Chapters Shadow Equestria, the other side of the normal Equestria, was ruled by an alicorn mare known as Princess Darkstar, the Shadow of Princess Celestia. She ruled with an iron hoof until her defeat at the hooves of her Steward Reginald, who had never been truly loyal to her at all. She had returned to undeath by the dark arts of Thrack and had found an alicorn stallion by the name of Midnight guarding a place called the Nexus, but again she was defeated. Ultimately she was brought back by her faithful stallion Atar and she ended the undead threat by making their leader, Thrack herself, be eaten by her black flames.
Now the Dark Princess stared out of Shadowlot, the shadowy empire of Canterlot, and watched the ponies work and play as if she had never come back. Her sister, Nightmare Moon, had ruled by herself while she had waited for Darkstar to regenerate, raising both the sun and the moon alone. Truth be told Darkstar was actually proud of her younger sister and was absolutely confident that when she vanished from Shadow Equestria forever she could leave things in good hooves.
Darkstar knew that since the filly known as Sweetie Belle was still alive that meant her Shadow would eventually regenerate somewhere in Shadow Equestria. The good thing was that since Thrack was finally destroyed it meant that she would not be returning to seek revenge for a fourth time. Sweetie's Shadow could even be out there right now, searching for a way to get back to her friends, the Shadows of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. The three, at the time when Thrack was living in the normal Equestria, were known as the Shadow Mark Crusaders, or SMC on their capes.
Currently she had her guards, the lesser guards who were bored after the defeat of Thrack, search the Dark Realm for any mentions of a regenerated Shadow of Sweetie Belle. It was mostly to satisfy her need to know if Sweetie even had a Shadow anymore and if she did, how much of the past did she remember? Considering that she had cast Thrack into the bowels of the blackest flames it could possibly mean that the Shadow would be like Sweetie Belle, just without the nature to kill every living pony she came across.
Darkstar lifted her head as the doors to the throne room opened and her sister came walking into the room, still dressed up in her armor. Why she never took it off was a mystery that not even Darkstar could solve. Nightmare tilted her head to the side, her way of asking if the searches had uncovered anything new since the last time she had asked. Darkstar, as usual, would shake her head 'no' in reply and that would make the dark alicorn of the night sigh slightly before continuing onto another matter.
It was something they had been doing for the last few weeks and with nearly every inch of Shadow Equestria searched it seemed like Sweetie's Shadow was gone.
"The School of Shadows opens in a few days," Nightmare happily announced, trying to bring her sister out of what seemed like depression, "I have made arrangements with Princesses Luna and Celestia to include you in the list of teachers and a place for Sweetie's Shadow is open for when we do find her. I'm surprised that Atar hasn't found anything that might lead him to a newly regenerated Shadow yet."
Yeah, Darkstar had sent the Co-Captain of her personal guard out to search for the Shadow of Sweetie Belle since he seemed to be getting bored around the castle. It was her way of making sure that every possibility of finding the Shadow was used, but he hadn't discovered anything last time he reported in. Darkened Armor and Shadence, the Shadow couple of Shining Armor and Cadence, had reported nothing from the Crystal Empire. Not even the Shadows of King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis, and Discord could find a single trace of the Shadow she had been searching for.
"Sure, eventually," Darkstar said, her horn barely lighting up as she lowered the sun and her sister raised the moon, "I'm the freaking dark immortal Princess of Shadowlot, a feared alicorn in my own right, and yet here I am, searching for a Shadow who might not ever regenerate. Let's face it Nightmare, I don't think that the Shadow of Sweetie Belle will ever exist in our world again."
"Come on now, that's no way for the Princess of the Black Sun to talk," Nightmare countered, "Sure we can't find that poor Shadow right now, but that doesn't mean that she wont eventually regenerate on her own. Give it some time sister. We both know that when she regenerates the guards will come bursting through those doors to tell you the news of their discovery. You just have to be patient."
"Patience was never one of my strongest virtues," Darkstar admitted, getting off the throne so her sister could take over for the night, "besides, if they find something at this time of night I'm sure you could handle it."
A guard burst into the room and came to one knee before Darkstar, though she was surprised to see who it was. The red coat, horn, and the familiar lance on his back identified the stallion before he even had to speak his name.
"Atar, I was not expecting you to return for some time," Darkstar said, "What news do you bring with you?"
"She has been found at last Princess Darkstar," the stallion replied, "The Shadow of Sweetie Belle has finally regenerated at long last."
Nightmare leapt off the throne and landed by them, the news making her eager to meet the Shadow now. Darkstar was equally eager to meet the Shadow, but she had other questions.
"Where is she?" she asked Atar.
"Evilville," Atar answered, speaking the name of the Shadow Ponyville, "She was last seen with Apple Poison and Wreckaloo, the Shadows of her counterparts friends."
"Then to Evilville we must go," Nightmare exclaimed, receiving a nod from her sister, "Lead the way Atar."
Shadow Sparkle, the feared Element of Dark Magic, sighed as she watched the three fillies play around outside her library, unaware that she had sent a letter to Atar. She normally sent letters to Darkstar, but in the case she discovered the location of Sweetie Belle's Shadow she needed a way to get letters to Atar. Now she waited and watched, making sure that the three fillies had fun with Rend, the Shadow Spike, before the Princesses arrived. Her friends, the rest of the Elements of Chaos, waited on top of the other houses that gave them good view, or more of sitting in some of them since they didn't possess magic of their own.
Of course the two Princesses arrived moments later, with Atar at their backs. Shadow smiled and jumped out of the window, leaping from branch to branch until she was at the ground.
"Princess Darkstar, Princess Nightmare, Co-Captain Atar," she greeted, "I knew you would come with much haste after hearing about the discovery."
