//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 - His Shadow 
// Story: Crystal Heart 
// by Luna Nightshade 
//------------------------------//

Everything felt strange. She felt strange. She couldn’t feel her body, couldn’t see, feel nor smell. She didn’t know where she was. It was just as if her mind, her spirit, wasn’t bound to a body anymore, as if she wasn’t bound to any place. Had she died? Had the Nightmare taken her body again? No, this was different … There was something … but this couldn’t be right. She felt like she was everywhere, stretched over all of Equestria, like a blanket of snow in winter. She was free and trapped at the same time. Free for how she was everywhere, trapped for how much she could move. Memories came to her, unbidden. Memories of the time she was banished to the moon. There she had been stretched as wide, had been trapped; had been lonely. The Nightmare had been her only companion; And she whispered lies. So many hurtful lies.

There were no whispers now, only the vague presence of others. Trapped. Just as she was. Something about them was familiar; It terrified her, and yet it brought solace to her as well. But there was more. There were ponies. Hundreds. Thousands. More. She could hear their thoughts; their anger, greed, cruelty, lies, betrayals, and their crushing despair. She would have shivered, had she been able to.

A sudden burst of magic filled her awareness. It was so bright, so powerful. It permeated everything, everywhere. It tore her from the land, freed her from the shackles that bound her. All the colors of the rainbow, and more, washed over her, over the land, over the ponies. It was subtle, yet powerful. It rooted itself everywhere, now bound to the land like she had been. The process took only a very short moment, but she felt as if it had been an eternity.

Freed from the ground she floated over the earth. She could feel the sun rising over the horizon. Her being began to coalesce. At first she was stretched over several hundred acres, then only a few, then down to square miles, then feet. What she had only felt vaguely before became a clear and strong feeling, and soon other senses joined her perception. She could see, hear, smell, and taste.

There was black mist all around her; black mist that was her. Or … was it? The mist seemed to have a consciousness of its own; its movements detached from her thoughts. It shrunk into the form of a pony, and the pony looked left and right on its own accord. Still, she felt as if it were herself standing there. She was a unicorn pony in that moment, a stallion, and yet she wasn’t. It was an unfamiliar feeling, caused by the difference in body height and composition. She felt how his hooves touched the ground, its hardness. She felt the wind playing with his horn, mane and tail. His mane and tail were shorter than hers, and they were a lot more susceptible to gusts than her own hair.

What had happened? Had something banished her from her own body, and trapped her in this new one? But why wasn’t she able to control it, then? And there was the matter about the others she sensed. It was as if there was a veil over her memories, something she couldn’t quite remember. Something she knew was important.

The pony looked up into the sky, and watched the clouds speed by overhead. The sun on the horizon climbed further into the sky, as if on fast forward. Her sister never raised the sun that fast … She almost missed the rainbow that was there one moment, then gone the next. The sky turned gray as clouds gathered overhead. Time slowed down, and she sensed something new.

“Who am I?” The voice of the stallion sounded rough, but gentle, and pleasing to her. A new, vague presence was with them now. "Where am I?” She knew that voice from somewhere, but she just couldn’t pinpoint it at the moment.

The stallion’s question remained unanswered. Luna wouldn’t have known the answer. Even if she knew, she couldn’t answer him. Neither the sky nor the ground gave him a reply. He looked down to his own hooves, lifted a leg, and set it back down. “Pony”, he muttered to himself. Somehow he recognized what he was, at least. He looked behind him, saw his black tail with the blue streak. His mane would look similar – a thought. Luna was startled, she could hear the pony’s thoughts as clearly as she could hear her own.

Cold wind ruffled his fur; the stallion shivered. He looked around. The ground consisted of brown soil, devoid of plants. Not a single green shoot could be seen anywhere in the dirt or rocks. Nothing moved besides wisps of sand, disturbed by the wind. There was no pony, animal or bug. He couldn’t have been born just to be all alone, could he? Born from nothing, and fully grown. No, that should be impossible. And yet, he was … alone. Alone … He was … all alone … all alone … lonely. So … lonely.

Luna recognized those thoughts, felt the pain in her thoughts, felt the shiver down her spine, as much as he felt both of this.

His fur stood on edge. No, he couldn’t stay alone; he wouldn’t stay alone. He had to find someone, somepony. Ponies were supposed to be together, not alone!

He started moving, walking at first, then trotting, then running. The exercise would keep him warm, and it would bring him faster to somepony. He hoped.

