Shadows and Stars
By VDtheBrony
Chapter One: Arrival
It was a peaceful day in Canterlot. Princess Celestia had summoned Twilight Sparkle and her friends to perform Hearth’s Warming Eve Pageant and help with the celebrations. To her slight surprise some had refused, but the excuses were acceptable. Rarity was working on a new fashion line and Applejack’s brother was injured during the last harvest. The rest had come, though, including the three little fillies that called themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She loved having them come over. After all, they were Celestia’s friends too.
An idea started forming in her head. There was no real reason that Twilight’s friends should refuse to come, if she would request that they be here. She would try to make it not look like a forced demand though; for fear that it would ruin her reputation.
“Captain!”
One of her guards walked over to her. “Yes, Princess?”
“I would like you to retrieve Twilight Sparkle’s friends Rarity and Applejack from Ponyville. If they say no try to reason with them, but hear out their excuses. Don’t say that I had anything to do with it though, unless they ask directly.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Oh, I just can’t wait!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “We get to host Hearth’s Warming Eve two years in a row!”
“Yes Rainbow, we’re all excited that Celestia chose us to do it again, but there’s no reason to get overexcited,” Twilight told her, raising her head out of the script for this year’s show.
Suddenly Pinkie Pie burst into the train carriage, bouncing and yelling. “This is going to be so much fun, don’t you think?! We’ll throw parties, we’ll play games, and this will be so amazing! Who knows, maybe I’ll show them my special Cupcake recipe! You remember those, don’t you Dashie?”
“Pinkie Pie stop yelling!” Twilight yelled.
“Fine, Twi. Besides, we’re all super excited, even if some of us aren’t showing it.” She pointed towards the script that Twilight had buried herself in.
“Hey, I’m just memorizing the play. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Yeah there is! Books are so boring. You need to have fun with the rest of us!”
“Hey, books aren’t boring!” Rainbow Dash had decided to join the conversation. “Books are used to make boring times not boring!”
“It’s a book.”
“All books are books!”
“Oh, be quiet you two.” She levitated two books out off her bags, a cook book and a Daring Do novel, and shoved them into the others’ faces. Dash went right up to her bed and started reading while Pinkie flipped through the pages absent-mindedly.
“Let’s see. I know that recipe, know that one, know that one, know that one, and … ooh cherry chocolate and vanilla volcano cake! I don’t think I’ve made that before!” She ran out of the room to find her ingredients. Fluttershy walked in after her.
“Hey Fluttershy,” Dash piped in. “What’s up?”
“Oh, nothing much. I just came to tell you that we don’t have long till we reach Canterlot.”
“Great! I just hope I can finish this chapter. I’m almost done.”
“Egghead.” Twilight had a smile on her face.
“Oh shut up.”
Pinkie Pie burst into the train holding a giant mountain of vanilla cake. “Surprise!”
“Wait, how did you finish that already? You only started making it a few minutes ago.” Twilight asked, dumbfounded.
“I’m Pinkie Pie!” She hit a small button at the back of the cake and the top of the cake shot off, launching globs of molten cherry-chocolate sauce all over the inside of the train. Twilight shielded herself from the blast, but Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy weren’t as lucky.
“Eeewwww!” Rainbow Dash tried to shake it off, but the chocolate started cooling and stuck to her. “Ahh! How am I supposed to get this off?!”
“Eat it, silly!” Pinkie yelled, taking a giant bite out of the cake. “Oh this stuff tastes great!”
“How am I supposed to eat it?! Pinkie, I’m made of chocolate now!”
“Like this!” Pinkie started running at her with a hammer.
“NO PINKIE, DON’T DO THAT!” She tried to move, but was stuck to the floor by the mess.
Twilight decided at that moment to step in and intervene. With a small smile on her face she stopped Pinkie with her magic, pulling her tail and moved her to the side, then grabbed the hammer out of her hooves, moving the hammer over to Rainbow Dash and lightly tapped her with it. The shell of hardened chocolate cracked and fell off of Rainbow, freeing the pegasus. She moved the hammer over to Fluttershy and cracked her shell too, and Fluttershy made a small sigh of relief. Twilight put the hammer down then decided to grab a slice of the cake that had just exploded over the train and took a bite. “Wow Pinkie, that’s pretty tasty.” She then levitated pieces of cake to Rainbow and Fluttershy, who had been staring at her, and they just started laughing.
