It seemed innocent enough, at first. It’s not entirely uncommon to think you see somepony or something out of the corner of your eye, and when you turn to look you find nothing there. It happened once, one day when I passed the old pony home on my way to run some errands. It was pony shaped, but dark and seemed to be covered in shadows. ‘No,’ I thought, ‘It’s just a pony relaxing in the shade.’ But as I looked, the air seemed to shimmer, and there was nothing there. No shadows, no ponies, and when I asked, the others around me didn’t notice anything strange.
I shrugged it off and continued about my day. The next morning, I learned of a funeral service for one of the more elderly ponies that lived in the home. I thought nothing about what I had seen; in fact the entire event was forgotten until later. I found time in my schedule to attend the funeral that took place as the sun was setting.
As a princess, I was asked to say a few words. I’ve never personally met the poor stallion, but I agreed to say something for the family. I stepped in front of the gathering of ponies and moved to stand behind the podium. I scanned the crowd, noting the familiar faces as they comforted each other, then I thought I saw a shadow moving near the back. It must have been just my imagination, I was sure it was, there was nothing there. I said a small speech, I felt bad that I had nothing more to say than a generic “he will be missed” dialogue I read a while back, but those in attendance seemed happy enough that I took the time to say something.
It was a few weeks later, this time near the hospital. I saw the shadow once more, and again the next day there was a funeral. This pony had been fighting a terminal illness for some time, his death was no surprise to anypony but the funeral had quite the turn out. I didn’t go, I said I was busy. It wasn’t a complete lie, my mind made the connection that twice now I saw the shadow of a pony, and twice now a pony had died.
I flipped through book after book in my search for answers to my questions. Was there a monster on the loose? No, the deaths were natural or expected. Could it be an omen of death? It was possible, but when I asked Zecora, a zebra shaman well versed in omens and the like, said the death omen was more subtle and only appeared when a great disaster was about to happen, not for individual ponies.
I had locked myself in my library, nose buried in any book I could get my hooves on, but I came up with nothing, no answers to any my questions. I saw it once more several days later, and it terrified me; it was the single most horrible event of my life. I was asked to give a presentation to the fillies and colts at the school house, the subject they were learning was geography and I was asked to talk about the various places I’ve traveled to.
I arrived fifteen minutes early; the class was out at recess as I walked in the school and met with Cheerilee. She helped me set up a few maps while I arranged several pictures I had taken on my travels onto them. Then, as I was pinning up one of the last pictures, I saw it. Not out of the corner of my eye, but dead on. It appeared to be wearing a hooded cloak of swirling death, but there was empty darkness where the face should be, as if darkness could wear a cloak made of death. It was outside the playground watching the foals playing. My stomach dropped as my blood froze, panic overtook me as I teleported outside.
“NO!” I screamed at it. “You stay away from them, you monster!” It paid me no mind, continuing to stare at the foals.
The foals themselves had noticed, but I learned they had brushed it off as me just having one of my episodes. That was until the accident. The cries of a little filly went unheard as they were drowned out by the other fillies and colts, and my own raving voice. Poor Twist, the two bullies thought it would be fun to push her on the swing, harder and harder until she slipped off. The sickening crunch as she landed silenced everypony, myself included. I managed to tear my gaze away as the foals screamed and cried in terror, slowly gathering around the twitching form of Twist, Applebloom crying streams of tears at how hurt her friend was.
I ran up and lit my horn, preliminary analysis showed she had broken her neck, but the spinal cord was intact. Unfortunately it was pinched between the break. The amount of pain she felt while unconscious must have been terrible, for it sent her into shock. Her whole body began to convulse as a seizure took hold. I did my best to fight back the tears and hold her neck steady, but the jagged edges of the broken bone cut into the nerve bit by bit.
I looked up in desperation and almost screamed, the hooded monster was standing right in front of me, nopony else seemed to see it. As I started into its empty hood I felt something, almost like I could understand its emotion, one of remorse and sadness. It reached a hoof down to Twist and seemed to scoop her up, but his hoof passed through her body and she grew still at my hooves.