"Of course we would," Nightmare said, spotting the three fillies behind her, "and I am glad that we have managed to find her at long last."
"As am I," Shadow agreed, "but why go through the effort of finding her Princess Darkstar?"
"Truth be told I was worried that Thrack might return again," Darkstar admitted, "but even though this filly looks like she did I don't sense the same level of power within her. She is truly the Shadow of Sweetie Belle, not the monster that was feared in the normal realm. She will be joining her friends on the train to the School of Shadows soon."
"Hear that Bitter Belle?" Poison happily said, "Your coming with us to school soon. You'll get to meet your counterpart soon enough."
"This is going to be so awesome," Wreckaloo cheered, "the school will never withstand us."
"Shadow Mark Crusaders forever," Bitter added to the cheer.
"I shall write a letter to Princess Luna and inform her that the Crusaders will be joining their counterparts," Nightmare said, giving a small smile to the two mares next to her, "and hopefully she tells Sweetie that her counterpart has finally been located."
Darkstar nodded and watched the three fillies, wondering how they could be so normal when one of them wasn't even a normal pony anymore. Next to her Atar sighed and stared up at the moon, though she could tell he was wondering something as well. Whatever the case was Darkstar and Atar had planning to do before the School of Shadows opened in a weeks time. And when the school did open Darkstar would give it a lesson that nopony was ever going to forget.
Dear Princess Luna,
While I am sorry that I haven't been keeping in touch as much as I should be I have been busy searching for the Shadow of Sweetie Belle. It isn't easy searching through the dreams of thousands of ponies to find a mention of such a Shadow, but despite our failures my sister continued to press me. She pressed her niece and her husband to find this one Shadow, why even I still cannot understand.
You should have seen Atar; he was full of energy as he searched the regions that the other soldiers were too scared to venture into or had monsters like an Ursa Major resting there. He was determined to find her Shadow at all costs, just as my sister was determined to make sure Thrack wouldn't rise again. Their view on the fact that Thrack would rise to fight a fourth time was purely wrong as nothing, and I mean nothing, has ever survived my sister's Black Flames.
You wouldn't believe it though; after weeks of searching for the Shadow of Sweetie Belle we finally found her hiding somewhere in Evilville, the Shadow of Ponyville if you will. She was having fun with the Shadow Mark Crusaders, not terrorizing the citizens and destroying everything. Apple Poison and Wreakaloo were glad to hear that Bitter Belle would be joining them in class at the School of Shadows, along with their counterparts.
Be warned though, Bitter's form is the same as Sweetie's and yet she doesn't contain the power of Thrack either. She was glad to hear that she would be joining her friends and counterpart, but something honestly doesn't feel right. Darkstar claimed that she searched for this filly to be sure Thrack was dead and Atar seemed to make sure that he left no stone unturned while he looked.
Be sure to tell Celestia that the threat of Thrack returning is no longer a possibility and that she can rest easy knowing that the filly is going to be under watchful eyes. Also pass along to Sweetie that we have discovered her Shadow and that she will be meeting her when the train arrives to pick them up in a weeks time. Pass along my best to the Elements of Harmony, your sister, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and the rulers of the Crystal Empire.
From your counterpart,
Princess Nightmare Moon of the Shadow Realm
Luna read over the letter for a second time to be sure the contents were authentic before making her way to the throne room of Canterlot, where her sister was currently watching over. The sun was up and she was supposed to be asleep, but thanks to the letter she knew her sister had to be told that Sweetie's Shadow had been found. Plus the fact that the monster Nightmare Moon had created was gone forever was something that would please her to no end.
When she arrived in the throne room she was surprised to find that her sister was signing papers and writing notes down on another sheet. She was preparing for her classes at the School of Shadows for when it was her turn and Luna was her watching over the world. She barely looked up as Luna entered, only giving her a nod of that meant she recognized that Luna was in the room at all.
"I have some news sister," Luna announced, "News that you might find interesting."
"I'm putting the finishing touches on my lesson plans Luna," Celestia said, penning something down before placing the parchment on top of a stack of papers, "Now, what is so important for my little sister to be up at this hour?"
"The discovery of Sweetie Belle's Shadow," Luna answered, showing the letter to her sister, "They discovered the filly, Bitter Belle, in the Shadow Ponyville not too long ago. She has already been admitted into the student list for the School of Shadows, taking classes with Sweetie I assume."
"So Thrack is dead at last then," Celestia commented, reading over the letter, "Thank Faust that she didn't survive to come back again. Now it seems that Nightmare has come concern that Bitter Belle might be some sort of a threat, but she doesn't say what though."
"I wouldn't worry about that too much right now sister," Luna said, causing her sister to raise an eyebrow, "The Shadow Mark Crusaders will be sure to keep an eye on her before she meets her counterpart and they go to class together. If they still have some of Thrack's abilities we can train them to use them for good and advert any disaster that might come with them. Besides, now we know that Sweetie's Shadow is alive, which means everything is back to normal at last."
"I hope so Luna," Celestia said, unsure of everything, "I agree with Nightmare; something strange is happening and Bitter Belle seems to be at the center of everything. But I agree that if anything is to happen it will occur at the School of Shadows. Now go to sleep and I'll send a letter along to Twilight."
"Alright sister," Luna yawned, "See you when the time is upon us again."
Celestia nodded and watched her sister exit the throne room, waiting until she was gone before summoning another parchment to begin her letter. She needed to make sure that Sweetie knew her Shadow was still alive and didn't do anything foolish. She knew that something was going to happen, but like Nightmare Moon she didn't know what that something was exactly.