Everything around him … her … blurred and shifted. Vertigo assaulted her, and she felt like passing out.

The feeling subsided as quickly as it had come, and then she noticed … There was a sharp pain in his stomach. Hunger. His stomach rumbled. He ignored the noise, the almost unbearable feeling. He stared at the pair of earth pony stallions before him. They were staring at him while their muzzles contorted into a snarl. Aggravated. They were aggravated. Angry. “Do we have food? Who do you unicorns think you are? You already took half our harvest for the ‘service of raising sun and moon’.” One sat on his haunches and painted the quotation marks with his hooves.

The other one stepped forward. “And now you come along, demanding even more!”

“And then the pegasi will come, for ‘weather services’, and we won’t have anything to feed ourselves!”

“Now scram, before there will be an incident!” The stallion kicked the air behind him, snorting menacingly.

He shivered. Those were some very strong hooves. If those were to hit him … he took a step back. What was happening? Why were those ponies so angry? Shouldn’t ponies look out for one another? He only wanted something to ease the pain in his stomach.

The stallions stepped toward him, and he made another step back. Why was this world so cold? He literally felt as if his fur was freezing over from their reaction.

The two earth ponies felt something, too. They stopped and looked up. “Those damned pegasi. Half our crop is still on the fields!” They turned and galloped away. One stopped for a moment, pointed a hoof at him, and called “don’t follow us!” He kicked the air for emphasis, and ran off.

Dejected, he turned away. Maybe a pegasus, or a unicorn would be more forthcoming. He was a unicorn. He belonged to them. They should be the ones he could trust the most, right? But where could he find unicorns? He looked around, and noticed a few snowflakes hovering toward the earth. It started to get cold. He could only hope to find a unicorn soon, or somepony that would give him either directions, something to eat, or shelter …

As the stallion’s thoughts faded, Luna’s own awareness returned. She hadn’t even noticed that she had lost it. Far worse was the realization that she was forced to relive this pony’s memories. They appeared to be dark ones, and she certainly didn’t like the notion of it. Nor did she know any magic that could do this.

The landscape blurred, the colors blended with one another, and the accompanying vertigo stopped her thought in its track.

Trees lined the path the stallion was walking, and although their leaves were green, a few snowflakes drifted from the sky. His stomach rumbled and ached still, a constant reminder of his hunger. He desperately looked for patches of grass, only to be disappointed by the bare ground. He gazed up toward the leaves, wondering if those were edible. That was when he saw them: Two pegasi were flying low over the canopy of the trees.

They wore armor, and short spears were strapped to their sides. Nevertheless, he tried his luck, and called out to them: “Excuse me, sirs? Can you tell me the way to the next unicorn settlement?”

Both ponies stopped in midair, and looked around until they found him. They exchanged a few softly spoken words, and laughed after a moment. They nodded to one another and glided down, landing in front of him. He smiled. They seemed friendly enough – at least friendlier than those two earth ponies he met before.

“A high and mighty unicorn got lost”, one of them said, chuckling and poking him with the blunt end of his spear.

“Do you think we should help him?” the other one asked, a sparkle in his eye. 

“I think we can make an exception, but only if he agrees to deliver a message for us”, the first said, grinning.

“Now, that is a good idea”, the second one grinned as well. “A favor for a favor.”

He narrowed his eyes. Maybe they weren’t as friendly as he thought? “What kind of favor?”

“Like we said”, the first one replied, and spoke very slowly. “We want you. To deliver. A message for us. Or is this beneath you?”

“We pegasi are warriors of honor. We won’t ask for more than we need. Unlike. Certain. Other. Tribes!” The second one added, and the smiles on their muzzles vanished.

He gulped and nodded. Delivering a message for them wasn’t that big a deal. He certainly didn’t want to aggravate them further.

“Good. Now listen closely.” The stallion removed a letter from the saddlebag he was carrying. “This letter is for Princess Platinum. Don’t let it become dirty in any way, or worse lose it. If it doesn’t reach its destination - and trust us, we will know - then we’ll hunt you down. Got it?”

He offered his hooves to take it, but they tore the letter away. “Use your magic to carry it. Hooves will get it dirty. And taking it in your mouth is even worse. Or have you lost your magic?” He snorted.

“We can still fasten it to his horn then”, the other said, grinning.

