Okay, what to say here? Oh yes, I am sorry I took so long getting this chapter out, the truth is I am all but burnt out and am trying my hardest to just keep writing. I will be back with more as soon as I am back in shape. Until then I beg you, please have patience

Chapter Six: Reality Check

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“If faced with significant power, a Tenebrosus Magus will do anything to achieve said power […]” ~The Tenebrosus Magus: What Drives Them, By Royal Script, Royal Researcher

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“I have to go back to school? Isn’t that a little~?” asked Shadow Eyes and Celestia smiled before shaking her head

“It is the law, no Court Magician can have not finished school, it was passed in an attempt to keep those who thought themselves better than others and drop out of school in an attempt to take the trials for Court Magician, not realizing that most of the trials are in the classroom, or in your case, the trials you were forced through on the run. but the law must be upheld if we don’t want the Council to find fault in how it was handled” said Celestia, with that Shadow Eyes nodded before she sighed her head turning in the direction of the school.

“Princess, are you sure you can trust a pony like me? Perhaps your sister is right about me, and I will suddenly start massacring everypony in sight, I have been practicing Dark Magic for years now, it can’t have had no effect on me” said Shadow Eyes in a way that illustrated she was not completely better from her break down.

“I don’t believe that we have to worry about that, Shadow Eyes, you know what you are capable of and I know you don’t want to do that” said Celestia and Shadow Eyes turned to her with a sad look on her face.

“I don’t want too, but who is to say I won’t?” asked Shadow Eyes and Celestia pulled the mare into a comforting hug surprising the mare.

“Shhh, be calm, Shadow Eyes, it is because you are so worried about it I am sure you won’t do that” said Celestia as she wrapped her wings around the mare comforting her as a pegasus mother would her child and instinctually it worked on Shadow Eyes, feeling the comfort of a mother’s love and she went wide-eyed, surely this paragon of purity couldn’t love a pony like herself, she was tainted by the very magicks that were the polar opposite of this pony. Yet she couldn’t count herself amongst the followers of Princess Luna, they may be ‘dark’ but they were unforgiving to mistakes, but here was a princess that was offering her forgiveness and offering her love to a pony that had fallen so far… Shadow Eyes cried and wrapped her hooves around the princess holding her tightly as if she were afraid she would disappear…

After a few minutes Celestia pulled away from Shadow Eyes who blushed at how she had reacted as she brushed away any remaining tears.

“Do you feel better, Shadow Eyes?” asked Celestia with a kind smile on her face and Shadow Eyes gave a teary smile as nodded.

“Yes, princess”

So for months Shadow Eyes sat through what remained of her classes that she had dropped out of before going on the run, and she learned spells she never thought she’d learn, she finally learned healing spells, and while she was not as proficient at them as she was with dark magic she threw herself into her studies hoping to leave that part of her life behind her. She learned defensive spells based in the light spectrum of magic. She was still going to protect Manehattan no matter what, but she wasn’t going to use dark magic ever again… Not if she could help it…

“Babe, it’s been months since we last slept together… Please… I miss holding you at night…” said Rich Quick one night as it seemed after her ‘awakening’ that day she had been sleeping in a separate room.

“I-” she started and he spoke up again urgency along with a base need in his voice.

“I don’t care if we buck or not, I just want to hold my marefriend again… Please?” begged Rich Quick and she smiled at him, the smile not quite reaching her eyes.

“Of course, Rich, I should have remembered your needs” she said as she lead him into the room she had been staying in…

As soon as he was in the room she shut the door and pressed her lips to his, need obvious, as she slipped her tongue in his mouth, and slowly backed her way to the bed, leading him with the kiss…

As they cuddled in the afterglow of their round of sex Shadow Eyes started to cry making Rich Quick hold on to her tighter.

“Babe… What’s wrong?” And Shadow Eyes sobbed.

“Me… I can’t even follow the tenets of Celestialism, how can I be a good mare and make up for all the bad I have done if-”

“Babe, I doubt Celestia cares about ponies bucking before marriage, I am positive that she also doesn’t care if you follow Celestialism, or not, she just wanted to right a wrong that she let happen” said Rich Quick and Shadow Eyes seemingly glared at him.

“She-” started Shadow Eyes and there was a knock at the door to the dorm in which they were staying in for the duration of her schooling making her way to the door she opened it about to yell at the pony when she stopped short, in front of her was Princess Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s former student, and her former unofficial rival before she had left the school.

“Um, Oh! Hi! I was looking for a Shadow Eyes? I don’t know if you’ve seen her, I was told she would be living here, I am supposed to teach her a little about some of the magic Princess Celestia taught me, magic I was told she would be great at” said Twilight as she shuffled uncomfortably as she didn’t recognize the pony in front of her, not off hand anyway.

“I’m Shadow Eyes, come in Princess, please excuse the smell, my coltfriend and I… Erm…” she stumbled a bit unsure of how to continue, she knew she had to apologize as it was polite, even if she had not been expecting company today. Shadow Eyes stepped out of the way as Twilight entered the dorm,

“No, no, it’s alright, I did come by unannounced. Besides it is not like I haven’t taken the edge off of my stress like that during finals week, anyway, Princess Celestia wanted me to tutor you in some of the dark-”

“No”

“No? Princess Celestia said you would be thrilled to learn some spells that no pony would have been able to teach you besides the princesses” said Twilight and Shadow Eyes faced her with a hard look on her face.

“I am trying to leave that part of my life behind me, how can I-

“Trust me when I say this, Shadow Eyes, even Princess Celestia has used dark magic before, she has killed before, she has done things you wouldn’t believe, things that would make you balk at even the thought of doing. Of any of us she knows what dark magic can and cannot do. I… Even I have used dark magic. None of us let it rule our lives, except for Princess Luna, who is letting her mistake rule her life… Don’t be like her” said Twilight and Shadow Eyes sat down on her rump and seemed to be thinking. “Please, if you try to do that, you won’t get any better, sure you probably won’t get any worse, but you won’t get any better”

“What about the tenets of Celestialism?” Asked Shadow Eyes and Twilight looked at her for a moment the look on her face suggesting she was holding something back but failing before she burst out laughing.

“Celestialism? Those ponies who see Princess Celestia as some sort of goddess? Please, as much as I am loath to admit it, she isn’t a god, she is very powerful but she can’t perform half the miracles they claim, not without some serious help, and some of them, she can’t perform at all, add that to the act she is just like any other mare, with needs but can’t afford to actually get close to anypony, she has had more one night stands than anypony is willing to count, some of them with more meaning than others such as that one time with me…” said Twilight and Shadow Eyes made a face as she tried to counter Twilight’s argument, but finding nothing to use in her defense she sighed brokenly.

“Why? Why does she look so pure then? If she is so, ‘tainted’ as you say, why does she feel so safe?” asked Shadow Eyes and Twilight chuckled, before nuzzling the mare in front of her before sitting down in front of Shadow Eyes.

“Because she gives everyone the love of a mother, and she treats all of us like her foals, and she is willing to do whatever it takes to protect her foals from harm, even dip into dark magic to do so” said Twilight Sparkle and Shadow Eyes bit her lip. This was not what she thought Celestia was like. She thought the princess of the sun was pure like her white coat, unmarred by the darkness that had corrupted her own soul, but… “I know what you are thinking, and she isn’t corrupted, that is how she knew you were trustworthy, because she had been able to use dark magic herself without being corrupted, and with how you protected ponies without ever asking anything in return, you proved yourself free of corruption even with your liberal use of dark magic, I can use it too, but if I do… I hear the Siren’s Call…” said Twilight biting her lip and shaking her head...

Author's Note

another chapter down!