The Spirit Within

“S-So that’s what happened the last few days?” Twilight said as she continued to stared into the clouds above. “But that still doesn’t answer my question! You just made me remember the things I knew already!”

“Hahahahaha!” Laughed a suspicious voice. “You don’t understand why I showed you all of that?”

“N-No, I d-don’t. Who are you?” Twilight hesitated.

“you’ll find out soon enough. But first, I’ll explain why I replayed those memories in your head. Don’t you think it was odd how you spontaneously blacked out when you were with your friends and found out they were dead when you woke up?” The voice persisted.

“Yeah, I do.” Twilight replied.

“I want you to think of things that can cause someone to black out for no reason.”

“I...I don’t know. Just tell me who you are!” Twilight yelled.

“Now now, silly mare, I told you that you’ll find out soon. Now think harder, Twilight. I know you’re a very smart mare.” The voice said.

Twilight stood there trying to think about what can cause blackouts. ‘I’m not deathly ill, so that’s out of the question. I haven’t suffered a severe blow to the head before the blackouts began, so that’s out too. The only other thing that I can think of is...’ And then it hit her. There is only one thing that it could be possible when looking at what has happened.

“T-The only things that it could be are a spell casted on me each time I blacked out.” She said.

“Hah, well done, Twilight. Now, all that’s left is for you to tell me one thing. Who am I?” The voice chuckled.

She thought about what kinds of beings were mentioned in that black bound book, and then she remembered something she read near the last page. “Are you,Shadowcast?” She asked, scared for the reply.

“Hahaha, wow, you are more impressive than I thought. Yes, I am Shadowcast, the bringer of despair. I had been locked away for the longest time, but someone was foolish enough to open up my book and cast the spell that unbound me from that prison of a book and brought me into Equestria. I wonder who that was?” He laughed.

“So, you’re like Discord. A draconequus that can easily be sent back into your tomb with a bit of magic.” Twilight said confidently.

“Oh, not at all. You see, I am a pony, just like you. The difference between you and I is that I know spells beyond your capability. Now, before we move on, let me free myself from you.” Shadow replied.

“What do you m-” Twilight began saying, but was cut off from a bright violet light radiating from her.

She stood in place wondering what was going on. After a moment, she saw a black fog begin to come out of her chest. She jumped backwards and fell to the ground. Once all of the fog had finished coming out of her chest, she looked up in front of her. She could see the dark fog-like substance begin to come together and form something that resembled the silhouette of an alicorn. After about a minute, she heard the voice again.

“Ahhh, it feels great to be free again.” Shadowcast said, his body beginning to come into view now.

As Twilight watched him come closer, she was able to see him better, even with the torrential rain caused by the storm. Shadow, obviously a very powerful alicorn, had a navy blue coat with strips of red on his legs and face, almost as if they were to resemble scars. His eyes resembled those of a cats. they had a bright neon green color which were practically glowing in the darkness. He had a mane that was black with red near the edge of it. His tail was black in the center, bordered with a deep red as well. The horns on his head told Twilight that he was not a pony in nature. No, he was more like a monster. An evil spirit that was forced into a pony-like form. He wore a black overcoat as well. Twilight knew right away that she wasn’t being lied to anymore. This wasn’t made up. Everything that has happened actually did happen. Her friends were killed by her. Everything was true, except it wasn’t actually her that did the killing. It was Shadowcast who was the real culprit in Ponyville.
“Now, shall we continue?” He asked. Twilight nodded in agreement.

“I suppose that you’re wondering why you blacked out and why you lost your memory, correct?”

“Yes, yes I am.” Twilight responded.

“Well, here’s how things work. You see, when you were nonchalantly casting spells as you read that book, you had casted one that unbound me from that book. The book used to be in a locked and guarded section in Celestia’s quarters in the Canterlot Castle. She gave it to you but, if I recall it correctly, she specifically told you not to cast spells that you found in that book. Anyhow, once you casted that spell and I was released, I phased into your body without your knowledge. Now to why you kept blacking out when you were with your friends. While I am in your body, I can control you by using my power to get to your brain and merge my own with it, shutting yours down and temporarily replacing it with mine. You were still alive and your body still worked, but your brain wasn’t there. This allowed me to control your body as if it were mine. Then, when I was finished with those pitiful mares each time, I simply separated from it, which reconnected your brain with the rest of your body, and you regained consciousness. You don’t have memory of what happened during the blackouts because you practically weren’t even there.”

Tears fell from Twilight’s eyes. “But, why? Why them? What did they do to you?”

“Hah, isn’t that a bit obvious?” He laughed as he paced back and forth.

“Did they do something to you?”

“Oh no, my dear. It’s what they would have done.”

“Wait, what do you mean?”

“Don’t you get it, Twilight? You and your friends control the elements of harmony. Those elements are capable of banishing practically all evil from of Equestria. Now my good friend Discord was stupid enough to give you a chance to acquire the elements of harmony when he stole them from you. I, on the other hand, completely destroyed the elements by getting rid of their “owners”, if you will. So, with your precious little friends out of the picture, you can’t banish me back to that book. Hah, you can’t prevent me from doing anything. I'll be heading for Canterlot soon and you won't be able to do anything to stop me.” He said with a smile. Twilight stood in shock as he explained everything to her.

“Well, I think that I’ll get this show on the road then. I’m off to Canterlot now. You won’t be a big issue in your current state of despair.”

