Out of the Shadow

by Rourke

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Romance, Princess Luna, Original Character, Princess Celestia
Length: 4645

This is the story of Rowan the alicorn and how he came to be

(Second attempt at a fic. You don't need to read this to understand the other one when it's finished, but it will help if you want to know who Rowan is.)
After the fall of King Sombra at the hooves of Celestia and Luna, his legacy falls upon a small group that was close to him who call themselves the "Filli Umbrae" (Latin for "Sons of the Shadow"). This is the story of the alicorn Rowan, who was created by the "Umbrae" to fulfill their dark goal of bringing King Sombra back, and how he came out of the shadow they cast over him, defeating all obstacles and finding what was once taken away from him.

Published 2012-12-07 01:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-07-12 22:49:13 UTC

Enter the Shadow

The dusk gave way to the night in the peaceful land of Equestria, bringing about its dark, mysterious and beautiful void full of stars. The moon was full and shining in all its glory as a lone, hooded pony made his way into the Everfree Forest. There wasn't much light, so the hooded figure, a stallion judging by his size, could barely be seen while moving through the dark, twisted foliage. He eventually passed between two crooked trees and quickly found a small path along the branches and leaves. The sounds of the forest were as fascinating as they were unnerving. Owls hooted in the distance, timberwolves howled and the occasional disembodied growl were setting the pony's nerves on end. Just as he thought about how unnerving the atmosphere was in the forest, the crack of a branch being stepped on resounded behind him.

As the stallion turned by pure reflex, he found a large, green eyed timberwolf staring back at him. The wolf began to circle around him, stalking him with hungry eyes and growling with murderous intent. Acting quickly, he removed his hood to reveal the face of a young, light blue unicorn. He then began to put some distance between himself and the wolf as he charged a spell, his horn glowing with an eerie purple aura. The wolf followed, staring and growling as the unicorn moved backwards. With a sudden small burst of blue light, he released the spell, closing his eyes and covering his ears in the process. The spell created a white sphere that hit the ground and exploded with a blinding flash of light and a very short and intense thump similar to a flash grenade. The wolf found himself absolutely disoriented and blinded, howling and jumping back from the shock and its sudden inability to see. By the time the wolf recovered, the blue unicorn was long gone.

He kept on galloping, and quickly reached a rather large river that he couldn't cross by hoof, deciding it safer to expend some energy and teleporting himself to the other side. Looking up at the moon and making some quick calculations, he noticed that he was running late. This, in turn, made him let out a groan as he took off on a gallop and hurried through the foliage. He didn't get very far however, as the unicorn tripped on an unsighted root and faceplanted hard, nearly dropping his saddlebags, which held cargo that was of the utmost importance. After picking himself up and checking his bags, he looked down on the root and said:

"Curse this damned forest and it's trees! Even they seem to want to kill me."

To release some anger, a flick of magic quickly took care of the offending root, burning it to a crisp, proceeding to put on his hood once more. He then kept going through the forest, now with more care of where he was stepping, until he reached a mid-sized clearing. In the middle of said clearing was a strange Spell Circle painted in red on the ground, bearing some strange symbols within it that almost nopony else in Equestria could read. Around the spell circle there were others dressed like him, reunited around a taller center figure, dressed with a red robe and with his hood removed. The stallion in the center was a bit taller than most of the others, he had a blue mane and a gray coat, golden eyes and was helping some others feed a lit pyre in the center of the circle. Once he arrived, the stallion in red turned around and told some of the ones in the circle to let the dark robed pony pass. Once he entered the circle, the others went back to their possitions. The blue unicorn removed his robe hood, releasing his messy purple mane. His eyes were green, much like the emerald necklace that hung from his neck. He let go of his saddlebags, keeping them close, just in case. As he did this, the stallion in red spoke with a deep, commanding voice:

"Do you have it, Ezio?"

"Yes, Lord Somnus, It's right here." The unicorn responded.

Ezio opened his saddlebags, revealing a thick, black book with several golden runes and symbols in the front. As he saw the book, Somnus couldn't help but smile.

"The 'Libri de Atrum Incantatio'. I've been waiting a long time for this." Somnus remarks as he opens the book on a page with the same spell circle that is painted in the ground. "Hmm, it seems the last copy we found was incomplete as we suspected. At last, we have the missing pages!"

Ezio took a seat beside the ponies that let him in. Somnus then proceeded to set up the necessary materials to complete the spell. When he was done, he turned around and spoke to the crowd.