-Ponyville-
"Girls, I have excellent news," Sweetie Belle said, tripping over a plank of the clubhouse as she got to the door, "Dang it, that piece of wood gets me every single time."
"What is it Sweetie?" Apple Bloom asked, curious as to what the commotion was this time as Scootaloo fixed the tire of her scooter.
"My Shadow's been found at last." Sweetie excitedly exclaimed, "She's been hiding with your Shadows all this time."
"Our Shadows?" Scootaloo asked, turning to face her friend, "I don't remember meeting them the last time we were at the School. What are their names?"
"Apple Poison, Wreakaloo, and Bitter Belle," Sweetie answered, stopping before her friends, "Not names I would expect, but its what they were named after all."
"Great, Wreakaloo," Scootaloo said, returning to her work, "I guess that means that she and I have more in common than most counterparts do."
"Don't think like that Scoots," Apple Bloom countered, "It just means that you two can tell tales and get to know each other like everypony else."
Sweetie smiled and raised a pawed hoof in front of her, wondering if her Shadow looked the same as she did. Werepony limbs, vampony fangs and wings, and strange draconic eyes. That was what Thrack had looked like in all of her terrible might and it was the form that Sweetie had been cursed to carry with her. She was still getting used to moving in this body, but after the defeat of the demon she had taken to the form more often than usual. She could still be a pony, but she felt that her strange form was a part of her and that she should embrace it, which she did most of the time.
True Rarity had nearly fainted the first time she had resumed the form and Applejack had nearly attacked her, but after explaining that she was willingly taking the form they had calmed down. Twilight wanted to run tests on her, but she refused and wanted the demon to die with her. No notes on her weaknesses and the like, which upset Twilight, but she eventually calmed down and accepted her decision.
Sweetie kept her smile and watched her friends as she wondered what their Shadows were like. One thing she knew for certain was that the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the Shadow Mark Crusaders would get along with each other just fine.
The thing about waiting was that Sweetie and her friends all seemed to absolutely hate it. They were were, waiting at the Ponyville train station with all the other foals and ponies whose destination was the School of Shadows. Ponies would eye Sweetie and mutter something or they would pretend she wasn't there, so that was why she naturally hung at the back of the line.
Most ponies still gave her a hard time about her appearance, the form of Thrack that she had chosen to keep wearing despite what it reminded her of. Mostly she paid it no mind, but there were times where she just wanted to escape her own mind and ignore all the things ponies said about her. At a time it would have made her go to the Princesses and ask them to remove the form from her body, but she was pretty sure it was neigh impossible to do that. Even if they could she was sure that the process was going to be painful and it really wasn't worth it.
The train had two destinations overall; the first being Canterlot so they could pick up any other students before continuing on to the second destination, the Realm between Realms. It was there that the School of Shadows silently stood, watching over the forsaken world as if it was a beacon of unity that could not be snuffed out. Unity between those who followed the Light of Harmony, the Light, and those who followed the Light of War, the Shadows.
The train rolled into the station and Sweetie snapped out of her thoughts, returning her attention to her friends as all the fillies boarded the train. There were at least a dozen of them, if not two dozen of them, and each of them carried two saddlebags, each filled with school supplies. Sweetie had a third bag, mostly filled with items that she had taken from the wreckage of what was once Thrack's war base. She had mostly the shards of the vile runeblade that she could find and a relic that was shaped like two magical forces conflicting with each other.
Despite what was happening Sweetie could not help but wonder if something was going to happen when she and her counterpart met in the Realm between Realms.
~The Shadow Realm~
Bitter Belle yawned as she rested her head on the window of the train compartment she was sharing with her friends and the rest of her fellow fillies. Shadowlot was terrifying, but it wasn't as terrifying as meeting Princess Darkstar and her sister Princess Nightmare. The Shadow Solar Goddess was currently the most terrifying pony in the entire universe and she had the power to back her claims.
Bitter wondered if she had even used her full power against any of her previous foes, the first being Reginald, the second being Midnight, and the third being Thrack herself. Darkstar was the most powerful pony in all of creation now, yet she was reduced to attending school with the rest of the ponies. She would be one of the teachers and Bitter knew that if something were to happen she would be one of the ones who would react first.
Bitter had heard a rumor of something happening below the School of Shadows, the constant noise that sounded like somepony crafting something under everypony's noses. If something was being made under the school it was likely a mechanical device that none of the students were supposed to find out about, yet there was already a rumor about it. Bitter suspected that the rumor and Darkstar were somehow connected, that she was crafting something to put herself back on top of everypony in every realm.
Her friends were excited, as they should have been, but Bitter was still worried. She knew something big was coming to the School of Shadows, something that was dark, evil, and uncaring for anypony other than itself. All hooves, or in Bitter's case claws, pointed her in the direction of Darkstar, but without any evidence she was jumping at shadows and making stupid ideas. Her eyes lingered on the doorway to her train compartment, the same door that Darkstar and Nightmare had used to enter the room before heading to the head of the train.
The train rolled to a stop, surprising Bitter because they weren't supposed to be stopping...unless they had reached the School of Shadows and hadn't told anypony yet. The school itself was the same as she had heard, large, towering, and, more importantly, a mass of electricity that seemed to buzz all over the place. There were streams of what appeared to be bright white magic and a second pitch black magic, which was odd since there was one pony who could have done something like this. Prince Midnight, the prince form a different realm altogether, was the only one that could create two separate streams without them mixing.
Something strange was definitely going on.
"Bitter Belle?" the voice sounded familiar and Bitter had to turn to be sure of it's source, "Is that you?"
The source was none other than her counterpart, the filly called Sweetie Belle. The thing the two of them shared, and made them feared by most ponies in their respective towns, was the form of Thrack that they had chosen to keep.
