Between Peaceful Dusk and Redemptive Dawn

You may be wondering how the quest to save the young unicorn by Shadowscare continued. But alas, what has passed has passed. In the present more pressing matters were arising. Do not fear my reader; in order to understand the present we must first understand the past. One must piece together a puzzle that will explain why something happened one way and not another. About twenty years after Shadowscare and his young foal arrived at the Crystal Empire, our beloved pegasus found himself in a world that he would have never imagined in his camp outside the blazed village in Northern Equestria. Although it seemed as if everything had finally come together and the world was finally at peace, peace was far from here. In the present, Shadowscare was studying in Canterlot library with his closest friend, Sappina Duskmark. Sappina was about the same age as Shadowscare. She was a unicorn with a red coat, a dark gray mane that flowed like an autumn breeze. They sat down, each with a book, and began to chat.

“Three new stars in less than a month!” said Shadowscare. “Ever since we upgraded the Canterlot Observatory, our findings of new stars have increased.”

“What astrological quest are you going to commit to next?” asked the curious Sappina.

“Who knows? There is an almost infinite space out there. Are we just limited to what we can see from this planet?”

“What are you getting at?” asked Sappina.

“I’m saying we should try to go to space. We will be closer. We should be able to see more than what we see on an average night.”

“Do you think that Luna would be the first to have the advances in technology that would allow us to go to space first? I doubt that during my lifetime we could get that far.” Sappina paused, turned away, then turned toward Shadowscare and said, “And I doubt Celestia would allow us to be the first ones to travel there.”

“Ugh. More of this ‘sister-hate’ rubbish that I keep hearing about.”

“You doubt me, but we have it far better as scholars than you really know. Agents, guards, and servants for the Lunar Princess alike are treated badly by those who work for Celestia. We do not get to see the trouble that goes on in our government because all we do is spend all day in the library and out in the field taking observations for our various theories. Not to mention, our own ponies do not respect our night time ruler. They sleep. They hide. They shun the moon and all Her glory. Is it our place to discover when our research may just be stolen by solar scholars? Are our hardships, experiments, and discoveries nothing to them?”

“It’s not always about us,” returned Shadowscare. “We do our research for the good of Equestria. I do not do it for fame or glory. I work because I can make the lives of others better. You must think of more than just yourself. As a species we decide what is worth fighting for, but I will give up my wings before I would leave one in the dust while I run alive and free when I can help instead.”

“You may have a point, but perhaps you doubt how much you are valued by others. It would be like trading gold for a penny.”

“I am flattered at that remark, but in the end we are both still metals,” retorted Shadowscare. Sappina looked away again as if it was foolish of Shadowscare to consider himself so low. “But enough of that,” Shadowscare demanded as he tried to change the subject. “Luna has some announcement she said she was going to give today.”

“I heard the same. It must be important. She never really shows herself except when something needs to be changed in Equestria.” Shadowscare then went back to his work and Sappina did the same. A dark cloud brewed on the horizon in the midst of a sunny day. Few noticed as it slowly inched its way across the sky. A hot fiery breeze spread through Canterlot that afternoon. The ponies paid no attention to that either. Shadowscare heard the wind beat against the shutters of the library windows. This produced a sound that, to him, resembled the sound of a stampede of hooves running in one direction. He was about to shut the window when one of Luna’s guards walked in. He greeted the fellow comrade who bowed to him and presented him with a letter stamped with the lunar seal.

“Did she say anything else?” asked Shadowscare.

“She said to give you the letter, and if I wanted to, I could congratulate you also,” replied the guard as he bowed again and left the room.

Shadowscare picked up the letter, carefully unfolded it, and began to read aloud: “To my closest assistant and scholar, Shadowscare. Your discoveries over the past two decades in the works of astronomy have been outstanding achievements of the Lunar and Celestial Enlightenment Program. You have improved our observatories, found twenty-seven new stars, and you have tracked the progress of three comets. Therefore, in agreement with Celestia and her noble subjects, I have been granted permission to crown you as royalty. On the upcoming eleventh of this month, you will be presented to Canterlot as a new lunar royal where you will become an alicorn, be granted almost infinite life, and (according to ancient lore) be placed amongst the stars with other fellow royals. Long live the empire. Long live Equestria. –Princess Luna.” Shadowscare put down the paper looked over at Sappina who had her mouth open in awe and envy. A fire burned in Sappina’s eyes. She had helped Shadowscare on some of his discoveries, yet she received no award for it.

