A Twilight's Shadow

by Siiver7

Rating: everyone
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Adventure, Princess Celestia
Length: 4543

"We will send you away from Equestria--and when the darkness overtakes us, it will become your job take it back."

A thousand years ago, the Crystal Empire was never saved. The darkness continued to spread, and brought havoc to everything within his control. The kingdoms used their unity to create a barrier of light, stopping the darkness.
It was kept a secret from everypony until a great depression broke the light, and darkness swept across Equestria. Now it is up to Twilight to find the light within her friends, and stop the darkness once and for all. But what happens when all of them lose their light? What will they use to fight back the darkness?

*Please leave suggestions and point out any errors that you see.

Published 2012-11-27 06:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-12-24 22:40:41 UTC

Prologue

~PROLOGUE

"What is a shadow? It's what light makes...light makes shadows, and darkness lurks in the shadows that light makes. Without light, there would be no shadow. So is light bad because it makes darkness by creating shadows? No, it's simply the balance of their universe. They can't get rid of darkness. But they make light, so that darkness is repelled, and the light becomes a beacon for others who strive for light.

Does that mean light is a good thing? The light must be equal to the darkness. So, it makes bad things happen. How? Those who live in light, want light. They don't like being in the dark. They want to be as light as they can. But it's impossible to be all light...half of them is always going to be a shadow. So, they go closer to the light. But the closer they get, the bigger their shadows become. They are blinded by the light, unaware of the shadows that they are creating. The ones who make the light only sees the light side of them, but they cannot see the shadows behind those seeking light.

The darkness wants to extinguish the light, so they travel within the shadows the others make. Those seeking the light begin to surround the light, trying to become as pure as possible, only to be counterbalanced by their shadows. When they get close enough, the darkness then extinguishes the light.

What happens then? Most of them run in fear, because they are afraid of the dark. But those few who are most pure and strong, begin to fight off the darkness. But they cannot fight off darkness with their dark sides. So, they come together in unity and harmony, and shine the light sides to the darkness, repelling the darkness.

You know what this makes? A beacon of light, for those trapped in the darkness. Those who ran away begin to come towards the light once more, thus creating an endless cycle that powers the universe, and gives meaning to their lives. But they must find this out by themselves, and only then will they come together once more. The only problem is what happens during the time of darkness..."

Twilight's Report: Day 1

-Twilight's Report: Day 1

Princess Celestia has told me to keep a lookout, and to be cautious and alert, saying that some events are going on that she's trying to fix. So, I am keeping this journal as a guide and to list the progress of things that are going on. Why didn't I think of this sooner? I should've started this journal years ago! It really helps me keep track of my thoughts, and to look back upon things.

Anyways, some really strange stuff IS going on. The northern half of the sky has been flashing. It appears to show some sort of picture. All the ponies see dark clouds, and an orange, dirty sky, with a barren landscape. Doesn't look pretty. It only lasts a short second, then it goes back to normal. I am trying to investigate the anomaly. Seems to big to be some magic trick, but it's too soon to come up with any hypothesis. Celestia tells everyone that it's under control, and to not worry too much, but i'm not so sure though.

Things aren't going too well around here. Applejack can't afford giving any of us discounts for her food anymore. She's been working really hard to keep the farm alive, so is her family. Were gonna have to work a little more from now on then. We try to lend a hand when we can, but all of us are too busy trying to keep ourselves on our feet. The only breathing room I get is from Celestia providing a little for me, so I can focus on the tasks she gives me. I don't know why she isn't telling me to study the strange flashes in the sky, it seems pretty serious. It get bigger, and the rate of it grows each day. It seems strange though, I feel like she's hiding something. But I can't complain to Celestia. I trust that she's doing her very best to keep things in order, but I don't know how long she will last.

Winter's coming. Usually, I couldn't wait to enjoy the pony holidays. It's a time we come together and celebrate, but celebrate what? Doesn't seem like a great time to celebrate anything, really...

Chapter 1: What lies beyond...

*8 Days later*

Twilight paces across her room, thinking of what could be happening that requires her assistance so suddenly. She just called her friends to come immediately, impatient to tell them about the news.

"Oh, not good not good. Did Equestria finally break down? Is there another attack? Are the princesses in trouble?!"
She takes a deep breath, attempting to calm down.
"Now, now Twilight, she's just giving me a new job, that's all. I'm just a student given another assignment. That's right, a new assignment! Oh, but what's the assign-"
A knock sounds from the door, and she bolts to it, literally throwing the door open.