“What are you two laughing at?”
Rainbow Dash pointed behind her, and where Twilight had shielded herself from the blast was now a hollow ball of chocolate, and Pinkie was now inside, eating it from the inside out. Pinkie stared at them, and they all started laughing. Even without two, a party is still a party.
Luna wandered through the east castle tower. She was perfectly fine with losing her way, even though she knew every room in the castle. She just kept letting her hooves take her wherever she wanted. After what felt like miles of walking, she found what she had originally been looking for: The Hall of the Elements of Harmony. Jealousy and greed overtook her. Her sister controlled the most powerful objects in Equestria, while she had no real power of her own. She wanted power; she craved it. An idea formed in her head. What…what if I was to overthrow Celestia, to take control? It would be easy. This was a voice that always knocked at the back of her head, present since her defeat as Nightmare Moon. She would be gone forever. I could rule the citizens of Equestria in terror. I could get revenge.
Luna shook her head. “What are these ideas I’m thinking of? Overthrowing my sister?! I must rid myself of these thoughts!” With that last word she enveloped herself in alicorn magic, silvery, powerful magic, and removed herself of the evil lingering in her heart. The dark presence took the form of a claw made of pure obsidian.
“What can I do with this? I can’t tell Celestia about it, lest she throw me in the dungeon for treason.” An idea popped in her head once again. She would hide the claw in a cave on the far side of Canterlot Mountain, a cave that only she and Celestia had known about for over a thousand years. She would leave immediately. She turned to two her captains, gray pegasi with electric white and yellow manes. “Guards, let us be off! I have business to attend to.”
In the carousel boutique, Rarity despised the dress she was working on. She’d kept the lights off and put up a sign on the door so other ponies wouldn’t think she was home and she could work in peace, not that the dress was peaceful. The colors clashed way too much, the stitching was impossible to define and work with, and the style was horrible enough that she wished she could burn it after she finished. “Oh this thing is a disaster, how am I going to deal with this atrocity?!” She screamed in frustration.
A knock came from the door, fast and slightly impatient.
“Oh, who could that be? Do they not see that horrifying out-to-work sign on my door?” She walked over and stared through the peephole. The first thing she saw was a rainbow-hued mane. She threw open the door. “Rainbow Dash what are you doing here?! You’re supposed to be in Canter-” She got a good look at the pony standing at the door. He was a stallion in royal guard armor, with a white coat and a slightly grayed rainbow mane.
“Hello, I am Blazing Spirits, captain of the Pegasus division of the royal guard, here to escort you to Canterlot. Funny that you should mention Rainbow Dash though, for you see, I am her father.”
Rarity gave him a raised eyebrow. She believed him enough, as it would explain the rainbow mane, but she didn’t know why he hadn’t been announced before. She was getting slightly tired of her friends not telling her their families were in the royal guard. “If you’re Rainbow’s father, why doesn’t she mention you? It’s not like she should be ashamed of your rank.”
“Alas, that is a story for another time.” Rarity detected a hint of sorrow as he spoke. “Do you want to get going?”
“Well, I still have a few dresses to work on…” she looked back into the shop, glaring hatefully at the dress that was causing her so many problems.
“No matter, I’m sure we can meet your suppliers on the way back to Canterlot.”
She thought about it for a second. “That will be fine. Besides, I’d like to give my supplier a piece of my mind.” She tried not to hint too much of her anger.
“Great, now let’s go pick up Miss Applejack.”
“Are we going to walk over? It’s a fairly long walk through town.”
“No, I have another mode of transportation.” He nudged his head over to the side, and Rarity saw a golden chariot, a common sight but only used for the more important ponies, that he had apparently brought with him. “Let’s get going.”