Magic? Yes, he should be able to do magic. He was a unicorn after all. At least that was something simple. Or was it? Was levitation simple? He tried, hoping that he could do it. Somehow. Closing his eyes, he concentrated, and followed his intuition. Somewhere inside him was the knowledge. He hoped. It took him a few precious moments, but he managed to somehow feel the letter, without touching it. A bit more effort, and he was able to grab, and lift it. As he opened his eyes, there was a green aura surrounding the letter, holding it in midair. The glow flickered slightly, but he was able to sustain the simple spell. For now.

“I am not sure if I can trust you.” The pegasus that gave him the letter narrowed his eyes.

“It seems we have to trust him”, the other one said and pointed to the sky with one wing. The unicorn followed their gazes, and saw dark clouds gathering at the horizon. “We will be needed to deal with that.”

“Ancestors mercy”, the first pegasus spat. “I thought the weather is supposed to be inert. Why does it suddenly have a will of its own?” He looked down. “You should hurry. The unicorn capital is in that direction”, he pointed a wing to where both of them had flown before. Then, with a strong downward stroke of his wings, he was in the air. The other pegasus followed in the same matter, backtracking on their former path.

He gulped, and his stomach rumbled, making his magic flicker more strongly. He had to hurry or that snow storm, or whatever it was, would catch up to him. He set to a fast canter … hopefully that wasn’t as straining as a full on gallop …

These were ancient memories, of … somepony from long ago. But how? Why? She dimly remembered working with memories. It had been something important. Something that somehow had to do with these memories, and yet not at all. As if these memories were an unbidden guest at the gala. She had to be careful, she almost lost herself within these memories.

‘… this must be from when the hearths warming stories originated!’ Another distinct set of thoughts existed next to her own. It was a bit like speech, as if somepony stood next to, and talked to her. It was clearly separate from the memories she had witnessed. Could it be …?

‘Twilight Sparkle? Is it … are you … ?’ Luna tried to vocalize her own thoughts.

‘Princess Luna!’ There was recognition in those thoughts. ‘What happened?’

‘I am not sure’, she answered, struggling with her own recollection of the events.

‘These memories might have come from the Dark Tree’, another thought interjected. They felt very familiar. They could only be from her sister. The Dark Tree … Luna remembered the black version of the Tree of Harmony within her memorysape. Was it just the representation of foreign memories then? No, the presence it exuded was far worse. It was –

Her thoughts were interrupted by a quick shift. The trees blurred into a city wall and the dirt road into a snow-covered pathway. Before him floated the letter, somehow untouched by the falling snow; his magic held and sheltered it like a precious child. His breath was shallow, his hooves cold, his mind on the edge of breaking. At least the pain of hunger had subsided somewhere on the way.

Two unicorn stallions, stood guard in front of the city walls; one had a brown coat, the other blended almost completely into the snow. They wore makeshift armor, and held spears in their magic; the white one’s aura sky blue, the other a pale yellow.

The brown stallion stepped forward. “Who are you and where do you come from?”

“I am …” He started to reply, but he hadn’t found an answer, yet. “I … don’t know”, he conceded, his stomach remembered that it wanted food at the same time. “I have a … message …” He started, the pain in his stomach almost overwhelming his senses. His vision started to blur, and he collapsed to his knees.

“A message? For whom?” The guard demanded.

His green magic flickered. “The … princess”, he breathed, just before his magic gave out.

He could see the guards looking at each other. They nodded at each other; one of them took the letter and ran off. “H… hey …” The other guard came closer. “Will you be alright?”

The stallion’s vision faded completely, and he fell to his side. That had to be answer enough.

‘I wonder who he might be.’ Twilight’s thoughts reached them shortly after everything went black.

‘He seems to be have some sort of connection to that Dark Tree.’ Luna tried to collect her scattered thoughts. There was a reason they were experiencing these memories now. The question she needed to answer was, whether or not experiencing these memories could be harmful. Considering the nature of the tree, it was probably dangerous in some way. She almost lost who she was, in the beginning.

‘I have a suspicion’, Celestia thought to them. ‘If he is, who I think he is, then it might explain all of this.’

‘And who –‘ Twilight couldn’t finish her question, as the darkness of the stallion started to fade, and with it, Luna’s thoughts faded as well. The memory superseded all of her, and she was reduced to an unwilling witness.

The stallion groaned, as he opened his eyes; the cold and snow had been replaced by something warm. The orange light of candles flickered. He was on his bed, on a comfortable surface. A blanket covered his body, and the warmth made way for uncomfortable heat. Only the area around his horn was kept somewhat cool by a damp cloth.