"My fellow brothers of the Shadows, it is with great pleasure that I present to you the spell that will be the first step to release our dearest leader, King Sombra!" The crowd cheered after hearing his words, but he lifted his right hoof to keep them quiet. "As you all know, our leader was locked up in the ice after the new "leaders" of our land, Celestia and Luna, attacked him out of jealousy of our thriving empire. But, I've constructed a great plan to bring him back so he can have his revenge and take his place as the rightful leader, not just of the Crystal Empire, but of all of Equestria." The thunderous cheers filled the clearing, but again, he silenced them all with his hoof.

"Our plan consist of creating a counter-spell to brake the incantation that binds King Sombra. But in order to cancel out alicorn magic, we need an alicorn and that's where this spell comes in. Prancer, bring in the foal."

To this, one of the pegasi that were helping to build the pyre stepped up, carrying a foal, no older than eight, in his back. The foal's name, unbeknownst to most of them, was Rowan. He was an unicorn who had a black coat with a silver mane, no mark and a short tail. At the moment, he had been put to sleep with a potion, and thus, he wasn't aware of what was going on. Prancer placed Rowan in one of the small circles inside of the Spell Circle, close to the pyre. He then procedeed to take a seat as Somnus began to speak.

"This foal has vast amounts of raw magic, according to our resident Zebra, Bantu. This means that he'll be able to survive the transformation while having his powers amplified with Dark Energy. Now I know some of you may be wondering where this foal came from, but rest assured, no one will come looking for him. I personally had his little family... dealt with." As he said those last words, his face slowly took on a psychopathic grin, as if he enjoyed what he had just spoken of.

After his little speech, Somnus opened the book and looked for the page with the spell he needed. Finding it, he begun to charge his magic and chant the ancient spell:

"Spiritus obscurum, audir meus clamo
Dare mihe vester potentia in hic nox
Vento hic parvus et inops eqqulus
In aliquis essentia abs obscurum, magnus potentia"

As he finished the chant, his horn fired a beam of purple towards the pyre, giving the flame more power and making it turn dark purple. He stopped the beam and collected the ingredients he needed.

"First, the scales of a great dragon, valiantly obtained through hard work and perseverance. The tooth of a sea serpent, gained through the brave confrontation. A pegasus feather and the tip of a powerful unicorn's horn, the basis of the two superior tribes." He then threw the previous ingredients to the pyre, making the fire even larger. "Finally, a drop of blood from the foal, taken by force." He withdrew some rope and a small hidden blade from his robe and trotted towards the foal. He tied his hooves together tightly and made a small cut on his left hoof. The sharp jab of pain made Rowan wake up and begin to scream in terror, completely disoriented as to what had happened, but Somnus covered his mouth with a piece of cloth to silence him. Somnus lifted the blade and directed himself carefully towards the pyre, then dropping a single drop of blood to the fire as he backed away.

The fire burst upwards turning into a huge tower of purple flames, quickly turning in mid air and heading straight for Rowan. The Spell Circle ignited with red light as the flames surrounded him, while dark, arcane lightning shot from the circle itself. Most of the ponies in the circle backed away, but Somnus stayed inside the circle, enjoying every moment of it. Rowan screamed and flailed wildly as his body began to change. He grew a bit larger, his tail grew longer, his eyes went from blue to purple, his mane and tail turned a dark blood red. Tribal styled lines of the same color as his mane and tail begun to appear in his coat, his teeth became sharp, short fangs and he grew wings in his back. As all these changes occured, the pain became so strong he fainted from the strain. The fire then began to fade and the circle began to dim.

As the spell was reaching it's end, however, a sudden and massive burst of white light blinded exploded in front of Somnus and sent him and the other ponies flying fifteen feet back. Where the pyre used to be stood two great and beautiful Alicorns, the largest one was pure white with a Sun in her flank and a mane of multiple colors, her wings extended completely in a fighting stance, the smallest one was a pale purple with a stain as black as night and a Crescent Moon inside as her mark. As they stood between Rowan and Somnus, Celestia, the older one, stepped foward:

"You will not harm this child anymore than what you already have. Give in peacefully and nopony shall be harmed."

"I do not answer to you, Celestia" Somnus fired a beam of dark magic towards Celestia, but Luna quickly reacted and blocked it with a magic shield.

"How dare thee attempt to hurt my sister, insolent peasant. Do something like that again and I shalt not hesitate to slice off thy head!"