And with that, Shadow began walking away. But before he got too far, Twilight yelled to him.

“You won’t be getting off that easily. You may have controlled me and my mind for a while, but I still remember the spells that I had read about.”

“Surely you don’t actually think that you can beat me.”

“Maybe I can’t, but I have to try. Not for me, but for my friends.”

“Hah, you ponies and all of this talk about friends. Who cares about other people. That is your horrible flaw that leaves you vulnerable to the smallest of things. Your loyalty to each other that can easily be faked by the person that claims to be your friends. I could sit here and say that I am your friend if I wanted to. All of you put too much trust in other people, which helps me greatly Hell, if it wasn’t for your close association with those 5 friends of yours, you wouldn’t have been so affected by their deaths. Now since you were friends, it’s a totally different st-”

“Enough talk you horrible excuse for an alicorn. I’m tired of your voice, and it’s time you learned what true power is, because you obviously have no idea what a powerful unicorn can actually do. You have little spells that control other people, but that won’t help you if you don’t have the time to cast it.”

“So, what are you trying to say? Are you challenging me?” He said with a smirk.

“Let’s get this over with. And don’t worry, I’ll ensure that your death as painful as possible.” Twilight replied.

They stood across from each other, unmoved. Anger was flowing through Twilight as she stared at Shadow’s smirk. He made no effort to charge at him, so Twilight decided to shoot a simple bolt of magic at him. He casted a quick spell that turned his body into a fog, allowing the bolt to just pass through without harming him. After, he reverted back to his solidified self.

“It’s not going to be that easy.” Shadow laughed.

Shadowcast felt it was his turn to cast, and he didn't hold back. His horn had become engulfed in dark magic as he started to cast it. It was a spell unlike any other that Twilight had ever seen. A shadow-looking cloud started coming from his horn, but it was forming something. After a minute, she realized what it was. It was a thick cloud of poison. Zecora had told Twilight about this kind of magic long ago, but she never believed it to be true.

After Twilight was done staring at the poisonous cloud of gas, she casted a spell of her own. She conjured up a strong magic shield, just in time for the gas to hit it and disappear.

"Not many people are able to defend against that attack. Well done. It's a shame that I have to kill such a capable unicorn."

"You aren't going to be able to kill me. You may have killed my friends, but my power only grew stronger because of that." Twilight replied.

"Well, enough of this petty talk. You can say that you will beat me all you want, but you don't have a chance against me. I am a powerful spirit. I am literally the embodiment of misery and death. How do you expe-"

Twilight fired a quick bolt of lightning at him. "Shut up and die, would you? You killed my friends. You destroyed my world. You've destroyed all that I have. Now, it's my turn to ruin yours."

And with that, Twilight decided to launch one of the shovels laying on the ground at him. He retaliated by firing a dark blast of magic, destroying the shovel on its way towards Twilight. She dove to the side to evade the blast, though it cut the end of her tail. Once she got to her feet, she began to speak.

"I can't win using the magic I knew before. But, I can use the spells I learned from that book."

"Hah, yeah, fight a dark spirit with dark magic. That'll work"

Twilight started casting the fire spell she learned before while Shadow stood laughing. As he put his head down after his maniacal laughter had come to a halt, he was greeted by a wall of fire.

"Ahh!" Shadow yelled

"So, what were you saying about dark magic?"

Once the fire on his mane had been put out, he stopped his horrid shouts of pain.

"You see, Shadow, your theory has one major issue. You believed that dark magic doesn't affect you because no one has casted against you. When the dark magic hits your body, it prevents your body from displacing it. Regular magic is easily overpowered by dark magic, so since your body is covered in it, the magic is pushed out of the way. Your body is solid and you forgot about that. And now that I have gotten rid of the problem of hitting you, we can truly fight."

Shadowcast stood in shock. He has always believed that he was untouchable.

"Well, just because you can hit me doesn't mean you are more powerful than I will just have to kill quicker instead of having fun with it."

He began charging towards Twilight as fast as he could, but she was able to get a blast of dark magic out in time, dropping him to the ground.

"Well, I'm tired of you now," Shadow said, using levitation to lift Twilight off the ground, "let's put you down for good."

"No!" She screamed. She casted a lazer-like beam of magic at him, forcing him to put her back on the ground.

With that, she fired magic like a machine gun, listening to each one hit his body and the horrid screams. Shadow dropped, weakened and incapable of fighting back now. She walked over to him.

"Well," shadow began, "you going to kill me or what?"

"No." Twilight replied. "You're going to live. But not here. You're going to be living in the dungeon in Canterlot, guarded by some guards trained by Celestia after I talk with her."

"Hah, and when I escape?" He laughed.

"If you escape," Twilight said as she stared into down at him, "I'll deal with you myself."

A few guards came rushing over to the body and carried him to the carriage that they arrived in moments ago, for they were originally planning on taking Twilight away.

Twilight watched as Shadow was flown to Canterlot to be thrown into the dungeons for eternity. But even with it all over, her going home and Shadow being taken away, she was depressed. Her friends are all dead now, and their blood is on her hooves. One thing she will never forget though, is the final words from that dieing stallion. 'And when I escape?'. She shivered in her bed when the thought came to mind.

“The dungeon is impenetrable, let alone Celestia is there.” Twilight laughed.

And with that, she fell asleep in her silent, empty house, in the silent, empty town of Ponyville. The town that lost its guardians, happiness, and of course, the 5 mares and the 1 dragon that made the town worth living in.