He had to smile, despite the weakness and the burning fire in his veins. Somepony had taken him in, had been caring for him. Finding unicorns had been the right choice. Maybe he belonged her, alongside these unicorns. Then he could, in time, solve the riddle of who he was.

“I think he is awake.” A brown unicorn mare was next to him. Her mane had light brown strands, with streaks of green-brown and grass-green. As she turned, he could see a picture on her flank, a four-leafed clover. She smiled as her horn glowed a light yellow, and her magic replaced the cloth on his forehead.

“Good.” A stallion answered. “I very much hope that he can answer a few questions.” A gray stallion came into view. His mane and tail were a different, lighter shade of gray; His intense yellow eyes mustered the stallion. The gray unicorn wore a blue cape with embroidered yellow stars, and a strange hat of the same fabric with bells hanging from it, covered his head. The most striking feature though, was a beard that adorned his muzzle.

“Greetings, young colt”, the stallion said as he came closer. “I would like to ask you some questions.”

“Some … questions?” His own voice sounded raspy, and he suddenly noticed how thirsty he was.

“First of all: Where did you get that letter?”

“Two … pegasi …” He answered. “When … I asked … for … directions …”

The stallion nodded, looking down. “Pegasopolis … I feared as much.” He shook his head. “I don’t believe that these growing tensions between our tribes will make the situation any better.” He turned, walking up and down the room. “No … that will probably just make things worse …” He followed the gray pony with his eyes while he was monologuing. “But then they might realize that bickering won’t help and then … they’ll finally figure this out. But if not … well, there might be an alternative …” Finally he stopped, nodding to himself. “Yes. That’s a plan. I’ll make the arrangements.”

Starswirl turned toward the stallion once more. “Now, you on the other hand are quite the bigger puzzle”, he said. “Why have you left your home town in this weather? Has it something to do with you still missing your mark?”

“My … mark?”

The gray unicorn pointed on the mare’s flank. There she wore a picture of a four-leaved clover. It didn’t seem to be paint, but more like a natural discoloration of her coat. “That mark. Everypony past childhood has one.”

“I … came to … somewhere … with no life.”

“Maybe some stallion has hit him on the head? I heard that can cause ponies to lose their memories”, the mare suggested.

Starswirl looked him over. “It’s possible. Maybe he will … remember something … when he gets better.”

The mare nodded and her horn started to glow. A bowl with some good smelling liquid floated over. She helped him drink the soup, alleviating some pain in his stomach that he didn’t remember he had. After a few gulps he felt weak once more. Was eating always this … taxing? Maybe he could ask … after some sleep …

‘Starswirl the Bearded, and Clover the Clever!’ Luna could feel Twilight’s excitement as if it were her own. ‘I need to make notes! Is there a way to make notes?!’

Luna tried to pull herself together. Every time this happened it was like all of them blended together. Twilight’s excitement still affected her. They could lose their individuality, should they stay. All three of them a carbon copy of a strange mixture between three princesses and this unknown stallion. They couldn’t stay. They needed to leave. But how? Maybe if she tried to channel her magic … 

‘This is revolutionary! The applications of this magic! What we could learn! What everypony could learn! History! Magic! Anything!’

‘This … is … really … dangerous … Twilight.’ Luna tried time and again to access her magic. It didn’t seem to work. Something was blocking her. Was she even still within her own body? Maybe she needed to try something else. Maybe she needed to connect to her body first and th-

He stood in front of a shelf full of books and scrolls. The subtle green glow of his horn was visible just at the top edge of his vision. Several books were soon encased in the same aura, and started to float out of the shelf. It didn’t cost him much effort to keep the dozen books afloat. He could even open a few of them to a page he wanted, while he made others flap around like bats. Despite all that, he was unable to read the books; the glyphs, although vaguely familiar, didn’t held any meaning to him.

“Impressive!” Starswirl’s voice praised him. The gray stallion walked next to him, a smile on his lips. “You seem to have a lot of fine control with your magic.”

His magic closed the books, and then put them back to their respective places on the bookshelf. “Yes, it seems to be that way.”

“Maybe you even have a talent for magic. Those are rare, even amongst us unicorns.” Starswirl turned and walked to the next window. 

He followed the older pony to the window, and looked outside. Snow was still piling up on the streets and a few unicorns put effort in removing the snow or melting it.

“If you really are a magic talent, then there is something you could help us with”, Starswirl looked at him without turning his head. “It will help you test your power, and might even allow you to find your talent.”

He nodded, copying the stallion’s behavior.