"Well as much as I'd like to stay and argue with the likes of you, I have other plans so, our long awaited comfrontation will have to wait for a better day" Somnus quickly teleported out of the forest, deciding to strategically retreat, as he had no real hope of defeating the two Alicorn sisters. Some of the ponies stayed and tried to take Rowan, however they found themselves merely striking a magical barrier, as the two sisters had already cast protective charms around the poor young colt. Chaos soon ensued, a several of the robed ponies panicked and attempted to flee, either by teleportation or by physically galloping away. But this was a futile exercise in the end, as those who tried to teleport found they couldn't do so anymore, and those who fled by hoof found themselves stopped by Royal Guard units, which had established a perimeter around them prior to the arrival of the Princesses. The robed ponies had no choice but to engage in combat against them, flashes of magic, screams of pain and strain piercing the night as the Royal Guards gave their best to ensure that these criminals wouldn't escape. Ezio, who had been near Somnus when this all started, had managed to sneak off in the initial confusion. But now he found himself face to face with three Royal Guard Unicorns. His heart accelerated as he felt an adrenaline surge, his fight or flight instincts deciding that fighting was the only option, as several of his fellow "brothers" already lay slain a few feet away. He stunned the first guard pony with a confusion spell and kicked him away by spinning and using his hindlegs, turning back around as the other two sent spells at him with murderous intentions, narrowly evading the two beams. He evaded several assaults from the guards, managing to bounce one of the attacks back with a haphazardly casted mirror shield spell. The spell found its unfortunate caster, ending him on the spot, and giving Ezio the opening he needed. Without a second thought, he furiously galloped forward and jumped over his fallen opponent, fleeing the scene at full gallop and disappearing into the darkness. After several minutes, the chaos subsided, as the Royal Guards managed to overwhelm their enemies. Several lay dead from the fierce encounter, though most that couldn't escape were knocked out and captured for questioning. However, it wasn't a full victory, as most of the truly prominent and important members of the cult managed to flee, and sadly, several Guards were lost. Once the fighting was over, Luna went over to the foal in the spell circle, which had been burned into the ground now... The Pyre no longer burned, and the colt was thrown on the ground, his body having changed permanently.

"His pulse is weak, but he is still alive. What should we do?" said the Princess of the Night, looking back at her older sister.

"Let's take him back to the castle, we'll think of what to do with him after we tend his wounds." Celestia replied.

Celestia and Luna headed for their castle with the Royal Guard and their prisoners close behind, Rowan resting on Luna's back, as he was completely unconscious. They walked through the twisted path until they reached the end of the forest. There they took a broad road that led them straight to a great castle with high towers and a very sophisticated design. As they entered the castle, the Royal Guards took a stairway to the left into the dungeons, as Celestia and Luna headed to the medical wing. They went through several, highly decorated hallways until they reached their destination. The room wasn't too large, but it had space for about 100 patients. The beds were immaculately made and everything was where it should be. Luna put Rowan in the bed closest to her and called:

"Dr. Cross, please, come quick, we require thy services immediately."

A young, cream coated and brown maned colt popped his head from a room in the back and when he saw who was calling on him, he rushed towards them, almost tripping over his own hooves from the hurry. He quickly reached Rowan's bedside and asked:

"What happened to this poor foal, your Highness?"

"He is victim of extreme magical exhaustion, please, you must help him. His life may depend on it." Celestia said, her face showing great concern.

"Do not worry your Highness, I'll do everything in my power to help him." Replied the kind doctor.

Dr. Cross then proceeded to check Rowan from horn to hoof. As he did this, he suddenly stopped and turned to Celestia and Luna.

"Your Highness... he's an Alicorn!"

Luna looked at Rowan and then back to the doctor. Her faced showed great concern for the life of the foal in the bed. She then replied:

"We are aware of that, doctor. Please continue."

He turned back to Rowan and kept working, carefully tending to his injuries and using his own magic to help stabilize and recover Rowan's own reserves. After 2 minutes, he went to a cabinet and extracted a green potion. He then turned to the princesses and said:

"Are any of you staying here with him or...?"

"We shalt stay with him Dr. Cross, I am awake in the night after all." Replied Luna

"Very well. If he wakes up, give him this potion, it'll help him recover and keep him from getting nauseous or disoriented."

"We thank thee, Dr. Cross, thy work is highly appreciated."

Dr. Cross left the princesses and went back to the room in the back, closing the door as he entered. Luna turned to Celestia and sheepisly asked:

"Tia, could you do me a favor and...?"

