//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: Sunset Shimmer and the Last Trial of Daring Do 
// by ChudoJogurt 
//------------------------------//

The old lantern was swinging in the wind, making all the shadows in the barn dance along the hay-covered floor. The smell of freshly-cut grass and old apples spread through the warm autumn night on the gentle gusts of wind, making five pyjama-clad girls shiver and wiggle deeper into their sleeping bags.

Sunset piled more hay on top of herself, seeking warmth, and stuck a straw in her mouth, the familiar taste summoning a wave of fond nostalgia.

“Hey, Sunset, wanna tell another story?” Rainbow Dash asked, half-asleep. “Something cool, though, not the mushy stuff about old ladies.”

"Well I, for one, happened to like that story," Rarity interjected, "Sad as it were."

"Pff, yeah, you would."

“And what,” Rarity rose out of her sleeping bag to peer at the source of the comment, “might I ask, is that supposed to mean?”

Their glares crossed and the air grew thick with threat and tension.

"Um, I liked the talking animals from the second one," Fluttershy offered gingerly, defusing the feud before it could start.

"Technically they're all about talking animals, sugarcube, seeing as how Sunset used ta be a pony–"

"See!" Rainbow interrupted AJ triumphantly, "Rares got a mushy romance story about princess-horses, Flutters had her talking animals story, so it's now my turn to pick. And I pick something with adventures and magic, and like, awesome lost ruins and evil, insane maniacs and stuff!"

“Alright, alright.” Sunset smiled unhappily. “I’ll tell you a story that has all those things, although perhaps not in the way you’d expect. I'll tell you a story of my teacher.”

“Teacher? Ya mean the Princess, right?”

“No. The other one.”

“Ah’ thought ya were a student of the Princess?” Applejack asked suspiciously. “That’s what Twilight said.”

“Well, yes. But Celestia has always let me pursue my studies outside of what she taught me — even an immortal cannot know everything, much less so when she has to rule a kingdom as well. I have studied from many a pony, and I have always learned from the best. Still, in the line of my teachers, she has always held a special place…”

The old lantern was swinging in the wind, dredging up the shadows of the past, and as the girls scooched closer as Sunset began her tale.