"Sweetie Belle," she greeted, the two standing face to face, "Yeah, its really me. Something is up with the school. From what I've been told i don't think those streams are supposed to be there."
"My sister has been experimenting with magic ever since she was defeated by Midnight," said a voice as Princess Nightmare Moon appeared behind them, "She said something about finding the true meaning of what it means to be a Shadow. She has become obsessed with trying to discover the means to either merge both the Light and the Shadow or figure out why we Shadows exist in the first place."
Sweetie and Bitter looked around for the missing Shadow Princess, only to find her standing before the gates of the School with a look of wonder on her face. She must have discovered something interesting while she was waiting for the train to arrive so she could deboard and begin preparing. Neither pony wanted to trust the Shadow, considering what had happened in the past, but they had no choice to accept her as one of their teachers. At least they hoped that they didn't get Princess Darkstar as one of their teachers for the coming weeks.
Author's Note
Short update for a dying story.
Unfortunately for both Sweetie Belle and Bitter Belle they both happened to get a class that was taught by Darkstar, the one pony they dreaded seeing. She was the one who was responsible for the destruction of the undead army that Thrack had lead against everypony not even a year ago. They both knew that Princess Darkstar was what was commonly called a tyrant, a pony who had ruled with an iron hoof for the last thousand years before her defeat at the hooves of Reginald. Now she was back and she was teaching classes, which both ponies happened to have one of.
Yeah, the two of them were so bucked.
And so the two of them entered the dreaded class of Princess Darkstar, surprised to find that the room was filled with at least two dozen fillies. That being noted Sweetie noticed that each pony was also paired up with their shadow, which meant that the class had something to do with the original pony and their shadow. Knowing that Darkstar was behind the class did little to put the two fillies at ease, but neither did the fact that both Atar and Reginald stood guard over the room.
Geez, Sweetie thought, What is it with those two? They're always wherever that vile demon happens to be.
It was the truth; both Atar and Reginald, two seemingly immortal stallions, stood guard over Darkstar and the various places she controlled. That was until Reginald revealed that he still served Princess Celestia and would not stand for her shadow conquering everything. He betrayed Darkstar and beat her down, destroying her essence for what seemed to be a few weeks before she came back like all shadows did. She was persistent, like a virus that wanted to erase all the light in the universe at the same time as she conquered everypony else.
Sweetie, and likely her shadow as well, just wished that Princess Darkstar, Mistress of the Black Sun, would just curl up and die so the rest of the ponies and shadows could move on with their lives.
"SIT DOWN!"
It was the eerie and evil voice of Princess Darkstar that made the other students scramble to their seats, just as the doors opened and Darkstar herself entered the room. Her armor clanked against the stone that constructed the floor of the room, silencing the students as she walked past them. As she passed Sweetie and Bitter she stared the two of them down, giving them the feeling that they might be in trouble before the beginning of class.
"Good, it seems that your ALL here," Darkstar said, with venom in her voice as she faced the students after reaching the front of the room, "Now, I'm sure you're all wondering why I, Princess Darkstar, Mistress of the Black Sun, am teaching a simple class in a school of my sister's creation. I will tell you why! I am here because my sister, Princess Nightmare Moon, willed me to join her, Princess Luna, and the rest of the princesses in this vile place.
I will not lie to any of you fillies, I HATE this school. It goes against my very nature to befriend the very PONIES and SHADOWS that I have spent countless years trying to conquer throughout all my conquests. It BOILS my blood to stand up here, lecture you about how you should accept HARMONY as the true way things should be done, and expect you to praise me for my KINDNESS. Faust knows that I want to strangle my sister for even recommending that I spend my days here, instead of preparing to conquer the known enemies of Shadowlot.
I bet you all want to know why I am even here if I hate this place, but even then the answer is so simple I could laugh at the thought of telling you. My citizens have turned against me, my sister has become the weak mare she has become, and my once proud city has fallen into disgrace. I have been beaten by ponies whose powers should not exist in our dimension and by ponies who shouldn't have even come here. I have attempted to gain the power to challenge the very gods themselves and yet I cannot leave the Realm of Shadows even if my very existence depended on it.
But there is one thing I came to understand when Reginald beat the living daylights out of me that fateful day nearly one year ago. I realized that he was a pony who had earned the title of the God of War because he had seen over two thousand years of war. In one form or another he has learned the various styles of fighting and the methods of how to use magic in a situation others might not expect to find themselves in."
"Excuse me, but what does this have to do with our class?" a brave little filly, not a year older than Sweetie, said.
"Absolutely nothing." Darkstar answered, shaking her head as she threw the papers into the air, "And for a class? There is no class as far as I'm concerned. I don't care if you destroy this classroom or sit silently until the bell rings. But I am not staying in this Faust forsaken room trying to be a teacher to the counterparts of my citizens."
And with that said Darkstar stormed out of the classroom, leaving both a shocked assembly of students and immortal gods behind. Atar sighed and followed after his mistress while Reginald stayed back and made sure the fillies didn't go too crazy in the upcoming storm. Reginald was good at reading what was about to happen, but there were times where even he was wrong. He also knew that Darkstar needed to cool down before she exploded and took the entire school with her in one instant.
"So does that mean class is over?" the same filly asked as the rest of the assembled ponies began to go crazy.
Sweetie sighed; as far as she was concerned Darkstar might be the most powerful alicorn in the school at the moment, but when it came to teaching a room full of fillies she couldn't bare to be in the same room for more than a few minutes. School was not her friend, Sweetie reflected. She pulled out a sheet of paper and a book, opening the leather bound pages so she could get some real work done. If she wasn't going to learn anything from one teacher she would be damned if she did the same to the rest of her classes.
