The Princess of Shadows

by -Zenith-

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure
Length: 2623

The bright and harmonious Equestria celebrates the coronation of its newest alicorn princess, while the dark and desolate wasteland of Cimmareia prepares to crown its first

Princess Twilight Sparkle. Never before has anyone heard of a regular unicorn ascending to the status of alicorn, but the citizens of Equestria are no less eager to welcome their newest princess to her place in Canterlot. The job of running a country may seem like an incredibly overwhelming task, but Twilight is confident that with the love and encouragement of her friends and life-long mentor she will be able to prove an excellent princess for her new subjects. But there are some things that must first be known in order to run Equestria…things that are not common knowledge to other ponies.

For example, the existence of a dark kingdom of wastelands and black forests as old as Equestria itself. Though the ponies of that world are not too fond of the idea of a unicorn ascending to alicorn status, further adding to their bright and harmonious neighbor’s loathsome perfection.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-02-21 05:06:56 UTC

Prologue - The Founding of Cimmareia

Equestria, a land that has always been filled with sunlight, peace, and the dirtiest dirt of the whole dirt world. Equestria has always been a paradise, and immediately presented itself as the perfect home for the three pony tribes after they tried to go their separate ways…well, immediately after the six who found it were able to put aside their differences and foolish hate to prevent the entire land from being frozen under the cold and bitterness of their hearts.

After the reunification of the three tribes, Commander Hurricane was quick to orchestrate the construction of Equestria’s first pegasus city: Cloudsdale. From there the pegasi took charge of producing, maintaining, and controlling Equestria’s weather. Chancellor Puddinghead—with a great deal of advice from Secretary Smart Cookie—entered a joint operation with Princess Platinum to build Equestria’s capital city at the heart of the country.

Building the city of Canterlot was to be an extremely ambitious project; the decision to build the capital city on the side of a mountain was a constant cause of debate among the citizens, but the ponies actually getting their hooves dirty were confident they could pull it off. From the first blueprint being drawn, to the final brick being laid, the village of Bearlin served as Equestria’s unofficial capital until Canterlot’s construction was far enough along to accurately refer to it as a city.

Bearlin—named for the cave bears that dwelled in the caverns located where the village was founded—was originally built as a mining town at the base of the mountain that would eventually hold the city of Canterlot. The discovery of valuable ores in the mountain assisted in the decision to build the capital there, and the village grew rapidly as ponies flocked from all over the young country looking for work…of course, Princess Platinum’s discovery of precious gems buried in the mountain helped as well. Bearlin easily became the most densely populated location in Equestria, and also the most diversely populated as ponies from all three tribes were eager to help build their capital city, or strike it rich in the mines.

However, most of the work of mining the ores and gems, and collecting timber from the nearby forests fell to the earth ponies, and the actual building of Canterlot went to the unicorns. Some pegasi fell on both sides of the job, but most worked for Bearlin’s weather service—which was constantly bragged about as being the best job in Equestria. But despite some of the differences in occupation, all of the ponies living in Bearlin felt both honored and a part of something wonderful to be able to contribute to the construction of their capital city which would undoubtedly stand for millennia.

Over time the three tribes seemed to dissolve into one until all that was really left were “the ponies of Equestria.” The foundation of Equestria progressed at an unprecedented rate, and everything in the new country was full of harmony and everyone believed the world would be perfect. They were right, too, but a small problem did arise when a certain unicorn and some of his associates began research and practice into a newly discovered form of magic.

Aelin the Arcane was one of the most responsible if not the most responsible pony behind the discovery of an unheard of kind of dark magic. The new magic revolved around the power behind darkness and shadow, and proved dangerous in many cases—even when it could be controlled. Aelin was not alone in his research, and his followers only continued to grow as he based his studies in Bearlin during the time it was the busiest city in Equestria. Aelin and his colleagues coined the term “Shadespell” for the new division of magic they practiced, and their knowledge and control of that magic grew with each experiment preformed, every word written, and every spell cast…as did their power.

Soon Shadespell became more than a simple division of magic for those who studied it. It became a new way of life. The ponies who were drawn to Shadespell found themselves drawn to the darkness and shadows, and some even went as far as to color their fur gray and black. Aelin himself had personally gone to the bright and shining Crystal Empire to see how the dark and mysterious new culture of Shadespell would fare among the crystal ponies. But in a civilization that prospered on hope, love, and purity the ponies saw Shadespell for what it really was: complete negativity given form. Darkness, fear, ambition, et cetera; the exact things the crystal ponies did not want in their empire. Seeing that his new "culture" would find no home in the Crystal Empire, Aelin peacefully returned to Bearlin, where the power and allure of Shadespell was still gathering followers by the day.

