"Yooo... another one?" Misty asked, as she walked up to another one of the weird batpony statues she had been finding in the forest. They kind of creeped her out, so she didn't get too close, but... they did look nice. Misty continued to trot into the forest, along the trail. Well, it seemed more like a road, really. But that only reaffirmed her guess that everypony had gone into the forest!

Ahead of her, Misty could see the sun shining through the trees. Misty spent a lot of her time in the forest back home, and she could tell that this meant there was a clearing nearby, a break in the tree cover that was letting the sun in. Misty made her way towards it, and after squirming her way through the weird-looking alien bushes, she stumbled into a grassy clearing.

And its contents made her shudder a little. Misty's ears went down as she looked out at the massive crowd of sleeping pony statues, which were all slightly different. Finally, it had begun to dawn on her that these could be the missing ponies of the Lunar Empire. But that was silly, right? How could they have all been frozen in stone like Discord?

But why would there be a clearing full of batpony statues, if that wasn't it? Misty walked into the field, going off of the assumption that there's no way these statues would be moving after centuries of being asleep. In the center, there was a much bigger pony than the others, and Misty gravitated towards it. Just the sight of it made her chest tighten up... sure, it was just a sleeping mare, but it was huge. And unlike the others, it had no wings! Misty walked in a circle around the statue, only feeling more uneasy around it the longer she was there.

FInally, she decided to leave. Misty shook herself, opened her wings, and she flinched as the tip of her wing brushed against the statue. She glanced at it, as if it had touched her, then she froze as she saw it begin to glow, then turn dark.

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When Luna transported group after group of batponies to the Lunar Empire, it made sense that she would miss a few things. But in reality, only one bad apple slipped through the cracks. One nasty, rotten to the core, twisted apple. There was a reason that only one batpony tribe remained at the time Luna discovered it, and much of the reason could be narrowed down to one single mare.

Long before the times of Celestia and Luna, the forest held many batpony tribes, who lived in harmony in the forest, though apart from the main bulk of ponykind. That is, until a single mare's life spiraled out of control, and with it, came a monster. Brook was a mare, living in the tiny, tiny town of Ponyville. She lived a simple farmer's life like most other ponies of the time, and she married a stallion named River. The two ponies were truly soulmates, until River found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. River was visiting a friend of his, a batpony in the nearby batpony village. He was about to head home when he stepped on a fragile piece of wood, and it snapped. The railing he tried to grab had been damaged by a storm the night before, and none of the batponies in the town had been fast enough to prevent him from hitting the ground far below.

Sometimes, ponies must deal with a lot of loss in their lives. For example, a pony's parents may pass away within mere weeks of each other. But on rare occasions, disaster may strike not only multiple times, but all within the same day. As River went to visit his friend, Brook headed for the town's doctor, for what was supposed to be a normal visit to check on the health of the foal she had inside of her, since she had been feeling a little sicker than usual. She didn't realize she would be leaving without it. Something had gone wrong with her, and a normal appointment turned into Brook having to decide between her own life, or the extremely unlikely life of her foal.

If that wasn't enough to break her, she came home to her house in flames, part of a fire that enveloped an entire street of the old town. All she could do was stare at the chaos as ponies ran back and forth with buckets of water, trying to fight the flames. And then, a teary-eyed batpony got her attention, bringing the worst of the news to her.

Something broke inside of Brook that day. The chances of something so horrible happening to one pony, all in one day, was small, but the chance of a pony successfully summoning dark magic with no prior experience was even smaller. And yet, Brook found herself staring down at the bleeding corpse of a batpony she had been talking to just moments before, dead at the forces of powerful, pitch-black magic that was flaring from her body. The ponies of Ponyville began to run from her as she looked up from the dead pony, and without a word, Brook sprinted into the forest, leaving her ruined life behind.

When Brook snapped, the dark magic she had created took hold of her, and it set its sights on aone goal, one outlet for the twisted emotions that had created it. She could handle the foal, that was her body failing her. She could handle the fire, early ponyville homes tended to go up like tinderboxes at times. But River? Her husband? Dead at the hooves of batponies? Brook wasn't having it, and the cursed mare declared war on anything that happened to have four legs and leathery wings. Yes, sometimes a dragonpony or two would perish at her hooves.

