Shadows

Twilight trotted through Ponyville, her saddle bags filled with books, as they usually were. There were two places she needed to head to this morning, Sugarcube Corner, and the Canterlot library. It was a morning after a large amount of binge reading, which usually left her with a need for a large mug of black coffee, and the books were from the library. She yawned, turning the corner to Sugarcube Corner. She opened the door and trotted to the counter. Pinkie Pie turned around from her cupcakes, and smiled upon seeing Twilight. "Hiya Twilight! What do you want?" Pinkie happily said in a sing-songy voice.

Twilight, due to the fact that she did this regularly, Twilight only had to tell Pinkie what she had been doing. "Lot's and lot's of reading." Pinkie nodded and turned away from the counter, and towards the coffee pot. Twilight yawned again, and Pinkie giggled.

"Wow, with all of this yawning, you must have been up pretty late." Pinkie said, handing a steamy mug of coffee to Twilight. "What were you reading this time?" Pinkie then returned to her cupcakes, still listening however.

After she took a large gulp of the coffee she answered. "I was looking up information on the different races of ponies." Twilight said. Pinkie nodded and asked if she had found anything cool Twilight took another drink of her coffee, which had almost finished it. "Not really, not with the ones that are still around to this day," Twilight then smiled widely, "But the ones that are already gone. Those ones were interesting." Pinkie finished frosting the last cupcake and turned back to the counter.

"Really? What did you find?" Pinkie asked, refilling Twilights cup. After Pinkie filled it, Twilight took another drink.

"Well," Twilight began, "there used dto be this rce of ponies who could control shadows. I believe they were called Shadow Puppeteers? Yeah, either way, they were an extrememly powerful race of ponies, and were peaceful with Equestria. Usually helping with getting rid of monsters."

"But, how can shadows hurt something? Or did they just scare the monsters away?" Pinkie asked. Twilight's eyes lit up.

"That's just the thing! The shadows could completely replicate the owners attacks, physical damage and all." Twilight's face then went dark. "However, one day, they turned on us. Many ponies were slaughtered, it was a horrible disaster. A couple of days after the fighting had started, they simply... vanished. Some say that Celestia wiped out the entire race, while others say that she simply banished them somewhere far away." Twilight then finished the last of her coffee, and put the bits down on the table. "Thanks for the coffee Pinkie." Twilight said.

"No problem, and thank you for the amazing story!" Pinkie said as Twilight walked out of the door.

When she exited Sugarcube corner, she teleported just outside of the library in Canterlot. After trotting up the numerous steps, she opened the doors and stepped inside. The librarian looked up, and waved to Twilight. Twilight waved back and put the books on the "returned books," shelf. She then browsed around the library for a bit, before checking some more books out, and leaving.

Just as she was about to teleport back to Ponyville, she heard somepony crying in the alley-way next to her. As she trotted over, she noticed that the pony was just plain out crying, she was sobbing hysterically. Twilight turned her head dow the alley to find a small, gray pegasus filly standing over a mare. Just as Twilight was going to ask what was going on, the filly raised her hooves, which brought a shadow with them. Twilight then watched in horror as the mare was slowly taken over by the shadows. The mare's screams were permanently imprinted in Twilight's brain.

"Get away!" Twilight shouted at the filly. The filly at first glared at her, but when her eyes landed on Twilight's wings, the filly gave a horrified look, and quickly disappeared into the shadows. Twilight then rushed to the mare's side. Her coat was pure black up to the end of the mare's hind-legs. The mare was breathing heavily, as Twilight brought her to her hooves. The mare then turned to Twilight and began sobbing again.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you..." The mare repeated these words between sobs. Twilight told her that it was nothing, and that she was going to be okay.

Twilight then brought the mare to the hospital, in which the hospital nurses took the mare to room, and asked Twilight if she was okay. "I'm fine." Twilight said. The nurses nodded and headed to the hospital room that the mare had been taken to. Twilight knew that she should, no she needed to tell Celestia what happened. She then started a teleportation spell, that would take her straight to the castle.

Celestia and Luna had just finished breakfast, and had started to clean the dishes, when a hysteric Twilight had appeared in front of them. "Twilight?" Celestia said in surprise. She then noticed how Twilight was acting, and knew it must be important. "Twilight, what's wrong."

"Celestia!" Twilight cried. "Celestia, they're back! They used shadows, and... and..." Twilight couldn't finish the sentence and Celestia's face darkened. Luna looked at her sister, then to Twilight, a confused look on her face.

"Sister, Twilight... What's going on?" Luna asked, concerned. Celestia looked to her sister, and sighed.

"You remember the Shadow Puppeteers, right?" Celestia asked.

"Ah, yes. They were kind ponies."  Luna said. "But what does this have to do with them? Twilight looks upset, not excited." Celestia looked her sister in the eyes, a pained look on her face.

"Luna, after your banish, they revolted against us. They hurt many ponies, and almost killed Starswirl." Celestia said. Luna's eyes went wide, and she took a step away from her sister.

"N-no. They wouldn't have done that. Unless they had a reason to." Luna then looked at her sister skeptically. Celestia became angry, and was about to speak, when Twilight cut in.

"Don't you think that we should find them?" Twilight asked. "After all, they hurt a pony. Nearly killed them." Twilight said in a hurried tone. Celestia then turned away from her sister, and faced Twilight.

"Yes, but I'm afraid that after the battle between the ponies of the past, I will not be able to go. And as for Luna," She turned to her sister with her angry expression still on, "She does not know the horrible things that those ponies have done to us. She will not understand." Celestia then turned to Twilight.

"Twilight, you and your friends may be the only ponies who might be able to get rid of them." Celestia then bowed low to the ground. "The fate of Equestria, is in your hooves." Twilight bowed too, then stood up.

"You can count on me Princess."