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.
“TWILIGHT!!! NO!!!!” Star Shadow screamed as he was jolted from an unpleasant nightmare. He was watching Twilight tortured by the hooves of Thanatos, as he gave Star Shadow the “hero’s choice”, making him choose between Twilight, and she had begged him to let her die.
Shadow rolled off from his bed and stumbled across his bedroom to the balcony, where he watched the moon and its wonders as it traveled across the sky, endlessly chasing the sun.
“What’s wrong with me… why was I chosen to lead these ponies… I don’t deserve it, I can barely lead myself some days, let alone thousands of others…” he said to the moon, who listened to his stories as she did all others, giving comfort only by her light and serenity.
A wind began to blow softly against Shadow’s fur, chilling him slightly as he tried to ponder his existence.
Why was he here? Why did Twilight leave him when he needed her most? Why had his parents abandoned him? Why…
Shadow opened his eyes to see the sun’s first rays peeking over the horizon, gleaming brilliant orange and red with a tint of yellow. He had fallen asleep on the balcony, and as he turned around to walk back into his bedroom, he spied his Gaurd standing by his door, silently watching him, ready to give his life for the king at a moments notice.
“Good morning Daywatch, h-how long have I been on the balcony?” Shadow asked as he entered the bedroom.
“Good morning your majesty,” came the strong voice of Daywatch, “you’ve been out there since we changed at five o’clock, we decided to let you sleep, you’ve seemed troubled the past couple days, and we figured you could use some shut eye.”
“Thank you,” Shadow said as he passed his day guard, who followed him out and proceeded to follow him on his routine, visiting his usual stops in the castle. First was the quarters of a stray he had taken in, Rip Claw, a griffin who had ran from his home to find peace. He had since grown up and became his second in command so to speak. The griffin was walking through his doorway when Shadow walked by, and waved before heading to the library for his studies.
The second stop was the throne room, where he was greeted by his staff, ready to brief him on the day. To his surprise, only one pony stood before him, his Royal advisor, Envy Apple.
The orange unicorn mare waited with a small scroll in her magic, looking relaxed as Shadow walked in.
“Mornin yer highness,” Envy said with a southern twang.
“Good morning Envy, what’s on the bill for today?” He answered, setting down across from the mare.
“Well, there’s a treaty meeting with the griffins in Canterlot, but that’s about all sir,” Envy said as she unraveled her scroll.
“Hmm… just that eh…” Shadow said as an idea stemmed in his head.
“Daywatch, could you fetch Rip Claw real quick?” He asked the Royal earth pony guard.
“Of course your majesty,” Daywatch answered before leaving the room to find the griffin in question.
“Envy, I have a question for you, if you could go back and meet your ancestors, would you go?” He asked the mare, who was startled by the question.
“Well sir”
“Shadow,”
“What?”
“My name is Shadow, please call me by that,” Shadow said as he interrupted the mare.
“Oh, well alright, Shadow, I think I would go back and meet my great great great great great great great grandfather Big Macintosh, and see Sweet Apple Acres during its hayday, and meet the rest of ma family before they left the farm,” she answered as she had stars in her eyes, daydreaming about the experience.
Star Shadow opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment Daywatch returned with Rip Claw in hoof, confused on why he was there.
“Rip Claw!” Shadow said eagerly as he he stopped beside Envy, who giggling to herself as her orange cheeks went crimson with embarrassment.
“Yea Shadow?” Rip Claw said slowly, hoping that he wasn’t going to talk to him about the mess of books he left in the library the day before.
“Rip, I’ve got an assignment for you today,” he answered, a smile growing across his cheeks.
“Yes…”
“Today, you’re gonna be in command, and take my place at today’s treaty meeting in Canterlot!”
“Really!!” Rip Claw answered, his worries disappeared by the chance to prove himself. “I-I won’t let you down!!” He beamed.
“I know you won’t Rip, I’ll see you in a few days,” Shadow said before turning to leave.
“Sir, should I accompany you?” Daywatch asked as he cleared the door.
“No Daywatch, you should go with Rip, you know, in case he needs a couple pointers,” Shadow said before walking down the hall towards the library.
As he entered the library, his eyes met a huge pile of books in the center of the library, consisting of multiple genres and titles, but all on the same subject… griffins and the pony race. Shadow caught a smile as the pile reminded him of his time as a student, and Twilight piled up his books for the week, and would smile when she told him that she could read them in a days time. He walked around the pile, using his magic to neatly stack the books back onto the table, so they wouldn’t topple over onto some unlucky pony.
He walked over to the back corner of the massive library, where a single shelf stood, bearing books and spells special to him, spells that had been created and worked on by Twilight Sparkle herself. He used his magic to levitate one spell, cracked and yellowed with age, the magical runes barely legible, the text worn out and faded, once a dark black, now a light gray.
Shadow took a deep breath before reading the spell, letting his magic take over, boiling in his blood, streaming out of his horn and encircling him in a bright light as his spell finished and teleported him away. He closed his eye as he disappeared from his castle, and opened them again to see the same library, but radically different…
Instead of faded blue crystal surrounding him, it was bright and luminescent, still fairly new. As he looked around, there were other differences around, for one, there were what looked like fairly recent photos of Twilight and five other mares. Only one looked familiar, it being from a photo on his bedside, Rainbow Dash, her confident but cocky grin held tightly on her lips.
He heard the voice of a pony and something else approaching, and ducked under a table.
“Come on Twilight…”
“No Spike, I’m not giving you a mustache and beard, I’m sorry but no,” came the voice of his future mother/mentor, Twilight Sparkle.
‘Spike… who was Spike? He sounds like he knows her pretty well, but she never once mentioned him to me at all, and there’s nothing in the castle about him either, whatever happened between them must have been horrible.’ Shadow thought to himself as he watched them walk by.
Just then, he heard the chair behind him move and a claw stretch out to him…