“As you might know, we unicorns are responsible for raising and lowering both sun and moon.” He closed his eyes and sighed.

“I got to know this, yes”, he answered.

Starswirl nodded and looked toward the horizon. “It takes a lot of power, and even a group of unicorns is struggling to complete the task. Many of us are left so weak that they can’t even levitate a feather, and we are still waiting on them to recover.” He turned toward him. “It seems that magic talents have it easier, both during the task, and during the recovery, but even then …” He looked aside. “We are ‘burning through’ unicorns much faster than we can recover. We are, in fact, running low on capable unicorns …”

“Are you asking me to put my magic on the line, setting the sun?” He stared at Starswirl. Such a request after just getting well enough to use magic at all?

“I wouldn’t ask, weren’t the situation this dire.” He shook his head. “Currently we are already one unicorn short, and although I am sure that we are able to set the sun this evening, I am also sure that we won’t be able to raise it the next day.”

“Why set the sun at all?” he asked, pointing at the snow with a hoof. “Shouldn’t it melt the snow, if it stays up longer?”

“Strangely enough, it doesn’t”, Starswirl shook his head. “The duration of the sun being up doesn’t influence the temperature at all, in fact, the less rest we ponies get, the colder it gets. We need to keep the cycle going, or we will all be encased in ice.”

He looked to the shelf. “A magic talent …” He looked to his flank briefly and closed his eyes. That mark could help him getting closer to who he was. All this time he spent recovering, he didn’t recover any of his memories. “I will consider it.”

“That is all I can ask.” Starswirl smiled, then slowly walked away, leaving the stallion to his thoughts.

‘This. Is. Amazing!’ Twilight’s thoughts developed into a cacophony of different thoughts at once, almost drowning out all other thoughts. ‘This is valuable material!’, ‘This answers so many questions.’, ‘We can fill in the holes in history!’, ‘I wish I could experience the princesses’ memories like this, too!’

Twilight was drowning all of them out with her excitement. Now she even wanted to see their … Maybe … Twilight’s excitement might have been the key to getting them out! This place was all about memories. Even if she couldn’t get her thoughts to supersede everything, she might be able to bring out her memories. They should be in control in these memories and not … whoever this was.

In dreams this was easy. Her presence alone changed the dream so that it would listen to her. But here? Maybe if she tried to recall a really strong, a really important memory … maybe then she could … bring it to life?

The only problem was that the strongest memory she had, was at the same time one she wanted to forget, desperately. And yet she had reminded herself it time and again, so she wouldn’t do the same mistake twice. She had no choice. She had to recall it once more. She could almost feel the tears welling up in her mind as she went back to that time, as she forced her memory to the surface. The events played in her mind, the jealousy she felt. The resentment. The pain. The moment she changed, she felt as if something died within her. With a mental cry she pulled at the scene, tried to push it outward, out into the open. It had to become one with herself, with her horn; With her magic. It was as if she fought against a river, against an unmoving mountain. She felt as if she was wrestling a full grown dragon …

Small spheres of light played in the darkness. The memory of the stallion started to fade, being quickly replaced by … a cave? This wasn’t the memory Luna had tried to conjure. Did she fail? The image she had conjured pulled her in and …

Luna laid in front of the Tree of Harmony, shivering despite the warmth it emanated, and despite the wing her sister had folded over her. Her stomach rumbled, and she winced with the sharp pain of hunger that accompanied it.

“I … I am hungry”, she whispered, almost too ashamed to ask for something to eat. They had been in this cave for quite some time, and food has become scarce. She missed her father, she didn’t even know how she got there.

The older filly looked down on her and stroked her back with her wing. There was a distinct rumbling from next to her, too. “I suppose we can have one”, Celestia said. Luna shivered even more as the wing was removed from her back, and the white filly got up to walk to the saddlebags in the back of the cave. It was a bit colder back there, and although the darkness loomed, it was still the best place to keep their little supplies.

The cave with the tree had become their home. It wasn’t comfortable, but it was way better than being outside. Luna missed having a real home, back with her father … but her father had passed on. That much she knew. She couldn’t remember how it had happened, she only remembered the suffocating pain of loss.

“I hope the weather will change soon”, Celestia said on her way back. Luna turned her head to the cave entrance, and saw the snow piling up outside the cave. Winter had come unexpectedly, and they were lucky that Celestia had found something edible in the Everfree Forest. Her sister settled down next to her, replaced the wing for warmth and comfort, and held a one rainbow-striped apple afloat within her magic. She closed her eyes for a moment. The apple shook before neatly breaking into two equal halves. Luna took one of them out of her sister’s magic, the golden glow holding it replaced by her silvery-blue.

