Traces of a Hidden Shadow

by Teotle


The Past Made Right Again

After Princess Luna explained everything about her past with Teotle, Celestia, along with everypony else, stared at both of them for a good long while. It was as if all their understanding of the two of them were just turned upside down.

Eventually, Celestia walked up to Luna and Teotle, not in frustration, but slow and calmly. When she stopped, she asked, "What you're saying is that, due to the circumstances, Equestria is now safe from danger?"

Luna looked at her sister with wide eyes and asked, "You're not mad with me for disobeying you?"

"Disobeying?" Celesia wondered. "Of course not, I am your older sister, not your mother. If you say Teotle is your grandson, then I will gladly accept him as my nephew. However, I must a ask him something." She then turned her attention to Teotle and asked, "Are you alright with being a part of our family?"

"I will gladly call Luna my grandmother, I will also call you my aunt, but I already have a family." Teotle said, looking over at his brothers and sisters, who were smiling from ear to ear.

Celestia grinned and said, "I understand."

"As do I." Luna added.

Just then, Sombra stepped out of the Arcs barrier and walked over to the princesses and said, "I must say that I'm very happy right now. Luna has her child back, and Celestia finally knows the truth."

"Thank you, Sombra." said Celestia, who had turned to face his direction.

Sombra then looked at the ground with sadness on his face. It was the same sadness that Teotle had when he lost his mother, frost, along his adopted mother, Luna. Teotle knew why Sombra had the same sadness, he saw it in Sombra's memories when they were inside the Arc together, and he couldn't let it eat at him again as it did before back at the crystal empire.

"Sombra?" Teotle asked.

Sombra looked up at Teotle and responded, "Yes?"

"Are you thinking about her?"

"I am." Sombra replied.

"Who are you talking about?" Twilight asked.

Teotle then looked at her and answered, "Radiant Hope."

"Radiant Hope?" Spike asked. "Who's that?"

"I know who that is." Celestia asked. After Sombra was defeated the second time, Twilight and Cadance went down below his old throne room and found his hidden private study room. Once there, they found an old diary that he used to record his own life story. It spoke of a crystal pony that he grew up with in a local orphanage."

"Her name was Radiant Hope..." Sombra added. "...and she was my best and only friend I've ever had." He then looked at Celestia and asked, "How did she feel after I took her home away?"

Celestia frowned and said, "The pain was too horrible for her to live with. She was more sadder about losing you then she did about losing her home. She loved you very much."

Sombra looked at the ground and said, "I know that now. I just wish I knew it sooner, so I could fix what I've done."

"Well, maybe I can help with that." said the Arc.

"What do you mean?" Sombra asked.

The Arc then said, "I know the technique Teotle's mother, Frost, used on his sword to talk to him from the land of the dead. I can use the same method to contact Hope."

Sombra's face lit up as her said, "Fantastic, how soon can we do it?"

"It will take time, but I can open a channel leading to her soul so we can make contact." the Arc answered.

"Good." Teole said, proud of the work he, Nyx and Day Dreamer had done. "Make it so, please."

The Arc the began to glow white as it made its calculations. In just a few short moments, contact had been made and Radiant Hope's soul could be projected as a hologram.

Sombra looked back at Teotle, who waved his paw, saying, "Go ahead."

He then looked back at Hope and walked slowly to her. "Hope?" he asked. "Is you really her?"

"I am." Hope replied. "I've been watching you for the past thousand years, waiting for the day that you would be pulled back into the light.

"Honestly, even though I've been saved, I still have fear of the future." Sombra said.

"It's ok to be afraid, for fear helps us to keep going on." Hope assured. Teotle, Nyx, and Day Dreamer helped us both see that."

"I don't understand." Sombra said, looking back up at Hope. "How does fear help people?"

Hope smiled and answered, "It's fear of pain, solitude and death that help us want to keep each other alive, because without each other, we have no future. Twilight was afraid of two possibilities when he found Nyx in the Everfree Forest. One was that she could be Nightmare Moon, and the other was that she could have just been a filly who just looks like her."

"Where are you going with this?" Sombra wondered.

Hope cleared her throat and said, "One meats their destiny on the road they take to avoid it, Sombra. Twilight could have left Nyx at the mercy of Celestia's own fears and doubts, but Twilight's fear of punishing an innocent filly was what kept her from doing so. If Nyx had been sent to the moon, she would have possibly developed differently then she is now."

Hope looked back at Teotle and continued, "The same can be said about him too. When Twilight, Nyx and the others heard him howling in the forest, they could have left in fear of him hurting them, but many of them knew that he was just in pain and were afraid that he would die. If they hadn't helped him escape the bear trap, he could have easily been found the the wolf scouts that night."

"That would mean that he'd have to fight his siblings until one was left to bring back their tyrant father." Nyx added.

"Yes, that's right." Hope said, giving Nyx a smile. "Fear also helped Teotle want to spare you, Sombra, because he knew that you could be saved."

Sombra looked at Teotle with a warm smile and said, "Thank you Teotle, for saving me, and letting me see my friend one last time."

"My pleasure." Teotle replied offering a fist pump. Sombra hesutated at first because he wasn't sure what it meant, but soon he decided to accept Teotle's gesture of friendship.