"Hey, Twi-" "Quickly everypony, inside!" Twilight says, cutting them off. All her friends gallop into the home, and spike quickly shuts the door behind them.
"What's up, Twilight? As much as I would love to stay and chat with y'all, I need to get back to work pronto!"
"What's with the crazy sky, can you explain that Twilight?"
"Yeah, some weird stuff has been going around! My Pinkie Senses are going crazy!!!"

"Please, we don't have time for questions, this is important! HEY!"
Everyone looks at Twilight, stunned by her sudden raise in voice.

"Everypony, I just received a letter from Princess Celestia, telling us to come to her immediately. She says it's very important!"
They all gasp.
"What for? What's going on?"
"That's all the letter says, so I can't explain anything. Now let's hurry!" Twilight says, and runs off. All the ponies hesitate for a moment to take in what just happened, then rush out the door, galloping to the station, where a train is already waiting for them. They board the train, silent with suspense and worry about what is to come.

Twilight takes out her journal from her satchel, and begins a new entry.

-Twilight's Report: Day 8

I'm currently on the train to Canterlot. I received a letter earlier today from Princess Celestia. She told us to come to her immediately with all of my friends. She seemed pretty urgent, because her writing was a bit messy, and she didn't include much except that it was related to the flashing sky anomaly. I have a bad feeling about this...

She closes her book, and looks out to the large city of Canterlot slowly coming towards them.
A loud clap of thunder echoes through the valley, and she sees the sky flash another image of hell behind the city. She could have sworn she saw the city turn into a crippled ruin along with the sky before resuming it's grand state.

"WERE HERE!" The friends say as they burst into the room, sprinting across the hall towards Celestia and Luna. Twilight breaths hard as she tries to regain her breath. "Princess, we came here as fast as we could! What do you need, what's going on?"

The princesses turn towards them, their faces showing much concern and worry.

"I've called you here for a very important reason. I'm sure all of you are just as confused. Now, listen closely, because there is a lot of explaining to do, and there is not much time for me to do so."
Everypony leans forward, eager to hear what she has to say.

"Now, do any of you know about the Crystal Empire, or about King Sombra?" All of the ponies have no clue. Not even Twilight knows, despite her vast wealth of knowledge. Celestia does not seem surprised by all of their confusion.

"I thought so." Celestia looks at one of the pedestals containing a strange, glowing crystal sealed within a glass vase. The colors appear to swirl around with a light shade of blue and violet. She levitates the vase, and takes the strange crystal out, presenting it in the middle of the room above her.

Celestia's horn begins to glow, and she shoots a beam of light energy at the crystal, emitting a spectacular glow across the room. All the ponies gasp, except for Luna who stays dormant. A faint projection of some abnormal city begins to appear in the light in front of them. The picture starts to become clearer, showing an enormous tower standing above a large city. Everything seems to be made of crystal. The friends stare in awe. Then, Celestia begins to speak:

"Several millennium ago, an ancient Kingdom called the Crystal Empire was founded in the north, consisting of only crystals, as the name implies. The inhabitants were special ponies that shared crystal-like properties that allowed them to thrive in such conditions unlike normal ponies."
The projection of the city began to show tiny figures of ponies living about the city. Their bodies also seemed to glow just like the crystals.
"To explain would take hours, time which we obviously do not have. Now, these ponies behaved as we do: They live in peace and harmony, which as you know, creates a realm of light that surrounds them. They continued to do so for thousands of years, until a great evil came and overtook them."

Suddenly, dark clouds began to surround the city, which swept across the city. Then, they rose, revealing the barren landscape they saw in the flashes in the sky. The blue sky was replaced by a bloody orange, the blue crystals turned into black obsidian. The ponies within the city lost their beautiful color, and were all grey and dormant.
"Their light collapsed under his power, and he successfully usurped their throne. He absorbed all of their power, and the darkness began to spread across many legions of land. Nothing we tried could stop his expansion."

Celestia's face hardened, and she lowered her head, closing her eyes for a moment. The map zoomed out, showing the entire continent being consumed by the darkness, like a giant black fire. Whatever it touched, it instantly became devastated. Celestia then resumed her posture, and continued.
"All the rulers, including us decided we would join together in harmony, and spread our light across each other, which also created the barrier of light. But because many more kingdoms and nations were involved, the barrier was able to withstand the expansion." The map zoomed out once again, showing huge hemispheres of light spreading across the continent. The dark clouds were stopped by the barrier, the clouds swirling around, trying to break through.