Atar grew tired of watching the stallion he hated so much, Reginald, be given the ability to travel between the three realms while he, Darkstar's trusted second in command, was left with nothing. Even now he sat at a table, trying to enjoy one of the sodas that had been brought from the Light Realm, but he found the taste to be bitter. His anger, his thousand year anger, towards Reginald had never withered away and died, but instead it had grown to the point of no return. His anger was so great that he took one look at the soda can on the table and crushed it under the pure weight of his anger.
Time and time again, he discovered, Reginald had bested him over the course of a thousand years, each instance just adding fuel to his flames. They had always fought each other, that was true, but it really started the day he had lost the Element of Loyalty to the old stallion. An Element of Harmony that Atar had represented perfectly at the time, and yet the element had gone to the stallion he had constantly fought with. Then, a thousand years later, he was bested again by the stallion in his old suit of power, nearly crippling Atar in the bloody process.
The constant defeats lead his coworkers, if he could call anypony that these days, to question his ability to do anything when and if it truly mattered. He had been defeated in front of his master, leaving others to think that he was incapable of defending his home and the one he called his liege. Another had been chosen over him to represent the Element of Loyalty, leading others to think that he wasn't as loyal to others as he wanted them to believe. Even now he knew that Darkstar was considering either letting him go his own way or possibly killing him while his back was turned.
This time he was going to crush Reginald and show to everypony that he was the superior warrior of the two old veteran soldiers.
~Twilight Realm, School's Peak~
Reginald stood at the door that would lead anypony to the peak that he and Darkstar stood on, just in case another pony discovered the entrance by mistake. Darkstar had been planning on uniting the life energies of the two main realms, the Light and the Shadow as they were, and make it so both sides could live in harmony. But Reginald knew what his liege was really planning, the opening of another gateway to the Light Realm so she could conquer it before Celestia, Luna, and the other princesses caught on.
This gateway was supposed to make a pathway through the very fabric of Tartarus itself to get to the other realm, opening a doorway to the demon's homeworld as it were. If such a thing were to come to pass then the other three realms, namely the Light and Shadow realms, would be put in jeopardy. If Darkstar succeeded in creating another gateway then she could very well destroy all three worlds without out so much effort on her part. But right now she was nowhere near completing the gateway, which meant that the worlds were safe for the time being.
Reginald was sabotaging Darkstar's attempts, making it even harder for the evil alicorn to bring about the end of three worlds. He wasn't exactly being loyal right now, but when the fate of three worlds rests on his actions he was going to make sure they stayed alive. That meant tearing chunks out of the machine, smashing the powering crystals, throwing as many rocks as he could into the inner workings, and, the best part, ruining the cube that controlled the entire bloody contraption.
"REGINALD!"
The stallion was surprised, it wasn't Darkstar that was screaming his name in anger, it was actually Atar, at least it sounded like him. He looked over the edge of where he and Darkstar were and was surprised to find out that Atar was standing in one of the five courtyards of the school. Whatever he was doing Reginald couldn't tell, but he knew that if he ignored Atar than the stallion was going to start destroying everything around him. He raised his head and looked back at Darkstar, who seemed focused on the machine and not Reginald or Atar.
So with a sigh Reginald leapt off the edge and landed on the ground in front of Atar, grateful that his ancient abilities were still kicking in after all this time.
"Why so angry Atar?" Reginald asked, watching the stallion carefully as he made no attempt to get any closer to him.
"I am sick and tired of YOU, Reginald. " Atar spat, saying his name as if it was pure venom, "You keep besting me at every twist and turn of my life, from the moment I was destined to become the Element of Loyalty, which you stole from me, to the time you nearly crippled me in front of my master. I hate your guts to the point of where I would rather send you to Tartarus than even contend with you again, but I'm not going to do that. I'm going to tear your soul out of your body and then I'm going to kill both it and you, making sure that you never see the light of day again."
Reginald noticed something while Atar was speaking, his magic was leaking out of his body at an alarming rate that was affecting not only himself, but the area around him. On closer inspection he discovered that it wasn't just his magic, but his anger given physical form thanks to the amount of magic in the air. This was just a fraction of the anger that Atar had built up over the thousand years, that Reginald was sure of, and with as much anger that Atar had likely built up he could likely make the ground quake and the sky split in half.
"So you want to fight me again is that it?" Reginald asked, his magic already forming his ancient golden warrior's armor as he stood on his hind legs, "Do we really need to repeat the past so many times until you get the fact that you cannot possibly defeat me in combat?"
"No," Atar said, his magic turning all around him as he copied Reginald, standing on his back legs and silver armor appearing, "It hit me when my powers came back to me as we took down Thrack, the real reason I was unable to best you for so very long. I was missing the most important part of my power, leaving me much weaker than you ever were. Now I have my power back and I intend to change fate by crushing you into the very ground we stand on. But first I need MY weapon of choice."
His magic gathered around him until a lance appeared out of thin air, quickly being grabbed by Atar's magic and immediately being used against Reginald. The attack was parried by Reginald's sword, which he hadn't been planning on using until he absolutely needed it, but seeing how things were changing quicker than he expected he had no choice. And even wit the small clash of their weapons the ground between them cracked open, spreading all the way towards one of the buildings.
Atar's magic was already reshaping the area, which meant it was only a matter of time before it collided with Darkstar's machine and opened a wormhole that destroyed the entire realm.
"You are truly insane," Reginald groaned, surprised by the amount of power that Atar had stored up inside his body, "With as much power as your putting out you're going to destroy the entire realm before you even kill me. Your willing to kill hundreds of innocents, not to mention throw the safety of three realms, just to have the chance of defeating me?"