"Take over Night Court?" Celestia looked at Luna smiling. "Yes Luna, I will. I do have a question though."

"What is it?

"Why are you so interested in this foal? We just found him a while ago."

Luna thought about it and replied:

"I don't really know. I feel a strong aura emenating from him. It feels resonant with my own, as if he also possesed control over the dark."

"I feel it too, but time will tell just who this foal is... And what he will become. That is the most important, and worrying part..." The white Alicorn mare let out a sigh, knowing that important events were likely to unfold soon. "I forsee a turbulent furure ahead. But we should worry about his health first... We will deal with those concerns at a later time."

Celestia gave Luna a good bye kiss in the cheek and left for the Throne Room to start Night Court. Luna sat down next to Rowan's bed and teleported a book from her personal collection to herself. As she opened the book and begun to read, she looked at the foal laying on the bed and thought to herself:

"I hope this 'Somnus' character won't appear again. But alas, I fear this is not the last we'll hear of him"

Author's Note

After a long time, I've decided to work on this story again... I've edited the first chapter to the best of my abilities. I hope you all enjoy it ^_^

Recovery

It was about 2:00 in the morning, so the medical room was dark and quiet, except for the small, flickering candle next to Rowan's bed. Luna was reading a rather large book titled "Advanced studies in the Dark Arts" by Starswirl the Bearded and Clover the Clever. She was searching around the book for the spell that could've turned the young foal resting in the bed into an alicorn. As she did this, young Rowan stirred in his bed. Luna laid down her book and grabbed the green potion in her magic. Rowan slowly woke up and looked around him. His face showed great fear and sadness. Just then, Luna spoke up:

"Hello little one. I'm glad you are all right. Please drink this, the doctor says it will help thee feel better."

The foal looked at her and he felt a bit more calm. He shakily grabbed the bottle and spoke up in a soft and shy voice:

"Where am I?"

"Thou art in the medical facilities of the Royal Palace. It will be safe in here, do not worry."

"Are you Princess Luna?" The little foal looked a little worried now.

"Yes, but you can just call me Luna. There is no need for formalities of any sort."

Rowan sipped the potion. It tasted very sour, so he put a funny face the instant he drank. Luna giggled.

"Do you remember where your family lives little one?"

To this Rowan's expression changed to a blank one. The events of the previous days flashed back into his mind. Tears began to roll down his cheeks as he remembered what Somnus had done to his mother, his father and his elder sister. He had beat them up with his magic, tied then up and injected him with a sleeping potion. The last memory that flashed by was the screams of his family as his housed burst into an inferno. He begun to sob uncontrolably, but quietly. Luna quickly went to his side and hugged him tightly while stroking his mane with her hoof.

"There there, little one, do not cry, you are safe here. We'll take care of you."

Rowan begun to calm down and told her everything. As Luna heard what happened, she couldn't help but to feel sorry for the foal. As he finished she looked at him and asked:

"What is your name, little one?"

"R-Rowan." Said the foal between sniffs.

Luna felt something special towards the little foal. She felt that she needed to help this foal in some way.

"Well Rowan, how would you like to stay here in the palace with me."

"You mean live here?!" His face lit up with excitement.

"Yes Rowan, live here. Me and my sister will take care of you."

"Oh yes! Thank you so much Luna!" He raised his hoof with excitement, but his face quickly changed to surprise as he saw the red streaks across his hoof. He begun to look at himself, at his flank and there he found a silver colored Spell Circle (different from the one in Somnus' spell). He then felt his new wings and in a shocked way asked:

"What happened to me?" Why do I have a horn and wings?"

"Apparently, the spell that Somnus cast upon you has turned you into an alicorn, Rowan."

"Cool!! "Can you teach me how to fly? Will I learn magic? Can you..." Luna puts a hoof over his mouth to silence him.

"In time, Rowan, in time."

Just then, Celestia entered the room. She went over to Luna and sat down beside Rowan's bed.

"I can see why you hate Night Court so much, sister. Some of these ponies can be flat out obnoxious. Hmm, it looks like the little one woke up. How are you feeling?"

Rowan nervously looked at Celestia, making her look at Luna in a puzzled way.

"His name is Rowan, sister. Rowan, do you mind if I talk alone with my sister?"

"Ok.

Celestia followed Luna to the doorway from which Dr. Cross had come from. Once there, Luna started to talk.

"I've been listening to his story of what happened before he wound up in the Spell Circle. What Somnus did was horrible. Do you remember that fire that destroyed a house in the outskirts of Ponyville and the three fatalities in it."