Many citizens began to express fear and concern over the magic Aelin the Arcane and his fellow ponies practiced, and the Equestrian leadership began to take issue as well. By this time, those who believed in Shadespell numbered far more than just the unicorns that could use it as Aelin numbered close to one hundred followers with ponies from all three tribes. The leaders of Equestria tried to intervene and put a stop to Aelin the Arcane and his studies of Shadespell, but Aelin and his followers only responded by reaching out to the public and saying that Shadespell was something to be embraced, not feared.

Aelin’s communications to the crowds were successful in bolstering his followers’ numbers even more, which only made the country leaders even more concerned. The study and practice of Shadespell soon became a reality spread thin throughout all of Equestria, and only that much more evident in Bearlin. Aelin and his followers were threatened to put an end to Shadespell by the Equestrian leadership, or suffer the consequences. At the time the idea of banishment from Equestria was shocking, and the actual decision may have been rash, but Aelin made it perfectly clear that he and his followers would never agree to give up what they lived for just because a few ponies were frightened by it.

Aelin the Arcane and his followers were forbidden to ever set foot in Equestria again…they numbered just under one thousand.

Aelin and his followers were thrown out of Equestria and sent into the infinite unknown that lay beyond. They travelled until they were miles and miles from their home country and everything around them began to look the same in all directions. They had reached an endless expanse of dark wastelands, and they were not even sure how far the wastes stretched behind them before it reached Equestria. Some of the region was overrun with thick dark forests that could seemingly never be contained. Even the very trees of this land seemed to be as black as night. The mountains that reached up to the sky were just as black and eerie, and the sky itself seemed fitting for the darkness of this new land as the sun raised by the unicorns for Equestria did not offer the same brilliance for the land Aelin and his followers would now call home. The land they would now call Cimmareia.

The first city built in Cimmareia was to be its capital, which would be built in the middle of a wasteland beyond one the country’s most heavily forested areas. There, in the northernmost regions of Cimmareia, Aelin and his followers had stumbled upon what could only be called an oasis, and an area in Cimmareia that easily reminded them of the beauty of Equestria. The city was to be named Penumbra, loosely inspired by the dismal shade of the sky during “daytime” when it was stuck somewhere in between light and dark.

As time went on, Aelin slowly absorbed the role as self-appointed leader of the Cimmareian ponies, and there was no complaint as he had lead them from the beginning anyway. Aelin’s methods of ruling may have been somewhat unconventional as he continued his obsession with Shadespell, and came very close to forming a sort of religion from it, but he was able to mold Cimmareia into a land that could correctly be recognized as a country—even by Equestria. But beyond the recognition of each other as legitimate countries, no connections were ever successfully formed between Equestria and Cimmareia.

Years passed, and Cimmareia slowly grew on its own, completing its project of building Penumbra, and expanding to form a handful of other villages and settlements. Aelin was able to establish some form of a working government for Cimmareia, but unrest continued to grow in the country with Aelin’s strange ego as some sort of religious leader, and his constantly changing opinion about Equestria. Many citizens found themselves in strong disagreement with the way Aelin suggested they view themselves and the rest of the world and with the spread of his disfavored ideals through the country, insurrection followed.

An earth pony named Serimus—once a close friend of Aelin—rose as the rebellious leader against Aelin’s regime. Not many citizens of Cimmareia stayed loyal to Aelin, and without many followers to his name, there was virtually no fighting during this period in time. The most violence that ever really occurred was a series of relatively small riots in Penumbra, all of which were in favor of Serimus. Aelin tried to appeal to his ponies in the end, but Serimus and those who followed him refused to let him remain in power. Aelin was removed from the leadership position in Penumbra and thrown out of the city at the end of the rebellion. He grew quiet in the following years and continued his work with Shadespell and his so-called religion, though ponies did not flock to him as they had in Bearlin.

Although Aelin may have been able to get Cimmareia on its feet, Serimus was the one who got the country moving and on the right track. He had led the rebellion against Aelin well and was almost instantly appointed as the new Cimmareian leader by the citizens. He was bitter towards Equestria as the common Cimmareian was, and his belief was that every pony in Cimmareia should be free to their own opinion of their former home as long as they understand that stable relations could never exist between the two countries. This was never a problem though, as any who may have wished for such relations numbered extremely few.