"Oh, I'm not killing anypony but you." Atar growled, pushing Reginald into the sky as he followed him, "But if it comes to shattering the fundamental nature of the realms and possibly breaking them beyond repair just to best you than so be it. I am tired of being beaten and tossed aside by every single pony who has a ton of power hidden inside them. I will kill you Reginald, of that you can be sure."
Reginald managed to block the incoming attack, but he struggled to keep Atar back as he noticed that more and more anger seemed to be escaping Atar's body. His body should have been falling apart from so much anger, but it was holding itself together and that was cause for worry. The shockwave that emitted from the second clash blasted open the windows in their immediate area, showering the ponies around the windows in glass. The noise of shattering glass must have caught Darkstar's attention, because she abandoned her machine and barreled right into Atar, knocking him right into the ground.
The resulting impact shattered not only the surrounding ground, but tore several of the stone pillars out of the ground and blasted holes in some of the buildings. Reginald hoped that there wasn't any bystanders who had been harmed, otherwise things were going to get even worse then they already were.
"Reginald, what's going on?" came a question as Princess Celestia, decked out in armor no less, appeared behind the stallion, "Why are you and Atar fighting again?"
"I'm sorry to say it, but Atar seems to have lost his mind." Reginald replied, picking himself up as he stared at the hole Atar and Darkstar had made, "His body is literally oozing magic, allowing his vast amounts of anger and hate to finally break through and emerge in our plane of existence. Just look at the damage he's already caused with three swings of his undiluted anger mixed with his magic. He's going to destroy the entire realm just to kill me for becoming the Element of Harmony instead of him, among other things."
"The other Princesses and I will escort our ponies back to our various realms," Celestia said, still not believing what was happening before her eyes, "We need to evacuate everypony before the school comes down on top of us. Without the gateways we used during the war we're going to have to resort to the trains, so try to keep that deranged stallion occupied as long as possible."
"I'll keep that in mind when the fate of three realms depends on the outcome of this forsaken struggle," Reginald commented, knowing that Celestia would not have caught the fact he knew the realms were in complete danger, "Get the students and staff out of here before anything bad really happens."
Darkstar flew past him, crashing into one of the support structures of the school wing they were in and smashed right through the stone completely. Celestia groaned and let her magic loose, gripping the falling structure so it wouldn't collapse and hurt the students inside. Reginald looked back at Atar, who was now climbing out of the hole at last, and sighed as he tackled the stallion to the ground.
Atar's eyes zeroed in on Reginald and he swung his lance, catching the stallion's sword and blasting the old stallion right into thin air. Before Reginald could even correct himself Atar was behind him, cutting a new flight path as he bounced the old stallion around in midair. The shockwaves from each attack hit the school like the aftermath of a blast would, tearing stones out of place and breaking pieces altogether. Reginald noticed that students were beginning to leave, but at the rate that Atar's anger and rage were increasing he knew that everypony was at stake.
"Come on Sweetie, we have to hurry." Bitter said, trying to move her other self, who had her eyes on the entire fight, "The school is collapsing around us and you want to watch the stallion committing the act in action? Do you have a death wish or something?"
"No, its just that I feel something stirring inside of me," Sweetie replied softly, her heart beating as she watched Atar fight, "Its almost as if there's still a fragment of Thrack left inside of me, one that wants to save others from whatever Atar is planning on doing."
"Let's get moving then," Bitter growled, dragging Sweetie to the rear compartment of the train, "Here, you get a front row seat to the end of school as we know it, courtesy of Atar himself."
"Come on Tia, the students are clear," Luna called, her eyes watching the fighting that was slowly destroying the roofs of the school buildings in pain, "We're going to have to leave the fate of the school in the hooves of Atar and Reginald, though I hope they don't destroy too much. I rather liked hanging out with my shadow and her ponies."
Reginald noticed the two trains leave the school train stations and sighed, this time getting smashed in the face by the end of Atar's lance and crashing right into the ground. The explosion tore a gaping hole in the ground, blasted several holes in the surrounding walls, and broke several gaping cracks around him. The pain the realm was feeling was all too real, but so was the pain that was coursing through Reginald's body for the first time in ages. He raised his sword to parry another oncoming blow and the cracks opened wide enough for a small pony to fall right on through.
"What's wrong old pony?" Atar mocked, grinning as he noticed he was finally getting the upper hoof on Reginald, "Do you finally feel the old age setting into your body and the pain that's eating away at your insides? I will win Reginald, don't you see that I will arise victorious once this fight is over?"
"I see an angry stallion whose letting his emotions get the better of his judgment." Reginald remarked, getting up as his sword landed not to far from where he was, "You have let your anger and your hate towards me build up for the last thousand years, ever since you lost the Element of Harmony. The same Element of Harmony that came into my possession during the war with Discord; Loyalty. Maybe it's time I told you the truth Atar. The one truth that would either shatter your world or make you reconsider this entire forsaken fight of yours.
You have already held the title of the Element of Loyalty once before, in a separate time where the Shadows, the Shadow Realm, and myself do not exist."
"What are you going on about?" Atar asked, raising an eyebrow as he wondered if the pain was affecting Reginald's mind, "There is no alternate timeline where you and the shadows don't exist. Even if there was such a timeline I doubt it would have existed like ours has seeing how they still had all the Elements of Harmony to kick Discord's flank."
"You fail to understand what I meant," Reginald explained, tilting his head to look up at Atar, "The original timeline consisted of me gaining the Element of Loyalty, but I was prideful to an error and the moment the Element was around my neck disaster struck. My potent magic mixed with that time's Loyalty and the world began to tear apart the boundaries that kept the shadows and the demons at bay. That was when Darkstar and her shadow ponies were born and she seized the moment to try and tear the rotting world away from myself and the demons that waged war with me.