"Yes, I do remember, the Royal Guard was sent to investigate and they found traces of magic all over the place. Wait a second, you mean..."

"The three fatalities in that house, that was Rowan's family. Somnus murdered them."

"And he doesn't have any other family?"

"Unfortunately, no . According to the Royal Guard's report, his parents were only children and his grandparents already died."

"Oh dear, what are we going to do with him?"

"I told him he could stay with us."

To this, Celestia did a double take. Her jaw hanging slack after hearing what Luna had just said.

"Luna, do you have any idea how much responsability we're talking about here? You told him he could stay and live here without consulting me at all?!?"

"We can't just put him in an orphanage. Somnus is looking for him."

"Hmm... you have a point. We have to keep an eye over him."

"Can he stay?"

"For the time being, yes. But we'll discuss this later in better detail so we can make a better desicion."

"Sounds fair." Luna sighed in relief.

Luna then nodded and hugged her sister. Then, the two Royal Sisters walked up to Rowan's bedside. Celestia looked at him and smiled.

"Well Rowan, looks like you'll be staying for now." said Celestia.

"Really?" His eyes lit up in happiness.

"Yes, really." Rowan stood up as best as he could and hugged Celestia's leg. "Thank you so much..." Tears of joy were forming in his eyes.

"No problem, Rowan. You need a home, and we'll provide." Celestia was struggling to keep her own emotions in check, trying to fight back tears because of Rowan's touching gesture. Rowan then released her and did the same to Luna.

"Now you must sleep... we'll show you your room in the morning." Luna says this in a calm tone.

"Ok. Good night, Princesses."

Eventually, the morning sun rose above the horizon, signalling the start of a new day. The young Rowan awoke once more proceeding to get out of the bed and looking around this new environment he was in. As this happened, Princess Luna walked into the room.

"Glad to see you are awake, Rowan."

The young alicorn turned around to meet Luna's gaze, smiling as he saw her.

"Hello, Princess. Good morning." Rowan responded with a calm tone.

Luna noticed he now seemed to be slightly more timid. She then proceeded to sit beside him to lower herself closer to his short stature.

"You can call me Luna, dear. Now tell me, how are you feeling?"

"I feel fine. I think I'm taller now though..." The young alicorn looked at his body once more, trying to get used to the new changes.

"Excellent, it seems you're recovering very rapidly. Now, come with me, Rowan, for I must show you where you will sleep..."

Rowan smiled as he began to follow the Dark Princess... he couldn't keep his eyes off her as he seemed to have quite the fascination of being so close to the Legendary princess... he felt excited beyond belief, like a child being brought to a toy store for the first time. Luna then stopped in front of a large wooden door. The room seemed to be quite to her own room as two guards could be seen at the end of the hallway, guarding the entrance to her bedroom. There was also a guard beside the door that led to Rowan's new room. As the young foal noted all of this, Luna opened the door and walked into his room, to which he followed her.

"Well, this is it, young Rowan.... you shall be staying in this guest room. Me and my sister will keep an eye on you and visit you often... Now, there are some rules we need to set in place though..."

"Like what?" The young alicorn tilted his head adorably, giving a look of innocence that only a child can have.

"You won't leave the room unless you're in the company of me or Celestia. The maids will bring you your meals when it's time to eat. When you're ready, you will attend the School of gifted Unicorns and resume your education there. And remember... if you need anything, just talk to me or my sister. "

"Uum... alright then... I can do that." Rowan smiled as he nodded, accepting the rules placed by Luna.

"Very well, I'll come here later to see how you're doing. See you soon, Rowan." The Dark Princess smiles and waves as she walks away as Rowan begins to explore the new room.

As he walks around, he notices the room is quite large. The architecture seems inspired by Greco-Roman design, as there are several decorative columns that divide the room between the bed area and a study area with a large bookshelf, a fireplace and a desk, as well as several cushions in the floor for sitting. Everything seems to be decorated following the Royal Lunar colors of blue, black, silver and purple... Rowan finds himself to be impressed with his new living conditions, but his subconscious still lingers on the loss of his family...

"Well... My family.... may not be here anymore but... at least I can live here now..." Rowan thinks to himself out loud. "At least I lived... at least I have a second chance. I think I'll be happy here... Mommy and Daddy would want me to keep on living and be happy...."

He sheds a small tear from his left eye, but quickly wipes it away and smiles.

"I just have to see this... as my new beginning."