In its hoof it held a small light, and around the light a faded image slowly took form, it was Twist. She looked down at her body cooling on the ground, and her face twisted into that of a crying foal as she seemed to yell and scream at the creature, but all I heard from her was silence. The creature’s hood moved slightly, as though it was turning and speaking with her, then began to walk away. Twist was still crying, but followed after.
I kept watching them as they neared the edge of the playground. The black figure stopped, then turned and LOOKED AT ME. If I wasn’t an alicorn my heart probably would have stopped. It turned back around and soon faded altogether, taking Twist with.
Paramedics arrived shortly after and declared Twist dead at the scene, then carried her to the hospital on a stretcher. I answered their questions for their report, leaving out what I saw with the pony of darkness. They interviewed everypony and the town guards investigated the scene. It was deemed an accident; Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were devastated, they may have been bullies but they never thought something like this could happen. They were taken to the local sheriff’s office and given a very stern talking to, ensuring that they will cease their bullying or face the dungeons. The entire town knew of their bullying, and to have something like this be the result of letting it slide? It was unheard of.
Twist’s funeral was the most heart wrenching event I’ve ever attended, everypony was there, everypony contributed. Her funeral was grand by every meaning of the word, and her death created a new movement for the school systems everywhere to root out bullies and try to prevent something like this from ever happening again.
It was another three weeks before I encountered the being once more.
I found myself near the hospital once again, and I was staring at the black pony. This thing couldn’t be pure evil, if what I felt from it was true. Like before, it was staring back at me. It lacked a face or anything other than a wispy cloak, but the empty hood was pointed at me and I felt like I was being watched. I slowly crept closer, it didn’t move. I was soon face to face, so to speak.
“What are you?” I had asked.
It continued to stare at me; I felt a light tingle at the base of my neck and horn and gave a subconscious flick of my head to quell the feeling.
“Can you talk? Or understand me?” I asked. It tilted its hood to the side a bit, and I got the feeling it was disappointed in me for some reason. Then without warning it seemed to glide up through the wall of the hospital to the second floor. A few minutes later it glided back out through the wall, but not alone. It seemed to be traveling with a mare, and like Twist they both soon vanished into nothing. I later learned that the mare had passed away due to complications giving birth to a foal.
I decided I would have to seek help from Celestia about this, as my research was getting me nowhere. I took the first train to Canterlot the next morning. I easily walked through the streets of the city up to the castle, where I was let inside by several guards who knew me since I became Celestia’s student. I walked the halls by memory alone, navigating the familiar pristine passages to her private study.
As I approached, I thought I heard Celestia speaking to somepony, but when she paused for a response there was nothing. I scratched an itch on the back of my neck, and then knocked on her door. A moment later it was encased in a soft golden glow as it opened inward.
“Ah, Twilight, I’ve been expecting you. Please, come in and have a seat.” Celestia was relaxing on an oversized cushion, levitating a freshly poured cup of tea in front of her while pouring another for me. Yet when I looked around the room, there was nopony that she could have been talking to. I shrugged it off; I’ve known her to think aloud from time to time.
“Thank you, Princess.” I said as I entered the room, being mindful to close the door behind me.
The room itself was smaller and more cluttered than one would think. The floor had all sorts of cushions and pillows strewn about, while several baskets and trays of scrolls, ink, quills, stamps, and assorted office supplies were stacked haphazardly on the desk by the window. Very few ponies actually knew that Celestia was a bit of a slob, and in fact preferred having her room a bit messy as a way to let loose after a long day.
“Please, Twilight, just Celestia is fine. You’re a princess as well now; there is no more need for such formality anymore.” She said. I blushed a bit and joined her on another large pillow.
“Sorry, I guess I’m still adjusting to all this.” Celestia smiled in her special way, it’s a smile that says ‘You’re on the right track, but there is much you don’t know.’ I gave her a pondering look, “Is there more about being a princess that I should know about?”