As for Shadespell, the dark magic discovered by Aelin the Arcane had been and still remained the pride of Cimmareia under Serimus—despite his being an earth pony. “Regular” magic still remained as natural in the dark wastes as it had been in Equestria, but everything in the magical arts now had the shadow magic of Cimmareia at its core. It is unknown if for this reason, or if because of the environment of Cimmareia that the ponies that lived there adapted to a similar appearance as the generations passed. Gray and black became common colors for the coats and manes of the Cimmareians, and any color they were able to retain from the bright country of Equestria slowly became dark and dull.

Slowly emotions towards Equestria went from bitter to almost nonexistent as knowledge of what went on in the Cimmareians’ former home country was virtually impossible to receive. However, on a seemingly random day this changed abruptly in a chain of events that started with a curious storm that had drifted into Cimmareia from the east, the direction of Equestria. With a bizarre contrast to the usual dull gray clouds that hovered over Cimmareia, an unorganized mess of bright pink clouds soared across the eastern edge of the Cimmareian sky without the help of any wind. Stranger still, one village supposedly suffered from inconsistent downpours of chocolate rain.

Many citizens of Cimmareia believed this was some sort of asinine childish joke or prank courtesy of Equestria. The already negative outlook of Equestria only gave this idea more popularity, and many citizens demanded action be taken in the defense of their home. When a tornado built of what appeared to be melted cheese soaked an eastern forest in its warm gooey sauce, close to two hundred ponies volunteered to travel to Equestria and demand an end to this insane harassment.

Serimus himself lead the volunteers on a three week journey in the direction of their former homeland, a journey which should have been quicker if not for the mounting chaos that turned the ground into soap, a random checkerboard pattern, or just threw entire chunks of earth into the sky to drift lazily overhead. Serimus and his followers were shocked when they arrived in Equestria only to discover that much of the land lay in ruin, albeit in rather silly ways similar to what had befallen Cimmareia. Serimus and his large group of followers were not immediately recognized as ponies banished from Equestria for following Aelin the Arcane and his Shadespell, and they took advantage of this opportunity to discover what disaster of this magnitude could have befallen the country.

Serimus and his followers returned to Cimmareia with news both strange and infuriating for the citizens. The bizarre news was that of what had happened to Cimmareia and even more so to Equestria: a powerful and mischievous spirit of chaos—called a draconequus—had used its power to drown Equestria in chaos and madness, a madness which had partially spread into Cimmareia. But the news many found much more critical was that of how the creature had been stopped and what had happened afterwards. Before Serimus had revealed the true identity of himself and his survivors a handful of them were invited to witness the coronation of Equestria’s two new leaders—the same two ponies that had defeated the draconequus and saved the world from eternal chaos.

These two ponies were crowned princesses after their amazing display of power and benevolence by defeating the draconequus with the newly discovered Elements of Harmony. It was also noted that they were the first ponies of their kind since the founding of Equestria, perhaps even since the beginning of time. The new princesses of Equestria were alicorns—unicorns with wings, or pegasi with horns. Either way, Serimus and his followers could easily see and appreciate the beauty and power before them in Equestria’s newfound harmony, and it was decided that they could try to appeal to the new rulers and form a sort of alliance between their countries that would hopefully strengthen over the years. But all it took was to reveal that they had traveled from Cimmareia and they were once again exiled from their original home. The new princesses had made it clear that, not only would Shadespell not be tolerated in Equestria, but neither would the ponies of Cimmareia.

The news of Serimus’s experience in Equestria was successful in digging up the Cimmareians’ buried feelings of bitterness and resentment of their old home, but also added a new emotion to the mix: jealousy. Everything in Equestria continued to become more and more perfect, and the Cimmareians’ negative emotions were no lighter when—long after Serimus’s death—it was discovered that the alicorn sisters of Equestria were also immortal. After one final attempt to make friends with Equestria once again ended with rejection and a cold shoulder Cimmareians began to denounce their ancestral home and did what they could to put its perfection from their minds.

Ponies may have been proud to call Cimmareia home—especially after the passing generations began to know nothing else—but the hatred and jealousy always remained, and the fact that Equestria had somehow produced not one, but two hybrids of the original three tribes did nothing to quell such feelings.