A New Line

As Star Shadow walked down one of the many corridors that intertwined in Twilight’s castle, his mind was set on years previous. There had been one thousand years of peace, and then a war between gods and ponies that nearly wiped out all creation. He was the new king, the ruler of the newly reborn Equestria… and he ruled alone.

His rise to power meant Twilight’s fall, as she died in his hooves, exhausted from rebuilding the universe anew.

He stopped at a rather long hallway that joined the one he walked. It was filled with memories of the old world, memories that dated back a thousand years. He had walked those hallways everyday with Twilight as she explained a different era, the era of Friendship, and the magic she wielded with the heroines of old, Applejack The Honest, Fluttershy The Kind, Pinkie Pie The Comical, Rarity The Generous and Rainbow Dash The Loyal.

The adventures she took and the lessons she learned made her the ruler she was, and made him extremely jealous of her. His parents left him as a colt, alone in a basket at Twilight’s doorstep, and never looked back. From that moment on, Twilight raised him both as a son, and as a student.

His mind began to draw closer to the present… the day she told him he was the descendant of one of the Elements, that day he saw them, Rainbow Dash the Loyal, and her husband, Fury Flight, The Fearless, the alicorn become Pegasus, for love.

“... stupid memories… leave me be…” Star Shadow said in a deep aged voice. His eyes glancing to the newest window art.

It portrayed Twilight and the Life Bringer defeating the old gods and creating the universe anew. He sat down in front of the stained glass and began to consult it.

“..Twilight… Teacher… I-I’m lost, I’m not the ruler you were, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be..”

“...why be me.. when you can be you…” came a whisper through the hall.

“Twilight!!” Star Shadow exclaimed, looking around the hall, hoping to find his mentor miraculously reincarnated, and at his aid. Seeing the long empty hallway, as usual, he droopily turned back to the window. “...now I’m hearing things,” he said grumpily.

“...you’re not hearing things my student… only my voice…” came the disembodied voice of the former ruler.

“H-how are you here?” He asked, now staring intently at the window.

“...my time here is short, but I sensed that you were need of guidance…” she whispered from the window.

“So what did you mean by your phrase?”

“... why be me when you can be you? You can never be me, and I can never be you, but I can be me and you can be you…”

“So a riddle to leave me with for the sake of not making sense?” He asked, puzzled at her quote.

“... Oh Star Shadow, it’s not a riddle, but an old quote, from my time. Why be me when you can be you? I have my own life, my own purpose, as do you, we are great in our own ways. You are a great ruler Star Shadow, you have brought pony kind together, closer than even I did. Why would you throw that away to be me?” She asked.

“You ruled with a thousand years worth of knowledge behind you, a royal upbringing, and friends who made you better in every way… and I’m just a cast away, left on your doorstep from parents who didn’t want me..” Star Shadow said, sadness building in his voice.

“...Yes.. I ruled for a thousand years, but my friends were only there for fifty years, and after that, I fell into a depression that lasted nearly two hundred years… the rest came with a lot of help from Celestia,” she said as her eerie voice echoed through the corridor.

“I-I guess I’m just lonely, this castle was once the center of Ponyville, and now is simply a pass by… and friends like yours are hard to come by…”

“...Star Shadow… the castle becoming a relic was my fault, but you have a chance to change that, and as for friends, all you have to do is simply make one…” she said as her voice faded away into the nothingness it came from.

Star Shadow waited for a moment for Twilight’s voice to return, when it didn’t, he bowed his head, now deciphering the lesson he received before walking out of the corridor and turning in for the night.