With the first bite, flavor exploded in her mouth, and Luna had to control herself, so she wouldn’t just gobble her half down. They didn’t know when the snow would stop, and, if it was like any previous winter, then they had to hold out on their provisions for three whole months, maybe more. Especially since the Everfree Forest didn’t provide much food for them. At least that half apple took the edge off of her hunger.

Luna leaned into Celestia. She was glad that she had found her sister, that she had found a part of her family. At least she wasn’t alone …

The scene burned away like paper in a dragon’s flame, bits and pieces were blown away by an unfelt wind. Only to make place for more falling snowflakes. Snowflakes that quickly formed into a snow-covered town.

She had only enough time to wonder why she hadn’t had any control in her own memory.

“Thank you for deciding to help us”, Starswirl said. They walked through the falling snow, only a few ways were kept clean by diligent unicorns. The rest of the town had disappeared knee-deep within the cold white powder. At the end of the way was a small stage in what could have once been a marketplace. The stage itself was kept clean of snow by a makeshift roof. Masses of snow had piled upon it. But not as much as on some of the floor. Every once in a while the unicorns freed their houses from too much snow.

“The process itself is very simple”, Starswirl explained, “just face in the direction everypony else faces. The sun should set in that direction.”

He nodded his acknowledgment.

“We reach out with our magic and then use a simple spell, akin to telekinesis, to set the sun.” He stopped next to the group and took a deep breath. “The actual spell is far more complex than that, but telekinesis is enough for any newcomer. I will be coordinating the magic, making the actual connection. Just follow everypony else’s lead.”

He nodded and joined the small group of ponies.

His companion walked to the front of the now six unicorns. “It is time”, Starswirl intoned, his horn started to glow with a white aura. The ponies next to him closed their eyes and their horns started to glow as well, the colors of their magic akin to an incomplete and randomized rainbow.

He followed their lead closing his eyes. Then he opened his magical senses. The magic of the ponies was all around him, the glow of their horns, reached him through tis sense, but there was more. It was as if the shadows of their bodies were there as well. It was odd, worth to investigate on a later date. Instead he concentrated on the levitation spell, reaching out for the sun. He stretched his senses further, past where he could have seen with his eyes open. All around were more and more shadows of ponies. Shadows that had different forms and sizes. Some smaller than foals, others bigger than full-grown stallions. He ignored them. The sun had to be further out, still. The only thing he found were shadows on the ground, and some up in the clouds. The sun had to be up there, but no matter how far he stretched, he just couldn’t find it.

‘Try to follow everypony else’s lead’, Starswirl said to him. He relaxed his senses and concentrated on the ponies around him. The glow of magic greeted him, some of them strong, some weak, put it was magic nonetheless. Magic that stretched upward. It was a very thin stream. A stream that was mixed with shadows. Shadows that stemmed from everypony around him. Shadows that everypony had. Some were as big as the pony themselves, especially on the ones with the weaker stream, and others were really small. One was smaller than a mouse, and a wide big stream shot straight up into the air. That was probably Starswirl’s. He joined his magic to the stream, and followed that glowing road upwards. Riding a wave of magic, he left the ground, and the shadows behind. It seemed to go on for minutes, if not an eternity, until he noticed the bright glow in the distance. A bright fiery magic that could probably burn other magic it touched. It had to be the sun. He was reluctant to touch it with his magic, but the ponies around him needed his assistance. He gulped, and let his magic gr-

Static.

Pain.

A bright flash.

The scene burned. Everything burned.

Celestia stood before the saddlebags that held the rest of their provisions. A dozen rainbow colored apples were left. She hadn’t had the opportunity to collect many of those. It had been little more than two dozen. Then the wolves had come. Wolves made out of wood and underbrush. A shiver ran over her back as she remembered them. Blasting them didn’t work for long. They just … reassembled. Somehow she had lost them in the woods. It was somehow a miracle that she hadn’t gotten a scratch, and neither her saddlebags had. She tried again the next day, but the trees had disappeared.

She looked to the tree and the sleeping form of her little sister. Luna trembled occasionally. She couldn’t let the last of her family starve to death. She had to find something to eat. Out there. In the snow. When trees could disappear from one day to the next, maybe they also could appear that fast. It was the only hope she had: That the Forest would defy nature, snow and cold in a way that would allow them to survive.