“Yes, there is, and you will learn in due time. For now, however, you need to know just what it means to be an Alicorn.” She took a sip of her tea and glanced at me expectantly.
I pondered it for a moment, when I had first become a princess, I felt like I was complete, like all my life there was a piece missing and I never knew. And now that I have wings, my magic in general has grown exponentially as well as my general strength and endurance. So far, I had been expecting such changes but she seemed to imply that there was more.
“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I don’t understand. I thought an Alicorn was just a Princess.” I felt ashamed, it’s not very often I don’t have an answer or a theory on a number of subjects.
“That’s quite alright. I didn’t expect you to, because only Alicorns know what I am about to tell you. This information is to never be passed on to anyone else, be written down, or passed on in any way. If everypony knew this the entire balance of the world would be at stake, not to mention the complaints.” She rolled her eyes at the last bit. The motion calmed me down; maybe this wasn’t really a world shattering revelation?
I smiled, “So it’s not that bad then?”
“No, it’s nothing bad. Just after so many eons ponies come up with their own theories on how things work, most are correct but others, not so much. I gave up on correcting them because I would be seen as a crazy mare.” She said with a soft smile, a twinkle in her eye.
“No way!” I tried to imagine Celestia as a crazy mare with no grounding in reality, but I just couldn’t see it, the thought was too absurd!
“It’s true. Back before the events of Discord I tried telling them that the world wasn’t flat, you know what they said? ‘Of course it is, look at the map we made!’” We shared a laugh and I drank some of my tea, the casual and relaxing atmosphere setting my mind at ease as I sank into my pillow, but I knew I was just avoiding the reason behind my visit.
“Celestia?” I asked after a moment.
“Yes, Twilight?” She responded as she poured out more tea for us.
“I’ve been… seeing things.” I started. She levitated some tea over to me and I held it in my magic, but left it ignored as I detailed the events that led me here about the strange pony of shadows. At first she seemed to be shocked, I thought she was just as surprised as I was. Then her expression became thoughtful and pleasant with her small smile once again.
“I see,” She said with a small nod, “you’re developing at a much faster rate than I anticipated. I should apologize; this must have been quite a shock by the sound of it.” I nodded. “You see, Twilight, Alicorns are more than a prince or princess, not every alicorn rules in a castle, but we all represent something, which makes us aspects.”
I settled into my pillow and listened intently as she spoke, “You, for instance, are the Aspect of Friendship. I am Light, my sister, Luna, is Darkness.” I moved to question that revelation, but she held up a hoof to silence me. “No, Twilight, darkness is not automatically evil, just as light is not automatically good. Light can easily overheat and burn the land and boil the oceans just as darkness can freeze it. We are both sides of the same coin, just as you and Cadence, the Aspect of Love, are to each other. You see, you can’t have friendship without love, nor love without friendship.”
I nodded as sudden understanding flowed through me, no wonder we got along so well, it was almost like it was destiny!
“There are other aspects too, such as lightning, wind, oceans, land, nature, the list goes on. Some have bonded their power together to gift the races of the world, such as the magic of the Pegasi, granting them flight and control over the weather. We all have our own responsibilities and many choose to live away from civilization. But evil takes hold when another attempts to mimic or become an aspect, creating a corrupted mockery of it. The corruption will possess the one trying to gain power, and may even feed back to the source.
“That is the truth behind Nightmare Moon. Ponies a thousand years ago were filled with the wonder and awe of the night sky, even more so than today. We think that’s what caused him to seek her power. Sombra, seeking fame and glory, noticed how loved the night sky was and wanted it for himself, so ponies would idolize him instead. It worked, for the most part.
“One morning Luna collapsed as her power and strength suddenly drained away from her. She still had more than half but the effects were devastating to her. Her night faltered and she reached out to take it back, but it was too late. After defeating Sombra her power began to grow corrupted, his desires to rule the night reflected on her a million times over, driving her to madness. I was devastated when the elements failed to cleanse her, but I am grateful you were able to use them to free her of her own darkness.” I leaned forward and gave her a comforting hug, which she returned by wrapping her large wings around me.