As time went on, the mare became a terror for batponies. A spirit in the darkness, glowing eyes that stared from the shadows, sharp teeth that could rip out your neck in a second, the monster that had once been Brook hunted equestria's batponies, and she didn't stop there either. When normal ponies tried to help, they became targets as well. Her twisted plans had been going nicely until Luna discovered the last living group of them, and she didn't want to try fighting a Princess.

With Luna's involvement, it became harder for Shadow to enact her twisted 'revenge'. The name came from the way she hid away in the shadows, using darkness to snare her prey. She resorted to hunting down any batpony that left the sight of others, and she was personally responsible in some ways for Equestria's ponies labeling the Everfree forest as a dangerous place to be avoided. They say that if you are in the everfree forest at night and it starts to become cold, dark, and quiet around you, the Shadow Mare is watching you, checking to see if you are a batpony. It's unknown how Shadow learned that Luna was putting together an empire consisting of only batponies, but it was a simple matter for her to disguise as one of them and get her ticket to Equinox.

Dark magic is not inherently evil, as most ponies believe. Though, it certainly makes it easier for a pony with evil within their heart to act on those desires. Dark magic 'feeds' on emotions and feelings, somewhat like a batpony, and in exchange, it allows ponies to perform feats of magic that are difficult or impossible for normal Unicorns. In the UnderWorld, DarkRock was a cavern populated by dark magic users, who followed strict laws to prevent anypony using it for evil.

Polaris, and to a lesser extent, his father, are other examples. The blue stallion was cursed with dark magic, such an amount of it that he was overwhelmed. For a short time, Polaris became a monster much like Shadow, and he did kill ponies, until he was able to turn it around and gain control. During WWII, which Polaris was a part of, he met a mare named Lunimere, who became his soulmate much like Shadow and River. Lunimere was killed in an accident, much like River, except Polaris was actually the one to witness part of a collapsing, burning mansion come crashing down on top of her. He briefly reverted to the hate-filled state that he once held, the state that Shadow has never left, but he managed to hold himself together and come out stronger from the hardship.

Still, Polaris' family was the exception, and it's theorized that the ability to handle dark magic may have genetic ties. There was a reason that Dark Magic only thrived within a small town with strict rules in the UnderWorld, and it is mainly devoted to how volatile it is. If Shadow hadn't managed to create dark magic inside of herself, she may have been saved, if somewhat heartbroken and discouraged. Or at the least, she wouldn't become responsible for so much death. In the same vein, experiencing enough of any extreme negative emotions is enough for dark magic to overwhelm a normal pony, which is why the ponies of DarkRock almost seem emotionless- controlling emotion means controlling the magic, but ponies are emotional beings.

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Misty stayed there for a moment, watching as the blackness began to spread across the statue. Then, it moved. It took a step forwards, and Misty shuddered, taking off into the air before its head turned back into the blackness that the rest of it was.

That hesitation would cost her. As she took off into the sky, she looked down and noticed that in a wave around the huge mare, the other statues were unfreezing, and much faster. To her alarm, a sea of red eyes loooked up at her, then over at the big one. She looked up at her, and without even speaking to it, one of her minions launched into the air towards Misty. Misty tried to dodge it, but the older mare just wasn't fast enough, and it shot out magic which wrapped around one of her hind legs. She screamed as it dragged her back down to the ground, and it shoved her in front of the mare she had awoken.

Misty rolled onto her back, looking up, and her blood ran cold as she locked eyes with the Celestia-sized pony. "How nice of you to deliver yourself~" She crooned, and Misty had little time to do anything other than squeak in fear as a wave of black magic crashed over her, turning her into the monster's newest slave.

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Polaris walked into the room with Luna, and he smiled as he set down a tray, loaded with food and water for the batpony she held. The large mare smiled at him, saying, "Thank you... I've just now gotten to about the 1800s". The mare in her arms grinned at him, saying, "Steam trains sound like wonderful inventions! And guns, too!" Polaris chuckled, saying, "Well, I certainly know a lot about both of those, since-"

And he stopped. Polaris tensed up a little, and he closed his eyes, shuddering heavily in front of Luna, as if ice-cold water had just been splashed in his ears. "I... I... did you feel that?" he asked, looking up at Luna with fear in his eyes. Luna looked worried, since she hadn't ever seen Polaris of all ponies look that scared. "No..." She said, and she watched as he backed up to the door. "I-I gotta... sorry, I'll uh, sorry!" he said, before hitting the button to close the door and taking off running down the hall.