"In order to prevent fear and disunity among our citizens, we hid the darkness as a secret, and prevented anyone from leaving. So long as we continued to live in peace and harmony, we thought it would not be a problem...until now."
A bolt of lightning struck the crystal, and the entire map began to swirl like a tornado. It began to decelerate, forming a ominous cloud, and it showed a projection of a horrible face. All the ponies flinched.

~~It's~~ His eyes glowed a poisonous green, the mane was just like the dark clouds, except they looked alive, whipping back and fourth. His horn was a tainted red, and had the shape of a claw. It looked like a pony devil come true. He opened his mouth, and a serpent-like gurgle echoed down the hall, making everyone feel icy cold, and sent shivers down their spine.
"This is King Sombra. He is the pony responsible for the chaos. He is no ordinary pony, but believe it or not, there was a time he was normal." Celestia began to speak about his life. The horrible face still remained.

"Sombra was a very intelligent pony, who excelled in magic. Unfortunately, he was completely obsessed with power, so much that the city he called his home excommunicated him, and banished him from the settlement. He was enraged almost to the point of insanity. He swore revenge, and to make himself more powerful than ever seen by ponykind. He stumbled upon a spell that would call down a spirit. It said that by successfully controlling the spirit, it would grant him enormous powers.

"What he didn't know, was that only evil spirits hunted down those who summoned them. They were extremely powerful, and if the spirit overpowered the host, they ended up controlling the being. It said it required the polarization found by going to the top of the globe, so he began his journey to the tip of the arctic.

"Upon reaching there, he saw a large, crystal tower he thought was the north pole. He summoned the spell, and an entity flew down and began to possess him. He underestimated it's power, and the spirit took control of him, and possessed him. It took advantage of his thirst for power, and it used Sombra to absorb the power of the crystals in the Crystal Kingdom. You know what happens next."

Celestia walked towards the window, and looked out upon the landscape of Equestria.

"Now, our kingdom is in a state of chaos and depression, and we can no longer sustain the light we used to have. Our people suffer, and we can't anything about it. The barrier is shedding away as we speak, which is why you see the flashes throughout the sky. The darkness is closing in."

"Wait, so your telling us that..." Twilight hesitates.

"Yes Twilight. I fear that what you see is not some image, or something that is not there: it is a picture of reality--and what will be our inevitable future."

All the friends cry in fear. "Were all DOOMED!" Rarity cries. Applejack bumps her in the stomach with her elbow, making her stop with a hiccup. "Now quit it, girl! Cryin' ain't gonna help us do anything to stop this from happening! Now what exactly are we gonna do?"

"We cannot initiate an evacuation, nor can we give a state of emergency. Doing so will cause fear and panic, which we cannot afford because the darkness would immediately break in, giving us no chance at all."

"Well, what if we...well, if we-like-OH!" Twilight thinks hard, struggling to come up with a solution.

"What if we throw a PARTY!" Pinkie leaps in excitement.

Rainbow Dash groans. "Pinkie, of all the times to throw a party, you could not have picked a worse time! For the sake of Equestria can you just-"

"Wait, that's a perfect idea!" Twilight says.

"What?! Have you two lost it? Actually, Pinkie Pie never even had it..."

"HEY! no fair!"

"Guys listen! The entire point is to keep the darkness from coming in, right? Well, if we make everyone happy, then we can bring light from all the ponies and reseal the barrier!"

"Girls, we have no time to waste! You know well that all the ponies are in no mood to party, and we don't have enough resources to do so." Celestia added. "Now, i'm sorry I must break this news to you, but Luna, the council, and I have debated this throughout the past weeks, and we could not find a long-term solution to fix the problem at hand."

"Wait, so were really all...doomed?" Twilight slowly says, unable to bring the truth to herself.

"Yes...i'm afraid so." Celestia reluctantly answers. Rarity breaks down again, bawling on the floor.
Rainbow Dash flies to Celestia.

"But we gotta do something! Like, we can use the elements to reseal the barrier, or maybe go to King Sombra and beating the f-"

"But that doesn't mean we don't have a solution." Celestia affirmed. All the ponies stopped and stared at Celestia, listening to what solution she has.

