//------------------------------// // Magic and Darkness // Story: A Dark Shade of the Past // by InfinityBreach //------------------------------// A Dark Shade of the Past by InfinityBreach Chapter 22: Magic and Darkness "Here's something to drink, Eclipsal." Twilight levitated a mug of something warm in my general direction, and I used my own magic to pick it up. I stared into the cup holding this strange light brown liquid, feeling the heat of it radiate from the mug. "Twilight, what is this?" I said curiously. "You don't know what hot chocolate is?!" She stared back at me, astounded. I returned her stare with a deadpan look, which immediately caused her to blush. "Oh right.. amnesia… heheh. Sorry." "So… this is hot chocolate?" I asked, looking into it, seeing some white things floating at the top of the liquid. "Yeah, I even put in marshmallows. We're going to need the energy if we are going to stay up researching." She explained, grabbing her own mug of hot chocolate from the kitchen. I took a tentative sip of my drink. I couldn't help but feel a smile come onto my face from how sweet and nice it tasted. "Mmm. I think I like hot chocolate." Twilight sat down next to me giggling. "Yeah, I figured you would. Everyone loves hot chocolate." I took another sip of it, letting the warmth of it fill me up. "So, let's get started?" I asked Twilight. She nodded, and flipped open the book, looking at its content. "So, what do we know about the Elements?" I asked. "Well, for one, they stabilize beings, reverting them to a harmonic state." Twilight said, her eyes zooming across the pages. "Um… could you dumb that down a bit?" I asked. "The Elements of Harmony do what they think is best to keep the world at harmony." Twilight replied. "…How do they know what's best..?" I thought aloud. "They were created along with our planet. At least that's what the myth says. Basically the one who created everything used the Elements to forge the world. It's even said that the elements used to be one object, but for some unknown reason that changed, and they split into six." Twilight continued reading some parts of the book. "Does the book have anything on this creator, or the original Element?" I said, looking at the book as well. "… There doesn't appear to be anything on them." Twilight looked a bit confused at this. "Well then how do you all fit in with this?" I asked. "I mean, you all just found 5 of the Elements in a castle, and then there was that spark, and you had all six, but how did they get there in the first place… and why did they choose you?" "To be honest, I always figured it was just the Magic of Friendship that linked them to us. We aren't friends because we are the Elements, we are the Elements because we are friends." She smiled, and then froze, and took a look at me. "Wait a second… I don't remember telling you the whole story of what happened that night at the castle. How did you know that?" She looked at me curiously. "Uhh… well.. I may have sort of gotten a few of my memories back, and might have seen a few of Victory's memories." I said, rubbing my hoof on my neck. "Why didn't you tell the Princess of this?!" Twilight yelled, causing me to flinch. "Well… Princess Luna originally thought that I was the cause of what was happening in Ponyville. I mean, if I were to tell her something that made me seem kind of weird, I just… I just don't want to be forced to leave you all." I explained, albeit awkwardly. "Oh, I doubt the Princess would do anything to you." Twilight said, waving her hoof. "Please, can we just not tell her though?" I said, giving a look of worry at Twilight. "Well… maybe. But first, Tell me what you remember." Twilight said. I told her about me seeing a blue pony, who talked about darkness and magic, and seeing Victory escape from the Elements. She wasn't surprised about Victory escaping, obviously. She did perk up to me mentioning darkness though. "Darkness… darkness… darkness…" Twilight muttered, flipping through the various pages of the book. "What are you looking for, Twi.." She silenced me by putting a hoof to my mouth. "Darkness is the part of our hearts that feeds on our very being, our fear, our worries, it grows from them. Darkness however, hasn't been seen in Equestria for many centuries. It is said it died when it's embodiment, Shaded Darkness died." She flipped through more pages. "Shaded Darkness: Embodiment of Darkness, Master of Death, Element of…" Twilight froze, before continuing reading. "El… Element of Generousity… Shaded died during a fight with an unknown entity, who was later destroyed by the wielders of the Elements." Twilight just stared at the book, while I started talking. "Yeah… Princess Luna told me something about the darkness in her heart. She said it manifested inside of her and became a separate entity. She also said something about darkness and magic being very similar." "That wasn't Shaded Darkness." Twilight suddenly said. "Alicorns are beings who have completely mastered a certain magic, and their body changes as recognition of that. That doesn't work for darkness though; ponies aren't meant to hold darkness, but magic. Darkness would destroy the pony mastered it. Unless if that was darkness itself?" She questioned, putting her hooves against the sides of her head. "Twilight, what are you talking about?" I stared at her muttering, uncomfortably. "A few months ago, we met this pony, he said he was Shaded Darkness, the Master of Darkness. He couldn't have been him though: Shaded Darkness is dead. Also, Shaded Darkness is the Master of Death, not the Master of Darkness! NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE!" Twilight yelled in a fit of rage. "Well, maybe it would make sense if we talked to the other old wielders of the Elements, if this pony is still around, wouldn't it make sense for the others to be?" I asked. Twilight froze again. "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna never single hoofedly wielded the Elements. There were others… but where are they?" Twilight again started flipping through the pages of the book in front of us. "Um, Twilight, what is going on…" I asked, staring at her perplexed face. "Celestial Accord: Embodiment of Order, Master of the Sun, Element of… MAGIC?!" I took a few steps away from Twilight, not having any idea what was going on, or what to do. "Um, Twilight…" "Lunar Dream: Embodiment of Imagination, Master of the Moon, Element of Loyalty." "What about the other wielders?" I asked after Twilight stopped speaking for a minute. "This book has an enchantment on it. Unless you know what you are looking for, you won't find it." Twilight muttered. "I know what the Elements of Harmony are, and I know two- actually now I know three, of the original Elements, so it showed up for me." "Huh. So… a bit for your thoughts?" "There's something strange going on here, Eclipsal. I have no idea what it is, but if it also involves the Princesses… I think we might need to do some undercover work, or something. We should also fill in everypony else about what we found tomorrow." She said, glaring at the book. "Everything's been really chaotic lately, huh?" I asked her. She nodded her head. "Everytime I try to answer one question, I end up with five more." "Well, don't worry, Twilight. The girls and I will always be here to help you out." I said, giving her a smile. "Yeah, I know, I know." Twilight smiled. "Oh! I just remembered! I have to start organizing the library again!" Twilight got up in a panic, and books started to fly around. "Why? What's going on?" I asked, narrowly avoiding some of the books. "School is starting back up, soon." Twilight replied.