“I am going out”, she whispered, knowing that Luna wouldn’t hear her. She still had to say it. It would have felt wrong otherwise. Out there the snow had at least stopped falling. It might be the best chance she would have in days. Maybe she even made it back before her sister woke. She walked quietly to the cave’s entrance and then fought through the knee-deep snow. Hopefully there were no mo-

An invisible force threw him out of the group and into the snow. His head hurt. His horn burned as if someone set it aflame. His heart pounded. He shivered. What was this feeling? Fear?

If this cold continues …

We are almost out of food …

What should I do if he doesn’t recover?

Why did she have to die? I can’t raise this foal alone …

The world has been rejecting us … and the sun rejects us, too!

The sun had rejected him. But … Those many of them weren’t his own thoughts; couldn’t be his own thoughts. But if they were not his, then … who’s? He forced his eyes open. Shadows were writhing above everypony, and the magic around their horns flickered. He flinched and closed his eyes. His horn felt as if it were melting. Don’t look. Then the pain was bearable. But what were these shadows, that he could now see everywhere? And these thoughts … could it be …

“Fear not!” Starswirl raised his voice. It was firm and full of authority. His horn was glowing so bright that he could see it rhough his closed eyes. “You need conviction. You need courage. Don’t let fear control you!” His own horn seemed to shine even brighter. What raw power that stallion had. He opened his eyes and stared only at Starswirl. There was no shadow in him. Sweat glistened on his brow and coat, but something was happening. Far above them the sun had begun to move. The stallion alone was able to move the sun. “We won’t shy back from our responsibility! We’ll keep the cycle going! We must! We can!”

The pain in his horn subsided more and more, and he noticed how the shadows of everypony else started to shrink. They managed to control their fear; the glow of their horns brightening once more, and the sun moved steadier and steadier with every moment, until it disappeared beyond the horizon. The shadows grew weaker by the minute, and his horn cooled, and the intense pain faded. All that was left was a cool, numb feeling, as if it burned off. Shakily he felt with his hoof for it. It was still there, but totally numb.

While everypony else celebrated their success, he got to his hooves and walked back to Starswirl’s home. The sun had rejected him. The fear had burned his horn. Nothing of this made sense …

‘That was … odd’, Twilight thought. The young alicorn seemed to regain her … senses? first. ‘First there is a memory of Luna, then him, then Celestia, and them him again …’

‘I tried to force one of my memories on top of this one’, Luna explained. ‘I wanted to gain control of this memory, in order to get us out.’ But Twilight was right. That Celestia’s memories showed up in the moment he tried to connect to the sun, was more than odd. Had her sister tried the same?

‘As … he … tried to reach the sun, I felt a strong headache’, Celestia thought, her ‘voice’ sounding … strained. ‘It was as if he pulled that memory straight out of my head.’

‘Are you all right, sister?’

‘Yes … I am fine. The shields held … mostly. Still, it has gotten dangerous. We need to get out of here. Now!’

‘Twilight’, Luna thought. ‘The memory I tried to summon was changed into another. Taking control from me once more. You need to summon a memory.’

‘I? I don’t even know how …’

‘Tis fairly easy. You just n-‘

The scene melted and dissolved into the warm interior of Starswirl’s home. The stallion stood in front of the shelf, and picked another book. He couldn’t read them at all, but maybe some of the illustrations could hint on whether or not those shadows had been fear. He also needed to know why his horn had felt as if it would burn. Being unable to read didn’t help at all. He needed somepony to teach him how to read. Keeping a tight lid on his frustration, he put the book back into the shelf. Still, he would’ve liked to throw something into the wall.

“What are you saying?” Clover’s voice reached his ears. Her voice was barely above a whisper, but it was enough for his ears to catch one side of the conversation. He took a deep breath, put his frustration aside, and stepped closer as quietly as he could. She was probably talking to Starswirl about something important. Something he wasn’t meant to overhear. “You can’t just leave and appoint me as the queen’s new adviser!”

Starswirl would be leaving? For what? He strained his ears, trying to hear more of the conversation, but he didn’t actually want to go into the next room.

“Find somepony more suitable for what? Do you plan-” Clover was cut off by something Starswirl said. “Fine, I will trust you”, Clover grumbled.

What was that all about? Was Starswirl going to stage a coup? No, not that old geezer. He could have a lot of authority with the people, but he wasn’t the type that wanted to rule. No, from what he has seen, Starswirl would take action to keep everypony safe, but he was more than happy to just tend to his own studies otherwise.

