardly followed suit. The table was a little too small for him. “This may take awhile,” Shadow said. “First let me tell you what I need from you. It may seem like a lot for me to ask but promise me you won’t make a decision until I have told you everything.” Twilight nodded. “What you are about to hear concerns the fate of Equestria as well as the Universe, and you are to tell NOPONY without my permission. I need you to willingly surrender the elements of harmony to me because a great evil is stirring.” Twilight’s eyes widened. WHAT!?!? He can't be serious… “An evil that I defeated millennia ago, shortly after the Sky Ponies created the universe, when Alicorns and other ponies were able to exist together in harmony. His name is Darkmoor the Twisted.” Even though she had little idea of this “evil”, hearing that name sent a cold chill down Twilight’s spine. “As a foal,” continued Shadow, “Darkmoor was a normal earth pony, born to the King and Queen of the earth ponies. However, as he grew up, Darkmoor’s parents grew increasingly worried about their little prince. He hated even the presence of other ponies, preferring to stay locked in his quarters, constantly building strange contraptions out of anything he could find. He seemed happy enough, so his parents left him alone. Time passed, and Darkmoor’s parents died, leaving him control of the earth pony kingdom. Eventually, all the earth ponies left because Darkmoor was an evil dictator and took away the earth ponies’ houses, food and even water. He built a giant castle filled with dead ends, traps and dangerous contraptions that he used to terrorize anypony who was foolish enough to displease him. He kept gaining more and more power, and nothing seemed to be able to stop him. This is when the Sky Ponies tossed us a lifeline.” “The Elements of Harmony?” Asked Twilight. “Exactly.” Shadow concluded.

“Anyway, six Alicorns were chosen to wield them in the battle against Darkmoor. I was one of the six. The Elements were once tied to me and the other five, but after Darkmoor was frozen in the dungeon of the Windigos, we separated from the elements, as we didn’t need them anymore. The Windigos protected the Elements and made magical arrangements to pass them to the next six ponies who were worthy.” “Us?” asked the eager purple Unicorn. “No of course not! Have you ever met a Windigo?” Shadow asked.  “No…” she replied, slightly embarrassed. “I believe you know the story of Hearth’s Warming Eve?” He continued. “The six founders of Equestria used them to convince their subjects to cooperate and make Equestria into a truly successful place.” “But weren’t the Windigos trying to freeze the ponies? Weren’t they evil?” asked Twilight. “The Windigos were just testing the ponies to see if they were worthy. I admit, they didn’t have the best intentions if the ponies failed, but most ponies naturally want to cooperate with each other so I am not surprised that they were worthy.” “So what happened after Equestria was founded? Where did Celestia and Luna come from? WHY ISN’T THIS IN ANY OF MY BOOKS???” Twilight nearly screamed and nearly woke up Spike who was thankfully still asleep in his basket upstairs.

“Darkmoor is one of the most dangerous and best kept secrets in the universe, what if somepony bad or insane or naive found out and alerted everypony to Darkmoor and the Windigos? Don’t you think the Windigos would be a little pissed off about curious ponies showing up to see “an insane, evil pony in a block of ice?” The Windigos like secrecy, that’s why they move around so much, so nopony finds them and uncovers their secrets. As for your princesses, they are part of an agreement, a treaty, if you will. The Alicorns and the other ponies had an argument before the Windigos were charged with protecting the Elements. The Alicorns thought they should keep them because the original bearers were Alicorns. The other ponies thought that they should be kept with everypony, because that was more along the lines of true harmony. If the Windigos hadn’t stepped in and shown everypony some sense, ponykind may have been wiped out for good. The Alicorns thought it was best to separate from the rest of the ponies. While the founders of Equestria were off founding Equestria, the starving earth ponies sent a plea for help to the Alicorns. Shortly after Equestria was founded, the parents of Celestia and Luna, King Hyperion and Queen Morphia, were sent to keep the peace with the Elements of Harmony while Equestria blossomed. As Equestria grew, the King and Queen sealed the elements in the temple in the Everfree forest until you found them.” “So how is Darkmoor “stirring”?” asked Twilight. “Probably one of the Windigo guards had an accident or slacked off or something and awakened Darkmoor. Another option could be a rebellion…” Shadow trailed off. “But why should YOU have the Elements? Shouldn’t they be shared like you said?” the purple Unicorn asked scathingly. Shadow facehoofed. “Don’t you ponies know ANYTHING? Only an Alicorn can unleash the true power of the Elements. They react… differently, more powerfully, to the presence of an Alicorn. That is another reason why Alicorns rule Equestria. This may be our only hope.”  Twilight scoffed, but now, after hearing Shadow’s story, she believed no, TRUSTED this strange Alicorn. She ran her eyes over his sturdy back and wings, which rested on his firm muscular flank. Twilight gasped. His cutie mark! It was almost the same purple star shape as hers, but it seemed to shine black if she tilted her head just right.

“AHEM!” snorted the Alicorn. Twilight blushed profusely. “It’s just… your cutie mark…” “is a lot like yours? Yes, it’s the mark of powerful Magic, but now, if you please, I would like to sleep. There is time for more questions in the morning. Tomorrow, we should tell the other Element bearers what I just told you. They need to be willing to surrender their Elements too.” He said. Twilight nodded and only then realized how tired she was. She got up and led Shadow upstairs to her bedroom. “There’s only one bed...” the purple Unicorn said sheepishly. “No matter.” Shadow replied. His horn glowed purple as what seemed like cloud made entirely of shadows materialized on the floor next to Twilight’s bed. The Alicorn strolled over to the shadow-cloud and plopped down on it. “Good night, Twilight Sparkle.” He said. “Goodnight.” She replied with a content smile as she lay down on her own bed. It sure has been a full day… she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

***Authors Note***

Brace yourself. CLOP is coming!