"Now, like I said, we have no long-term solution, but we can only delay the darkness for what we have planned."

"Delay it for what?" Twilight asks.

Celestia takes a deep breath. Then she orders: "We will send you away from Equestria, and when the darkness overtakes us, it will become your job to take it back."

Chapter 2: Faith

Every pony stood still. All of them are frozen in disbelief from what they have just heard.

After a full minute of silence, Celestia begins to speak again.

"Now I know how all of you feel regarding this, but i'm afraid it's our best and possibly only hope."

Twilight finds her voice first. "What?! Celestia, your telling us to take back all of Equestria from...THAT?!
She points her hoof towards the window as the sky once again flashes another picture of hell in the distant horizon.
Fluttershy yelped, and vanished behind a stone pillar.

The princesses look at each other, their faces showing a hint of doubt. Celestia closes her eyes, and turns her head to the ponies. When she repones them, they are of hope and determination.

"Do you know why you six were chosen by the elements of harmony?" She asked in the most gentle and relaxed voice they have ever heard in years. This surprised all of them, including Luna.

"Because...we represented each individual element. We each held it's special power in each other, and that's why it chose us." Twilight answered.

"Yes, that is true. But what is something ALL of you have that burns deep in your hearts?"

All of them were still, waiting for her to answer.

"You had an unbreakable bond that no other pony or ponies had. You had so much faith in each other that it formed a bond unlike anything else. A piece of you lives inside each of your friends. Your strengths covered each other's weaknesses, and it gave you girls a power that could do anything. And you still do! It is inside each and every one of you." Celestia points her hoof to each of the individual ponies hearts.

"How did you girls feel each time when saving Equestria? You were fearless. You were filled with hope. Why? Because when you fought together, you knew how much power you girls had inside of you. You KNEW. And we know NOW. That will never change, so long as you girls are together, right?"

"Yeah, as long as were together, nothing will stop us!" Pinkie Pie leaps. All the ponies nodded at this. Fluttershy began to reemerge from behind her hiding spot, and nodded as well.

"But that still doesn't tell us how were going to stop that thing! How are we going to do it?" Twilight asks.

"Didn't you hear what I just said Twilight?" She said with a chuckle. "Your going to do it with all your friends together. If your asking me on how to get to the end, where it's all 'happily ever after', I don't know Twilight. But I know that your going to find out."

Twilight sighed. "I know, but I just wish I knew what to do. I was always learning because I would know how to deal with stressful situations."

"Knowledge is one thing Twilight, but experience is another. You can't always find the answer in a book, or someone else: you need to find the answer by facing the problem itself. You will have to deal with it, and learn how to conquer it."

"And what if it learns how to conquer ME?"

"That's why you have your friends, Twilight. They will cover your weaknesses, and you will cover theirs. So long as you have faith in them, and their faith in you, everything will be all right. I also have faith in you. I had it ever since you were a little filly the first time I made you my student."

Twilight smiled at this.

"Twilight, do you promise that you won't let your friends down? That you won't let all of Equestria down?"

Twilight began to think about the possibilities of what may go wrong, but she stopped her thoughts. She stood straight, looked her princess in the eyes.

"Yes."

Celestia looked at all the other girls. "And do you girls promise that you will do the same for Twilight?"

"Yeah!" "Of course we will, dear!" "No worries, sugarcube!" "We'll totally be there for you, Twilight!"

The princess nodded, satisfied with the response. "Now, we don't have much time, so you girls will have to prepare immediately. Tomorrow, we will meet here again. Chariots are waiting for you."

She dismissed the girls with a nod, and they ran out of the halls, where two golden chariots were waiting for them at the doorsteps.

"C'mon girls!" They jumped in, and the armored pegasi guards flew them off towards Ponyville.

Celestia watched them leave, and stared into the sunset outside.

I wish I knew the answer too, Twilight...

"So lemme get this straight: were going to sit here, and watch Equestria perish from that kingymabob-"

"King Sombra."

"Whatever. Have him take over, then zap him with the elements?" Rainbow Dash said.

"I guess that's one way to put it, yeah." Twilight responded

"Well, that seems simple enough. Shouldn't be too hard!"

Huh, I guess if you put it that way, it does seem a lot simpler than I thought. As long as were together, nothing too bad should happen, right?