“One more thing, before you leave”, Clover whispered, she tried to keep quiet, but her voice carried better than Starswirl’s. “We need to do something about … him.”

Was she talking about him now? If she was, then it couldn’t be good, could it?

“The whole city has begun accusing him of being the problem”, Clover explained. “They say the snow started when he showed up, he has no name and no mark. Then he tried to lower the sun with everypony, and is somehow thrown out of the circle, leaving the burden to everypony else. He isn’t carrying his weight, and … more and more of the town agree that they won’t want to feed him anymore.”

He felt his ire rising. The frustration boiled over, and became anger. He had a hard time keeping the lid on it. They made him into the scapegoat for the bad weather. He had tried to help them with the stupid sun. He got hurt by this. But no, they felt like he was the root of all evil.

“I … understand. It won’t be easy, but I will try”, Clover said with a sigh.

He took a deep breath and stepped back into the room. If they wanted to be rid of him, If he wasn’t welcome here, then he would be leaving. He snorted. He didn’t need them, and they, obviously, didn’t need him! But he wouldn’t be leaving unprepared. The weather outside was still hostile, but it was at least more honest than these ponies …

The shelves turned into black mist, making the books crash onto the ground. They dissolved as well. Everything around them dissolved into black mist, and finally, the mist dispersed.

Stars became visible once more, the strange ground of her memoryscape. The sea of memories hovered far above her, the memories of that stallion integrated into hers. They swam on the surface, as unwanted as flotsam on a clear lake.

Celestia and Twilight stood next to what remained of the dark tree. One of the branches had broken off, and disappeared, together with the dark element it held. The tree had gotten smaller, less looming, but it was still terrifying. There were still dark Elements of Harmony left on the tree. Did they all hold another part of this stallion’s memory? Or was there something more to it?

Luna ignored the tree for now, looking at Twilight and Celestia instead. “A… art thou all right?”

“Yes. Yes I am”, Twilight said.

“I am good”, Celestia answered, her expression hidden behind her usual mask. Her horn glowed, and she seemed fine. Did she manage to keep her spell running through all of this? “What about you, Luna?”

Luna blinked and considered herself. She lifted a hoof, and inspected her wings. She didn’t feel any different from before, and there were no patches of black on her coat of fur. Her heart was racing, but that only showed how disturbing this experience had been. “I am fine”, she answered. In fact, she felt relief. They had made it through the experience, unharmed, and the nightmarish pressure from the dark tree had lessened somewhat.

“Good. But it would be best, if we stopped here, for today”, Celestia sighed. “All the preparation in the world can’t prepare you for the real thing. And this … thing had a few surprises up it’s … bark.”

Luna nodded. “Indeed.” She channeled her magic, casting the necessary spell that would wake them. The stars slowly faded to black. The trees and the sea of memories faded into the ensuing darkness. Luna herself was the last that faded from this realm.

She opened her eyes to Twilight pacing through the room; Quill and scroll held in her purple magic, scribbling furiously.

Celestia had left her place to stare at the crystal. She smiled despite the crystal’s color changing to black. It had even grown a few small crystals on it’s otherwise smooth surface. It was disturbing to look at, and yet her sister smiled.

“At least this went according to plan”, Celestia finally said. “But we should put a few more safeguards into place, when we attempt to remove the rest of that tree.”

“Indeed”, Luna answered. She didn’t like the notion at all, but all of this made her uncomfortable to leave it there. “We don’t even know whether something could, or even did happen while we were … out.” She walked to Twilight and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Maybe it would be best if I teach Twilight some of my dream and memory magic.”

Twilight looked up, her quill stopped mid-sentence. “That would be a good idea”, she answered. “Maybe I can analyze what has happened and derive a counter-measure from that.” The young alicorn looked to Twilight. “You had a suspicion on who this pony is?”

“Yes”, she admitted. “It is all just speculation, but wouldn’t it make sense, if … that pony is … Sombra?”

Luna blinked, then nodded slowly. “If it is some remnant magic of his, then we need to be extra careful. He was a master in laying traps.”

“Very well, let us all prepare and meet here, again”, Celestia said.

“I concur.” Luna turned to the door and walked next to Twilight. She lowered her voice and whispered: “I shall meet you in your dreams. The sooner you practice these spells, the better.”

“Yes”, Twilight sighed. “I hope I can find some sleep after all of this.” She returned to her scroll and continued scribbling … The unsettling nature of the experience put aside; It was an interesting take on ancient history …