Rarity climbed aboard and they flew over the snowy town of Ponyville, with Captain Spirits pulling the chariot.
“May I ask how these chariots work? They look much too heavy for a single pegasus to be able to pull them around themselves, such as you’re doing.”
“A simple question, but nonetheless important. These chariots are infused with magic to make them feel as if they’re light as a feather for anypony pulling it. They let us fly just as fast as if we weren’t pulling them, though we usually don’t for the passengers.”
They were slowing down to a hover in front of Sweet Apple Acres. “Let us collect Applejack, Miss Rarity, so we can go to Canterlot.” They walked up to the house and knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” Somepony said, in a voice that could only be recognized as Applejack.
“AJ, darling, could you come out for a bit?” Rarity asked. “I’d like to talk for a sec.”
“Ah, fine,” She replied, “but you know I’ve been kind ah busy of late.”
“That’s quite alright, but I want you to meet somepony.”
She threw the door open and first saw Captain Spirits. “Who in the hay is this?” she asked.
“I am Blazing Spirits, captain of the pegasus royal guard, at your service.”
“And why are ya at mah doorstep?”
“I’ve been asked to escort you and Rarity to Canterlot.”
Applejack looked at Rarity. “Why,” she asked, bored, “should ah go to Canterlot when ah have a family to support?”
“Because, Applejack, our friends need us there as much as your family wants you here. Besides, we’re being brought by none other than Rainbow’s father himself!” Rarity’s excitement was clear.
Applejack started walking around Captain Spirits, investigating him like a pig in a competition. “Why hasn’t our friend Rainbow Dash not said anything about ya before?”
“I’ll tell that story another time.”
She kept walking. “Whatever.” She looked at his cutie mark, which as much as she could guess was a comet. “What’s that supposed ta mean? I don’t think you’d be inta stargazing.”
“It, as you may guess, is a comet, and I got it breaking the sound barrier, like how Rainbow Dash got hers. I was very happy that day, and twice as happy when she got hers.” He was getting slightly depressed. “I thought she was trying to follow my footsteps.”
“Aw well, enough of this chit-chat. If I’m coming ah’ll have ta message some other of ma family to take care of Granny and Big Mac.”
“So you’re coming too?” Rarity practically squeed.
“Of course.” She walked back inside and brought back a letter a short while later and threw it in the mailbox. “Let’s get going. It’s a might bit cold out here.”
They climbed into the chariot, Captain Spirits straddling himself into the harness and took off. Rarity looked down at the ground and instantly regretted it. They were already a hundred feet in the air, and Rarity wasn’t a very big fan of heights. “Uh… how long will it be until we reach Canterlot? I don’t want to fall.”
“Oh Miss Rarity, you’re being paranoid. You wouldn’t hit the ground with me driving. Besides, Rainbow Dash didn’t get her speed from nothing. Hold on to your hats!”
Applejack, who barely heard him, only had a second to react before the chariot lurched forward with a sudden burst of speed. They were flying towards Canterlot alarmingly fast, and she could almost see the train in the distance.
Meanwhile…
Scootaloo was getting bored. While Apple bloom and Sweetie Belle were devising plans to earn their cutie marks, all she could do was stare out the window and watch the scenery pass by.
She saw something. It was only there for an instant, and it looked like a shadow darting from the Canterlot Mountain. Scootaloo wondered if she should tell the others. After a small amount of consideration, she decided against it, considering Sweetie Belle and Apple bloom didn’t even see it. She would need to investigate though, so she devised a plan to get the others to help.
She trotted over to the other fillies, eager to join the conversation.
Eventually the train came to a halt at the Canterlot Train Station. To their surprise, Celestia and three other ponies were there to greet them. The surprise wasn’t seeing Celestia though; it was the two other ponies. Applejack and Rarity were standing right next to Celestia, accompanied by a guard. Rainbow Dash, seeing the guard, flew back in the train.
“Applejack! Rarity! What are you doing here?” Twilight asked, incredulous.
“Aw shucks. Why, I wouldn’t miss this party for the world,” Applejack announced.