I struck down the Demon King, Thanatos, and Darkstar, but at the greatest price that any seemingly immortal being could bare to pay. By slaying the greatest enemies I would have ever fought throughout my entire life I was also delivered a fatal blow that struck me at my very core. Basically I died, but the moment of my death activated the last traces of my power with the Element of Loyalty, reversing time and space until there were two of me. I still should have died that day, but fate had other plans and, by right of my timeblood, I was granted one last life before completely fading away.
Remember when I arrived one day, out of the blue, and took down the best warriors that Celestia had to offer at the moment, excluding you? I had already fought those ponies before and as such I knew their every move, every strategy, every ploy they would use against me. I was already afraid that if fate were to happen again then you would be given the Element of Loyalty and realty would have simply shattered itself all over again. But instead I was given the Element of Loyalty and together I stood with Celestia and the other Elements, doing battle with the Spirit of Chaos, until we turned him to stone."
"Get to the point you old stallion," Atar growled, "I fail to understand what this has to do with me."
"Allow me to explain the bit you fail to grasp," Reginald said, drawing in a breath before revealing the big secret, "You and I, Atar, are one and the same. My past self was a red coated unicorn stallion who wore the golden armor of Celestia's solar guard, who kept to himself most of the time. Any of this sounding familiar Atar? It should, because what I'm trying to tell you is that you and I are the same pony, both from different timelines."
"I've had enough of this crap," Atar shouted, his lance becoming a burning weapon as he spun it towards Reginald, "Say what you want Reginald, but I am not going to believe that you and I are the same pony with the only difference being that you've been killed already. All this tells me is that you can be slain Reginald; you should not have told me any of this."
The resulting connection between Atar's lance and Reginald himself caused a ripple in the air that tore the surrounding area to shreds. Chunks of rock went flying everywhere as the structures supporting the school buildings shattered under the impact of the shockwave. Dozens of cracks opened up in the ground, tearing apart the already unstable landscape as the buildings began to crumble around them. When the smoke cleared Atar was surprised to find that not only had Reginald survived the attack, but he had emerged unharmed from the entire thing with a lance that looked identical to the one he was holding.
"It has been too long since I last held this weapon," Reginald commented, the magic around his weapon turning blue instead of Atar's red, "I knew if you saw the same weapon that you used all the time you might piece it together and come after me before I could establish myself in the world. That was why I changed my weapon to the sword and made sure to keep this one well hidden in case this day ever happened. Maybe now you can see that we are the same bloody stallion."
"Shut up." Atar shouted, his anger pushing Reginald further into the ground before he flew high into the sky, "I'm tired of listening to you Reginald. Does it look like I care about what happened to you in the past that brought you to me? No, I honestly don't give a buck what you say right now. I just want you to die!"
Magic pulsed around his left hoof, which he held in the direction of Reginald as the magic began to take the form of a ball of energy. The magical attack itself would, naturally, destroy everything around the area in which it struck, so as such Atar was expecting it to destroy Reginald and the surrounding area. Even if Reginald dodged it Atar was sure that he would mortally wound the stallion to the point where he could easily cut him down. Atar fired the attack and all heck literally broke loose.
The resulting explosion tore a gigantic hole in the ground, causing whatever remained of the surrounding buildings to fall into the pit. The cracks grew even larger this time, tearing the ground apart as parts of the school exploded in a fury of fire that had been caused by Atar. The sky itself has turned black, the smoke from all the fires and destruction filling the air as the central part of the school began to crumble thanks to the loss of so much support. But even among the wreckage Atar noticed a bubbling shield, one that must have protected Reginald from the blast.
Before Atar would move his center of gravity shifted, something was dragging him all the way back down to the ground and the destruction he had caused. Then the sword he had thought that had shattered during the entire conflict cut right into his armor, piercing his heart and coming out the back side. Atar was surprised and shocked, amongst all the destruction Reginald had managed to sneak his other weapon into a barrier so he could defeat Atar. He coughed blood, the pain in his chest more real then he would have cared to have it.
"I didn't want it to come to this," Reginald sadly said, pulling the weapon out of Atar before he stared up at the sky, "but the destruction that you have caused to this realm has completely destabilized the elements that have been keeping it running the entire time. The ground is violently shaking, the sky is turning a bloody shade of red, and even the wind is beginning to feel like razors seeking to harm ponies. The Twilight Realm is literally falling apart and with its destruction will come the destruction of both the Light and the Shadow realms."
"Hehe, the noble Reginald must have a plan for fixing all of this." Atar spat, both words and blood, "After all, he would not have accepted a fight of this magnitude without a course of action to fix everything if it came to this amount of destruction. So, what are you going to do while I die?"
"I am going to bend time and space one last time," Reginald explained, summoning the Element of Loyalty, the necklace itself, to his side, "I caused the first influx that destroyed the original Equestria merely by being chosen to represent this element, but I am going to need it again to fix what has happened. By doing this I will effectively erase the both of us, the Shadow world, the Twilight world, and all the messes that have been made during the entire timeline. So don't try to run Atar, we're both doomed anyway."
"Have I ever told you that I truly hate your guts Reginald?" Atar chuckled, his anger twisting around in a vortex in the sky as he stood by the other stallion.
"Every single day Atar," Reginald replied, watching the element enter the vortex as he noticed a familiar demon begin to climb out of the vortex, "Ah, Thanatos, I should have known. I guess we'll be taking him with us as well."
Realty shook and bent as pieces of the school were lifted right out of the ground and entered the vortex, along with the clouds and everything else. Reality was literally tearing itself apart, buildings twisting in odd ways and breaking as the vortex slowly began to eat everything up. Before their eyes the gateway to the Shadow Realm opened up, pulling in all the shadows and the ponies right into the opening in the fabric of time and space. The same happened to the Light Realm, everything destroying itself as it all entered the void.