Luna was worried, but she didn't want to scare the pony she was holding any more. "I'll see what's going on with him later, don't you worry" she said, lifting the tray up so she could give her something to eat. The mare took hold of an apple, and Luna nuzzled her before saying, "Now, about the trains, you might like the story of how all the tracks were laid down..."

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It had been so long since Shadow had gone for a walk! Well, more of a march. Shadow was gathering all of her ponies in what had once been farmlands behind the lunar city, and they were all accounted for. All except one. Shadow hadn't bothered to gather all of her ponies in the forest when she rested, and she had left one of them in the city. Having them seperated wasn't supposed to become a problem, but now it had.

Leaving her army to stand where she commanded them to, Shadow walked into the city, right to the spot where she had left her. Some mare, she remembered. Had a vest on, maybe? But she wasn't here. All that remained were hoofprints, leading towards the main entrance. Were there more batponies here? Now that was a delicious idea...

Off she went, to the main entrance. When she got to the city gates, Shadow expected ponies. Did she see ponies? No. But she did see massive, box-looking... things in the distance. What was going on? Were these mountains? She growled, stomping at the grass with a hoof. Whatever was going on, it annoyed her, and she would tear one of these dumb mountains in half to figure it out if she had to.

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"Um, Flutters? Do you see something at the city?" Silver asked. He had been sitting at one of the Twilight's bridge windows, resting his snout against it. Fluttershy was at work sorting the ponies on the ship, so he was hanging out with her. She had time, so she came over to the window, her eyes focusing on the distant gate. Immediately, she put in an emergency call to Celestia, Cadence, and she patched one into the room Luna was in.

To all three of the princesses and to Silver himself, she said, "I uh... I see a very big mare standing at the gates, and she looks angry". "What in... what is that?" Celestia asked. "Dark magic?" Fluttershy asked. "Sure looks like it... Cadence said. Just on time, Polaris stumbled onto the bridge, saying, "F-Fluttershy! W-We got problems! Dad and everyone else from DarkRock all felt it, something is going on!"

The princesses were treated to a somewhat frantic looking Polaris as Fluttershy turned her eyes to him, and she put her feed on a TV, saying, "Well, look at this". As he watched, she panned back to the gates, to where the mare was using her magic to throw a large chunk of rock at the Lunar City's walls, obviously annoyed at something. To Polaris, it was like looking in a centuries-old mirror.

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Ponies screamed as Polaris burst out of the second floor of the TreeVale inn. He thought he had been controlling his magic, but a 15 year old colt who had just lost his family wasn't really the prime canidate for dark magic usage, and he was wearing a powerful magic curse. The mix was about as safe as dropping a nuclear bomb into a car crusher, so... not safe. The monstrous stallion pounced on the nearest pony, and their screams were silenced by his claws before he lunged for another.

He didn't stop until he couldn't find any more ponies to hunt. When he ran out of targets for his shadowy claws, he took off into the distance, not caring where he ran to, not caring what happened to him, only caring that he couldn't hurt another pony. It wouldn't be for a long time that he was around ponies again, and even after centuries' time, he carried that burden with him.

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When Polaris' dark magic consumed him, he had turned into a monstrous, dragonpony looking creature. He had claws, wings, a tail, and a massive maw full of teeth that could cut through stone. This mare didn't, though. She looked like a pony, but larger and angrier, magic wafting off of her body as if she was constantly on fire, fire which was pure black.

"T-T-That's... that thing is a pony, wrapped up in... in a lot of dark magic" Polaris said, his voice shaky and fearful. "I... w-what are we going to do about something like that?" Celestia sputtered, saying, "I would hope that you know! You and those UnderWorld ponies are the ones who can control that stuff!"