“OhOhOh! We’re having a party already?! I’m not set up yet!” Pinkie interrupted, and ran into the train.
“And my supplier said I could have a few, ah, vacation days to use,” Rarity explained. “It is the holidays after all.” She hadn’t really gotten vacation days; instead she had blown a fuse at her supplier about the hideous dress and said she’d burn the dress when she got back home. She gladly told the supplier to jump into a well and find a different dress-maker.
Yes, I’m sure you’ll all have fun, but first we must set up tonight’s performance,” Celestia announced.
“Yes Princess,” they all replied. Eight of the ponies left for the castle, and Blazing Spirits walked solemnly onto the train, not eager for the conversation that would ensue.
He first ran into Pinkie Pie, who was carrying piles of streamers, balloons, and other party equipment. “You might want to hurry; the others have already left for the castle.”
“They have?! No No No No!” She sped off the train, and an off part off his mind wondered how she was running with all those supplies. He kept walking and found Rainbow Dash, laying on the bed and staring out the window. “Why are you here?” She asked. Her voice showed no emotion.
“I wanted to talk to you.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to say I’m sorry.”
She turned around to face him. Her face was covered in tears. “Why?!” She screamed. “Is what’s left not enough?! I said I never wanted to see you again, and you show up right in front of me surrounded by my friends! I don’t ever want to see you, never!”
Years of training as a guard had left him to show no emotion and always stand up tall, but under his helmet he couldn’t help but let a few tears form in his eyes. “I take it then that you don’t accept my apology?”
“Of course not! She died, they died, you and I almost died! It was your fault! Their lives can’t be replaced, even if I forgave you for what you did!”
He remembered the terrible day. “Please don’t view it that way.” His voice showed more and more sorrow. “You and I barely escaped with our lives. The others just didn’t get out in time. I couldn’t help them.”
“Yes you could!” She grabbed her stuff and flew out the exit, leaving Spirits to stand facing the now closed door.
The opposite door opened and the conductor walked in. “Now leaving for Phillydelphia!” He looked at the only occupant. “Sir, do have a ticket?”
“Oh. No I don’t. Here,” he pulled out some bits. “That should be enough to cover the cost. Now, could you please leave? I need some time to think.”
He grabbed the bits. “Thank you, sir.” He walked back through the door back to the front of the train.
He stood there for another moment, then thought of what to do next. Taking of his helmet, he grabbed a paper and a quill and began to write.
“Dear Princess Celestia,”
Rainbow Dash caught back up to the group strolling through town square.
“Heya RD what took so long?” Applejack asked, being the first to notice.
“Not much, just had a conversation.”
“With who, yer dad?”
She let out a sigh. “Yes.”
“Don’t worry, y’all can tell us what happened.”
“No.”
Applejack turned her head to look at Rainbow, who had stopped walking. “Why the hay not?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“It’ll be easier if you just get it off your chest.”
“No, Applejack.” She started walking again and trotted right up to the princess. “Princess, can I ask where our rooms are?”
“Of course. Grand Hoof Hotel, not far from the castle.”
“Thank you, Princess.” She flew off into the city.
Celestia turned to Twilight. “May I ask what’s upsetting her?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight replied, watching Rainbow disappear into the city. “She was happy on the train ride over here.”
“All well, I hope that she’ll be alright. We still need her for the play. Speaking of which, we need to get over there soon so we can set up.”
“Yes, Princess.”
A short while later, everypony was backstage getting ready for the night’s play. The script was the same as last year’s, with the pony tribes bringing on terrible storms due to their hatred for the others. It was, after all, history.
They heard a knock on the window, and to their slight surprise, Rainbow Dash was hovering outside and leaning on the window. Twilight opened the window and Rainbow fell in. “Okay, I’m here. Let’s get set up.” She said solemnly, getting off the floor.
“Is something wrong, darling?” Rarity asked, noting Rainbow Dash’s attitude.
Nothing I want to talk about.”
“You can talk to us about anything, dear.”
“If this is all that you’re going to ask, I think I’m out of here.” She headed for the window.