“Yeah, so much for just metal,” said Sappina who crossed her hooves.

Shadowscare was surprised. He had been a scholar for Luna ever since he arrived in Canterlot all those years ago, but never once had he thought he would be crowned a royal for any of his achievements. He had crossed the wintry abyss of the north, he had seen the Crystal Empire and all its beauty, and he had made multiple discoveries in the field of astronomy. His discoveries did not truly change Equestria. The idea that all that had been discovered in the heavens of space was proved false by him and Sappina. Luna had praised him when he released his first volume on astronomy. Many of the earth ponies who bought the book stayed up into the night to daze into the night sky and find all the constellations from the writings of Pegasi Mythology. She had thanked me because her subjects began to see the moon more often than they did before.

Sappina closed her book and then stormed out of the library. Shadowscare could not focus. His mind was focused on his approaching royal coronation and the rain that pounded on the windows. He had scarcely time to realize that the one dark cloud that he had seen earlier had multiplied into several large clouds that were as dark as sin.

Three days passed. It was now the eleventh. The coronation had come. Shadowscare had been presented with a suit that would take the place of his robes that he usually wore when he studied the skies. He looked in the mirror at the image of himself. He was not gold, but he would represent Luna as best as he could. Shadowscare heard a knock at the door. He opened the door and the guard that had presented him the note stood there upright and attentive.

“Your majesty Princess Luna has requested your presence before the coronation can continue,” said the guard in a loud commanding voice.

“Will she not see me during the coronation instead?”

“No. You must go there now. This is urgent. It involves more than just you.”

Shadowscare began to walk away. He turned around before the guard trotted off and asked, “What is your name, guard?”

“Stratus,” the guard responded. “Good day to you, your highness.”

Shadowscare trotted quietly to Luna’s quarters. The hallway echoed with the sound of hooves. Thunder rumbled outside. The pegasi had scheduled a rainstorm to come over before the coronation. This would symbolize a rebirth and clean the new noble of any of his or her faults. Shadowscare opened the doors and found Luna surrounded by Guards.

“You’re coronation has been postponed till tomorrow,” Luna said as Shadowscare closed the doors. “There are more pressing matters at the moment.”

“Like what?” blurted Shadowscare.

“The Crystal Empire is under attack.” Shadowscare went pale at this news. The Crystal Empire was one of the strongest kingdoms in all of Equestria. If it was being taken over in such a short amount of time, then who or what that was taking it over might have the potential to destroy Canterlot in a matter of days. Luna conjured a screen in the air. This screen was like a tear in the air. It was blank at first and then it produced an image. A unicorn in the Crystal Empire answered on the other end of the screen. It blurred for a second and then returned. The unicorn began to speak.

“Is this on? Princess Luna?”

“Yes, my child,” replied Luna.

“Good. We have not made much progress in the last few hours. Whatever is attacking us is sprouting large black crystals everywhere. “

“You mean to tell me that we don’t even know what we are fighting?!”

“I’m afraid so, my princess.” The unicorn turned around as a large black crystal erupted from the ground beside him. “Some of my men have been infected by this crystal. Whatever it is, it is preventing them from casting any sort of magic.”

“What is the outlook of this battle?”

“We need reinforcements as soon as possible! We can’t hang on much longer . . . oh no.” The screen blurred. It returned momentarily to reveal a dark figure attacking the guard. Crystals grew everywhere. Luna looked down and looked at Shadowscare worriedly. Shadowscare was terrified. What monster could this land produce that could destroy one of the most peaceful, but well armored, cities in all of Equestria. He also worried for the ponies still there. The guards, the shopkeepers, and all the crystal ponies that Shadowscare had met there years ago might be annihilated in one day. When the screen returned, the unicorn guard was no longer standing where he had been. In that position was another unicorn whose horn glowed red with anger and rage and eyes that glowed with hatred. Shadowscare stared and could not believe his eyes. Before him was the brother that he had left in northern Equestria. Sombra smiled at the fear that was emitted by the ponies in the room.

His grin grew larger. He scanned the room, looked straight at Shadowscare, and said, “Good to see you again, brother.”