"Y-Yeah, some of it!" Polaris said. "Stopping that thing is like one pegasus controlling a hurricane!" Luna was thankful that the batpony in her lap was asleep, because she did not want the mare to feel the terror she was feeling. "What about all of you, then? You and those other ponies?" She asked. "Can we help?" Cadence added.

He threw up a hoof, saying, "I-I... maybe? We might be able to trap most of her magic in a gem before she realizes, then overpower her for the rest? Because if you lose a dark magic fight, you've got nothing stopping the other pony from stealing your very soul". "I wonder if I could do anything... does her magic work on non-ponies?" Fluttershy interrupted, keeping her eyes on the mare for now.

Silver looked appalled that she had even suggested it, but Polaris sighed and said, "I... not really, she can still just throw you into orbit if she wants... maybe your core could be enough to wreck her, but..." He said, expecting Silver to interrupt. He did, immediately saying "No!", and Fluttershy didn't comment, not sure if she was willing to even entertain the thought.

"Okay, Polaris, what got you to control your magic when you were like that?" Cadence asked. He sat down, trying not to feel as sick as he did, and he rubbed his head as he said "I... I dunno, it just took a long time... and I wanted to control it, but if this is a pony who's genuinely evil at the core, then..."

"I do not like this" Celestia growled softly. "If I hadn't already gave it a shot with Sombra, I'd try to take her out myself". "Well, if this is what took out the original Lunar Empire, then she might not even know what a spaceship is?" Cadence said. "We could try to fire one of the asteroid cannons at-" "Yes!" Luna suddenly gasped. "We'll have to fight her with something that she won't understand! She can't protect herself against something she doesn't know how to! Like... like guns, or perhaps a ship's cannon, or..." she said, trying to come up with ideas. "Remember how I had no idea what all our new technology was when I came back?" She said, and Celestia smiled just a little at the memory, nodding back to her.

"Well, I could remotely pilot one of our smaller ships directly into her and see what it does" Fluttershy said. "She would see it coming..." Polaris murmured. "You can adapt quick with this stuff, but bullets is one thing I couldn't really handle, however with as much magic as she holds she might just be able to stop them before they hurt her..."

"She's coming this way!" Fluttershy said, gasping as she kept her cameras on the pony. Polaris hissed, saying, "I... I have to... oh, I hope this works" He whined, as he lit his horn up and disappeared. The princesses and the couple on the bridge watched as he teleported out into the grass, transforming over to his darker self, then wrapping himself in magic to make himself look like the other mare. Polaris had a backup plan, if he needed it. The gem where he had gathered the power from the ponies they had sapped the curse from, he had it behind him, hidden away in case he needed it.

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Shadow had been trotting towards the large shapes for a while, but then she noticed a pony. Not a batpony, a pony. And she sensed magic just like hers! Her curiosity flared, Shadow slowed to a trot, then came close to the stallion, frowning at him. "Who are you?" She asked, sitting down as she kept her eyes on him.

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Polaris smiled, despite the panic and terror eating at him. "Why, I'm Prince Polaris, at your service" He said, bowing gently in front of her. She seemed to approve of the pleasantries, and she asked another question. "I want you to explain, what are these mountains? Where did you come from?" Polaris had been rehearshing all sorts of questions that she may ask, and he cleared his throat before saying, "Why, I traveled here on these! And sorry for the size of them, I didn't even know that this planet already had a ruler"

He felt some relief as she smiled. But then she snarled. "You better not have brought filthy thestrals onto my land" She hissed, stepping closer to him. Despite his senses screaming at him to run, he put on a laugh, saying, "Those creatures? Please, I haven't seen one in centuries! Why do you ask?" He said, giving her a curious look.

Shadow pawed at the ground, standing up and turning in a circle with an angry growl. "I hate them", she spat, "I used to kill the monsters, but I managed to sneak onto this planet, which was going to be populated by them! I waited long enough so that I was sure their ruler would not be coming back, and I've trapped every last one with my magic~" She crooned, her anger fading into a prideful boasting near the end, a smile returning to her face.

As much as he hated the words, Polaris chuckled, saying, "That's quite an impressive feat! I hope they didn't cause trouble..." She laughed harshly, saying, "Of course not! I captured every last one... except... are you the reason one is missing from the city?" She hissed, stepping close to him. Her smile had begun to grow, going from polite to disturbing. Polaris took a step back, his ears twitching as they tried to lower. "Me? I... I wouldn't know, I haven't been into the city yet".