Twilight looked down below onto the beautiful, lush landscape of what was her home. It felt so warm, so beautiful. It felt PERFECT. It was a feeling she didn't experience in years. At that moment, everything was perfect...

*Sorry the scene with Celestia was short, I suck at dialogues :P*

History

*The Past...*

A thousand years ago, the Crystal Empire was never saved. King Sombra usurped the empire, and ruled over them as a tyrant. He made the entire region a landscape full of darkness and devastation. The beautiful blue sky was replaced with a fiery orange of ash and smoke, and the kingdom's shield was no more, so the harsh coldness of the arctic mercilessly froze the inhabitants. The King forced them to work, and to do his deeds. Escape was impossible because of the weather, and if one attempted to do so, any friend or family would be harshly punished. Rations were poor and limited, and any injury or sickness would mean a certain death. Everything was a living hell.

All the kingdoms attempted to stop the tyranny, but to no avail. The darkness continued to spread, and brought havoc to everything within his control. So, the kingdoms came, and brought light and harmony across each other, protecting their inhabitants with their barrier of light. The darkness was stopped, and no longer continued to expand. No one was to know about the darkness, for it will surely bring fear and disunity. Therefore, it was kept a secret, so only the rulers knew about it. They encouraged everypony to stay within their borders, but those who ventured out never returned, which also encouraged everypony to stay inside their kingdoms.

The inhabitants continued to live happily and peacefully, not knowing what lies beyond...

*A few decades in the future from today*

Things have not been going so well for Equestria. Cities began to grow, and ponies began to expand throughout the land, taking up more and more space. Soon, they wanted to expand, yet were discouraged by officials despite the shortage of land. Some decided to venture out, but were never heard from again. This brought suspicion and curiosity to them, and began to question why the officials and Celestia were so worried about not wanting to expand.

Problems began to arouse. Because of the population, unemployment rose, and the economy began to fall. Consumer demands were not met, which led to depressions. The land became more scarce, so property was literally bought up immediately. Because of this, no more farms were able to be made. So, food started to become limited, and hunger spread. The low and higher classes grew further apart. Everypony began to face hardships, and disunity grew. Everyone tried to simply survive and get by.

The ponies complained, and were upset with the officials. They couldn't make the light that all the ponies wanted, needed, or expected. But there was nothing they could do. Anything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Everything started to fall...and the darkness began to expand once more.

Twilight's Report: Day 8

-Twilight's Report: Day 8 (Part 2)

Turns out my bad feelings were correct. Apparently there is a giant swarm of darkness about to evade Equestria because the barrier of light produced by the ponies influencing it is diminishing. Now, we're supposed to stop it by using the elements to defeat the tyrant King Sombra, who is possessed by some entity and is responsible for usurping the Crystal Kingdom, and bringing upon the darkness.

Honestly, I have no idea what to expect. I just learned less than half an hour ago that Equestria is about to be invaded, and we're supposed to liberate it back from a giant force bigger than anything me and my friends ever encountered. So yeah, i'm freaking out a little bit here, though not as much as I thought I would. I'm mostly worried about what happens AFTER we complete our mission, if we even do complete it No, I need to stay strong, and have faith in myself and my friends that we're going to pull through. My doubt will only become a weakness if I allow it to, and i'm not about to do that. Anyway's, after we complete it, I don't know what everypony would do. Be angry at the Princesses for letting it happen, and not telling them about it? Rebel? Maybe their light will shine again? I'll have to save those thoughts for later. One thing at a time.

All my friends seem to be handling the situation quite well. Rarity isn't dramatically fainting onto a couch (If she can even bring it all the way up here). Rainbow Dash seems pretty relaxed and eager, but still there's a little hint of nervousness that she would never admit to. Applejack seems depressed. I think it's the fact that she's going to loose her entire farm, which is practically her whole life. Fluttershy seems to feel the same. Probably worried about what's going to happen to all of her animals, since she would never be able to save them all in time, only to shelter them for what is about to come. Can't help but feel sympathy for the animals too.

Pinkie Pie's still being Pinkie.

I just want to get this over with; I just want everyone to be happy again, and have things back to the way they were before; I just want to be with my friends, and have fun, and act like there isn't a care in the world. But now, it's like Equestria I knew doesn't even exist anymore. It's all dark and depressing. When the darkness comes in, maybe there won't even be a difference.

Maybe there won't even be an Equestria to save.