Fluttershy interjected, flying up and closing the window before Rainbow could leave. “Please, Rainbow Dash, tell us what happened and you’ll feel much better afterwards.”
“But-”
“Pleeeeaaassseee.”
“Ugh, fine, but I don’t want to say it now. It might ruin the performance. I tell you in the morning back at the hotel.”
Pinkie jumped in. “Do you Pinkie Promise?”
“Of course. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She recited, doing the motions that came with it.
“Now let’s get this show on the road.” The curtains pulled back and the play began.
The play started out with a narrator talking about the mistrust between the three pony tribes. The cutie mark crusaders tried to listen, but they were surprised when they heard the speaker. They had expected it to be Spike, same as last year, but instead they heard somepony else entirely. It was a royal, feminine voice. “Hey, who’s that?” Scootaloo asked. None of the three fillies had gotten good seats and they all tried desperately to get a good view, trying to raise their heads up to see over the ponies around them. Scootaloo, getting annoyed, used her wings, which had recently grown enough to support her weight in the air, to fly up and see who it was. When she did, her jaw dropped.
Who is it?” Apple bloom asked. Scootaloo didn’t reply, and instead remained speechless, hovering in the air.
“Ok I am going to find out who it is,” Sweetie Belle told her. Then she jumped onto Apple bloom’s back. Once she scrambled on, she looked and said “hey look, it’s Luna!”
“What?!” Apple bloom tripped, making Sweetie Belle fall off her back. Sweetie Belle then, while falling, grabbed at Scootaloo and they all crashed into the ground. A few of the surrounding ponies gave them some mixed looks, including a few of the guards, but then went back to watching the performance.
Luna was surprised to see how the ponies reacted to her role. Then one of her subjects pulled her aside so she could perform her actual part of the play, leaving her no time to ponder everypony’s reactions. Spike went out to narrate the rest of the play. After the main story was finished, ending with the unity of Equestria, Spike went to a side story: The story of how Celestia and Luna came to Equestria.
One day, two travelers came upon Equestria. The ponies of the rural town backed up in fear of the unknown travelers. They wore hooded cloaks so nopony could see them.
One pony noted that they seemed to be searching for something. This pony was an older, bearded unicorn who also noted that their tails, the only thing extending out of their cloaks, didn’t seem to be made of hair, but instead ethereal waves of magical energy. He decided to walk up to them. “I’m guessing, by your tails, that you two must be Alicorns. May I ask what you are searching for?”
“Our searches should be irrelevant to you, foolish mortal unicorn,” The shorter one said. He couldn’t see the face, but the voice was clearly feminine, powerful, and defiant.
“Now Luna, you don’t have to be so rude.” The taller one told her. Addressing the unicorn, she said “We are looking items of immense power, most likely too much for you to comprehend. Also, what is your name?”
“My name is Starswirl the Bearded, my lady,” for she had a royal, almost godlike voice.
The two alicorns let down their hoods. The smaller one had a dark coat and a mane that looked like the starry night sky. The other, taller Alicorn had a stunning white coat and her mane was a vivid spectrum of colors, like a flowing river reflecting a rainbow.
“Our names are Luna and Celestia. Starswirl, will you join us in our search?”
“Of course, my lady, but May I ask, why are we searching for these items?”
“We need them to stop a great evil that is headed this way. Its name is Discord.”
Several ponies in the audience gasped, remembering the evil draconequus’s escapade.
“And what are these items of power?” Starswirl asked.
They are the Elements of Harmony, the most powerful objects in all of Equestria. It is said that they can dispel any evil, no matter how strong.”
Well, we’d better get looking,” Starswirl concluded.
The audience cheered and applauded, especially with the mention of the Elements, all except for Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo.
“There has to be more to the story,” Scootaloo remarked. “It’s obviously not complete.”
“Well, who could we ask? The only ponies still alive to tell the story are the princesses,” Apple bloom replied.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at each other, grins spreading across their faces. “Well, we can’t ask Celestia, she’s too busy doing all her princess-y stuff, so let’s ask Luna!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed.
exclaimed.