"Oh, I'm sure" She hissed, stepping closer, bringing her snout against his. "And I suppose you couldn't explain why I was woken up by a batpony I have yet to see!?" She yelled, and Polaris' mask finally broke as he stepped back again, saying, "I-I uh, I can't imagine why-"

"Silence!" She barked, her voice shaking the ground as she raised a hoof and hit him, sending him sprawling into the grass quite a distance away from her with a weak yelp. He just barely managed to bring the gem with him, holding it tight in a hoof. The mare ran towards him, and she pinned the stallion to the ground, holding him down with magic tentacles that sank into his own magic to grip him, regardless of his attempts to prevent it. "Tell me where they are!" She screamed, staring down at him.

Well, things had gone downhill real fast. Polaris tapped into the gem, and he used the overwhelming power it held to fire his magic at Shadow's chest, throwing her backwards and high into the air away from him. He used the magic to also heal his shoulder, which he was pretty sure she had broken. He frowned as he watched the mare stand up, fire bursting from her eyes as she looked back at him. The fall hadn't even hurt her!

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"Found it!" Barked a white stallion, as he yanked a beastly looking gun out of a crate. "Give it to me!" Northern said, watching impatiently as he the stallion loaded the rifle, then handed it over. "Well, be careful with it, that thing can punch a hole in anyth-!" He said, but Northern had already teleported away. The royal armorer sighed, resting his head on the crates. They woke him up from his nap just to get out a .50 rifle?

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Polaris looked down as he heard a flash of magic, and he laid eyes on a big rifle. It looked like a .50, but he didn't care. He knew why it'd been teleported to him, and he picked it up with a brief glance to the bridge of the purple ship. He raised it, aiming at Shadow, right as she began to charge towards him.

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Shadow didn't care what the stick was for. This stallion dared to lie to her, and he had brought BATPONIES onto HER planet! She was going to rip his limbs off, then throw him in a pit, then-

Pain lanced through the mare as the object he held flashed smoke and fire, bucking against his magic. What had he DONE to her!? She fell to the grassy floor with a scream of mixed pain and rage, and she shot magic towards him to subdue whatever that blasted thing was.

It flashed again, and she roared as even more pain tore through her, crimson blood flying behind her as the bullet punched through her magic hard enough to expose her to the air. For the first time, Shadow began to feel fear, and she watched as he worked the mechanism again, pointing it... And she yelped, jumping to the side as it cracked once more, throwing dirt and grass into the air next to her. Suddenly, capturing him wasn't as important to her.

Without another word spoken, Shadow turned around, and she began to sprint for the Lunar City, wanting to get away from the weapon he was using. As she ran, she heard another crack, and pain lanced through one of her flanks. She almost fell, but Shadow had enough magic to heal herself as she ran, and she just ran through the pain. As she approached the gates, she started to run even faster, sprinting out of desperation. Right as she turned a corner into the city, she heard another crack, and she flinched as rock and stone broke free from the wall, falling around her. It could even destroy stone!?

The weapon terrified Shadow, though even as she ran, she tried to think of how to handle such a thing. She didn't understand it! How did it make noise, then tear through her flesh like an invisible, unseen arrow!? She didn't know, but she wasn't going to try fighting it. She could heal her body, but if one of those awful things hit her in the head, she didn't think she could withstand it.

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After she disappeared behind the walls, Polaris realized that he was shivering. His magic held the gun steady, sure, but he couldn't stop his body from shivering as he sat down on the grass, letting his magic melt away. He looked at the gem, but it was spent. He had needed all of its power just to get her off of him... that wasn't good, at all.

He felt magic wrap around him, and he didn't even try to resist as he was teleported onto the Twilight's bridge. Immediately, he was smothered in the arms of both of his parents, and he closed his eyes, going limp in their embrace. He could hear the princesses, it sounded like they were talking to Fluttershy, but he couldn't really hear them over Pearl muttering something about how she wished he wouldn't do such a stupid thing.

Author's Note

not a practical problem but gun still solved it

for now