Reginald watched Atar slowly begin to melt, his fur falling off in chucks as the armor he was wearing rusted and turned into dust. The weapons the two of them held melded together before turning to dust, much like the majority of everything else that was around them. Atar's horn turned to dust, allowing his magic to join the rest of the realm's magic, giving him one last look at Reginald before turning to dust. Even the vile demon Thanatos, the bane of Reginald's past existence, was turned into a fiery ball that eventually broke down into the purest dust he had ever seen.
Reginald closed his eyes as the magic took a hold of him and everything went black for him as the universe closed its grip around the vortex, not knowing what would become of this final outcome.
Luna bolted awake, her mind racing as she tried in vain to remember what she had just been dreaming about for the last few hours. Looking outside she found that the day was still before noon, so she climbed out of bed and went to the balcony that overlooked the whole of Canterlot.
The city was in perfect order, ponies were walking around, buying all sorts of goods and selling things they didn't really need, while some were content to sitting in the park. The air smelled fresh, giving her the feeling of sweet apple fritters that had just finished being made not too long ago. Ponies even entered the courthouse, where they would be meeting with her sister to discuss any possible changes to whatever they were pleading for or new grants or something like that.
To their north was the Crystal Empire some hours away, a thriving new kingdom that her niece Cadence had saved with the help of the Bearers of Harmony not so long ago. To the west laid the Badlands, the home of Queen Chrysalis and her nation of Changelings, who were likely trying to get love somewhere else at the moment. To the south was Ponyville, the domain of one newly recognized Princess Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the Bearers of Harmony. Each area was doing fine and that was the way Luna enjoyed having things these days.
She checked her nightstand for any letters she might have missed and was surprised to find that there weren't any letters on the desk at all. She could have sworn that she had been exchanging letters with somepony who had been seemingly like her, almost like an identical twin of some sort. There were also no reports of a school being built in some other dimension that was also similar to their own world. Luna was beginning to feel like she had been asleep for far too long already, because she was beginning to believe the dream was still happening.
So she opened her door and asked one of the Solar guards if they knew two stallions, one by the name of Reginald and the other by Atar. To her continued surprise neither of them knew a stallion by those names, which was really starting to bug her mind. So she returned to the library, intending to search every book until she found a mention of the one demon that she remembered from the dream. To make matters even easier she found a clerk and asked if there were any records of a demon by the name of Thrack and, to add to her continued surprise, there was no such demon in existence.
To increase her confusion she found the book that told of the defeat of Discord and flipped through it to find a mention of Reginald, but still found nothing. The demon Thrack, the gentlepony Reginald, and the fearsome, yet protective, Captain of the Guard Atar were nothing more than fragments of her dream. Luna sighed and returned to her room, laying on her bed and hoping that she could dream about the three ponies again.
~Canterlot Courthouse~
Princess Celestia was having the same thoughts of two stallions, one loyal guard by the name of Atar and the other being a steward called Reginald, and a demon by the name of Thrack. During her first break she had sent an inquiry to the library to search for the same ponies that Luna would be asking about in the next hour or two. She had also asked the pony to look for any permits that would allow somepony to build a school somewhere where most didn't know existed. It was a gamble, but Celestia wanted the thing cleared before the day was out.
During her lunch break she received news that the stallions, the demon, and the school in question did not exist in any of the records that they held. The pony was very excellent in his research, looking through dozens of tomes that could have contained the information that his princess had inquired about. Not only did the pony spend an hour and a half searching for the records he even went as far as to ask the clerk if they had any known records. The three ponies, Celestia discovered, were a figment of her own active imagination and she had let it get the better of her.
She sighed and let the days court sessions continue, allowing her ponies to say what they needed so she could make decisions that would better the society as a whole. Her mind would wander to the ponies she had thought about, wondering if they had ever existed at some point in the history of Equestria. If they did then they did a dang good job of making sure that they erased their pasts and their whole existence so nopony discovered they existed. She went about her court session and quickly forgot all about the three ponies who had plagued her mind for the whole morning.
~Ponyville~
Sweetie looked up at the sky absently, not really paying much attention to her friends latest scheme that would net them their cutie marks. She had the feeling that she had forgotten something big, something that would have changed the lives of everypony in all of Equestria. She tried to remember what that something could have been, but she got nothing in return, almost as if her mind was playing tricks on her.
"You okay Sweetie?" Scootaloo asked, raising an eyebrow as her friend remembered where she was, "You seemed to be lost in space for a moment there."
"Yeah, just thought that I had forgotten something," Sweetie explained, shaking her head as she faced her friend, "So what were you saying again?"
"Our next idea to get our cutie marks is this," Scootaloo said, flipping something over on the chalkboard, "We get our cutie marks in writing fanfiction for whoever will accept our stories. We could become famous authors that could attract the attention of some of the more famous ponies, like the Wonderbolts or even the Princesses themselves. We could come up with some of the most outrageous stories and see if any of those helped us get our special talents running at last."
Sweetie Belle chucked with Applebloom and took a look at the song she had been writing the night before, wondering if it was worth it to try writing a story. Maybe a made up story about her, her friends, the princesses, and some ponies that the world would never see in their entire lives. She pulled out some paper and a pencil while she went to work on the details, writing out a stallion whose heart was strong and kind, another stallion who was a fierce warrior and protector of his boss, and a demon that would change the known world.
The story, she eventually decided, was going to be called The Dark Crusader and it was going to take place in Ponyville of all places. Sweetie smiled, she was already liking the story and hoped others would as well.