“But if there can only be one aspect, how did I become Friendship? Doesn’t that mean there was already an alicorn of friendship?” I asked, looking up to her from inside her wings.
“Yes, there was. But there is a great burden of being the Aspect of Friendship, and I think you try not to think about it too much. You see Twilight; you will always make great friends with anypony you meet. Loyal, generous, kind, funny, and honest, they will love you dearly and you them. But they will grow old, while you remain as you are. I’m sorry to say, but losing so many great friends all the time is painful, it’s a burden felt by all Alicorns. She had retired from her duties, locking herself in an old castle in the Everfree. She was willing to go without friendship because she could no longer deal with the pain of loss. A pain she passed onto you, so she may die.”
She was right, when I first became a princess I had spent every night silently crying myself to sleep because I knew I would outlive my friends. I thought I had come to terms with it, but the tears in my eyes as I hugged Celestia all the tighter said otherwise.
“I-I try not to think about it anymore. I know it’s going to be hard when that day comes, but one day I thought to myself, ‘How can I enjoy their friendship if I let the thought of someday saying goodbye to them take up all their time?’ Since then I’ve been focusing on enjoying the time with them to the fullest, even just the little things. I hope that by doing so, I won’t live to regret a single moment.” I told her as I dried my eyes, smiling at the thought of my friend’s happiness.
“I see, you are so young and already well ahead in your maturity.” She smiled down at me, “Which leads into our next discussion. This hooded figure you described.” My ears perked as I looked up at her expectantly. “He is an Alicorn as well.”
The world around me stopped for a moment as the last half hour replayed in my mind. Alicorns are aspects, and aspects hold power over something in the world. The shadow seemed to take ponies as they died, and the shadow is an alicorn, which means the alicorn is the aspect of death. A hoof waving in front of my face brought me out of my stupor.
“I see this news has shocked you.” I closed my gaping mouth and nodded, my eyes still wide. “That’s understandable. He is usually invisible to mortal ponies, but as your powers as an alicorn grow, so too would your ability to see him, as well as speak with him. As far as I know, he is the only alicorn to possess his aspect of death; it has never been passed onto another, probably to save others from having to experience what he must do each hour of each day, forever.”
I sat in silence, staring into my tea as I mulled over her words for a few moments. “That must be really lonely…” I muttered.
“Being an alicorn is a very lonely thing, Twilight. Other than my sister, I have next to nopony to speak with on friendly or equal terms, and I dread to think of what the isolation on the moon did to her sanity before you freed her. The other Alicorns prefer their solitude and the ponies who want to get close to me just want the privilege that comes with it. This is why, once you get older in the next two or three hundred years, I was hoping you would be able to journey to the lands and realms of the other Alicorns and just be their friend, even if all that means is awkward silence, at least let them know they are not abandoned.”
I’ve never seen my mentor so sad, looking so vulnerable as she began to weep openly. It was in that moment I realized just how truly lonely it is being an immortal, and that sparked an idea. I looked up to Celestia with a smile and dried my eyes.
“Then no doubt it’s my duty to seek them out, nopony deserves to be forgotten. I’ll do my best to spread the magic of friendship to them all.” I smiled as Celestia pulled me into a hug.
It won’t be easy, tracking down immortal beings that’ve been hiding longer than pony civilization existed, befriending them, and then convincing other ponies to do the same and accept them. But perhaps I’m thinking of things from a mortal perspective? I’m no longer limited to several years to accomplish these tasks; perhaps all that’s really required is to befriend the loneliest alicorn of us all?
I felt a presence join us and caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look and saw a hooded black cloak of swirling darkness. It seemed to be passively observing me. In that moment I knew who Celestia had been speaking with, and I knew who needed my friendship the most as I met its gaze, and smiled.
Author's Note
So this took like 3 months to write, endings can be hard 
I hope everyone enjoyed my little theory i played around with, this will probably be the only chapter for this series, short and sweet.
Tell me what you thought and give a like!