//------------------------------//
// Shadow Magic 
// Story: Silver Dawn 
// by Summer Knight 
//------------------------------//

"I don't have a shadow?" Silverstream looked behind herself again. There was a long, exaggerated unicorn shadow, but nothing else. Silverstream moved a foreleg up and down, and flared her wings in and out. Nothing changed.
"I don't have a shadow." Her pupils shrank to pinpricks. "I don't have a shadow! Why don't I have a shadow?!" Silverstream's panic briefly overcame her weakness as she grabbed Luster Dawn by the shoulders and shook her urgently. "What does that mean?!"
"Iiiiiiiit meeeeaaaaaans—" Luster Dawn put a steadying hoof on Silverstream—whether to steady the hippogriff or herself was hard to say. "It means that I finally know what this fog is." She looked up with a confident flash in her golden eyes. "Shadow magic."
"Shadow magic?" Silverstream repeated. "Like what King What's-His-Name Crystalface used?"
Luster raised an eyebrow. "If you're talking about King Sombra of the Crystal Empire, then no. He used umbrum magic."
"What's the difference?"
Luster Dawn sighed. "Look, ask me when we're not trying to rescue hundreds of creatures from a shadow mage, and I'll be happy to discuss the different types of magic with you."
"Okay, it's a date!" Silverstream chirped. 
"A d—" Luster choked on the word, then cleared her throat. "Right, well, anyway." She coughed again. "The important thing is that shadow magic, as the name implies, affects creatures' shadows. It can change their shapes, turn them solid, and even use them as doorways. That must be what this fog did: forced everycreature through their own shadows to wherever our mage is hiding out."
"Right. Got it. I think. Sorta. And... stealing shadows?"
Luster grimaced. "That's one way to power shadow magic. You take other creatures' shadows, then you can use their strength to fuel your spells."
"Oh." Silverstream's adrenaline rush was fading, and a sick dread was growing in her stomach. "That doesn't sound good."
"It isn't," Luster Dawn replied grimly. "Overusing someone's shadow can seriously hurt them, or even kill them."
"Kill—?" Silverstream squeaked. "Luster, I don't think I like this adventure anymore." 
A deep tremble started in her legs and wings, and she was powerless to stop it. She tried to tell herself it was just the fatigue catching up with her—she knew that she was lying. 
"Hey." Luster Dawn placed a hoof under Silverstream's beak and tilted her head up. "Listen to me." She met Silverstream's gaze without flinching, her usual awkwardness momentarily forgotten. "I am not going to let that happen, okay?"
Silverstream looked back at her for a long moment, drinking in the sight of this beautiful, brilliant, fiercely determined unicorn. 
"Okay?" Luster Dawn repeated. 
Silverstream gave a shaky nod. "Okay."
Luster Dawn smiled, and in that moment she lived up to her name. Warmth spread through Silverstream like she was catching the first rays of the sun on a warm summer day. Her trembling stopped as suddenly as it had started. 
"So," Luster said, "I studied the theories behind shadow magic at the Royal Academy in Canterlot, but I've only used it once. For the test." 
Silverstream swallowed hard. "All right. Did you pass?"
The unicorn snorted. "Who do you think you're talking to? I aced it." 
"Right, I should have known."
Wow. Silverstream thought privately. Luster's usual dorky awkwardness was charming, but there was definitely something to be said for this confident, focused side of her personality. And that side only came out once I was in danger. There was something to be said for that, too.
"This shadow mage, whoever he is, made one big mistake," Luster continued, oblivious to Silverstream's adoring gaze. "You can't completely sever a shadow from its body; and if you could, the shadow would be useless, since it wouldn't be connected to any life force anymore. By taking your shadow but leaving the rest of you here, he's given me a string to follow."
"You mean you can find him?" Silverstream asked hopefully. 
Luster Dawn nodded. "I'll make a passage using shadow magic. We'll go in through my shadow and come out through yours. But I'll need to examine your body first. Closely."
A blush crept up Silverstream's cheeks again. "Um—"
Luster winked. "I know what I said."



Friendship really is amazing, Luster Dawn thought as she used shadow magic to sweep Silverstream. It was hardly a new thought for Princess Twilight's personal student, but one that she still had on occasion. 
Over the years, she'd come to realize that the magic of friendship wasn't just rainbow lasers and explosions. Sometimes, it was a sudden burst of strength and confidence to help a friend in need. And, sometimes, it was the willpower to ignore the fact that she was running a deep magical scan of that friend's slender, muscular, very-nicely-proportioned body. 
Was Silverstream really almost twice Luster's age? She'd never have guessed—the hippogriff's physical form showed the same youthfulness as her personality.
Magic of friendship, Luster Dawn reminded herself as her magic went over Silverstream's hindquarters. I need to find her shadow, not her haunches. Her toned, taut haunches... wait, was Silverstream flexing for her?
"Luster?" The hippogriff asked. 
"Almost done!" Luster Dawn answered a bit too quickly. "Sorry, it's a little trickier than I expected." 
"Hmm. I'll bet," Silverstream purred. 
Not helping! "No, what I mean is, have you ever tried to look for what's not there?" Luster Dawn cut off her magic a little reluctantly. "I basically need to find the space where your shadow was. Then I need to find the thing that fits into that space."
"Oh." The playful expression dropped from the hippogriff's face. "But you can do it, right?"
"Of course I can," Luster answered determinedly. She had to—if she failed, then she'd lose Li'l Cheese, Silverstream, and hundreds of other creatures to this mysterious shadow mage. "Although it might take me a little time."
"I see," Silverstream answered quietly. She quickly perked up. "No problem! Take as long as you need."
Luster Dawn looked at the hippogriff with a dreamy sigh. 
"You're amazing, you know that?"
"Huh? Me?" Silverstream answered. "You're doing all the work! What did I do, besides get blasted with shadow magic?"
"You've been the one keeping my head on straight since all this started," Luster answered. As she spoke, she positioned herself under the light so that her shadow stretched out in front of her, then carefully directed a thin beam of magic into that dark shape. "No matter what's happening, you stay calm and rational."  
Silverstream chuckled. "I'm not sure anyone's ever called me 'calm' or 'rational'  before," she replied with a grin. 
"And that's the other thing," Luster continued, "you never lose your smile." The unicorn looked up with a smile of her own. "You must be one of the bravest creatures I've ever met."
"Brave? Me?" Silverstream squeaked. She pawed the ground uncomfortably and looked anywhere except at Luster Dawn. "I'm not brave, I'm... I'm silly. I can't take anything seriously. That's why I don't get freaked out by stuff."
Luster made a thoughtful noise. 
"Well," the unicorn answered, "I take everything too seriously. Just ask Li'l Cheese." 
As she spoke, she became aware of an unthinkably vast network of connections and doorways. Her magic was connected to the world of shadows. Now she had to find the right one—a needle in an infinitely large haystack. 
"It's good to have someone who can reel me in like you can," Luster continued. "We make a good team." 
Silverstream pressed affectionately into her side, then glanced down at what Luster Dawn was doing. 
"Whoa." 
"Yeah," Luster replied.
Instead of a darker patch of grass, her shadow now looked like a jet-black pool of liquid. It should have been too dark to see through, but nonetheless, Luster Dawn could vaguely make out countless shapes in its depths. They appeared and disappeared, changed shape and size, and overall gave the impression of an impossibly huge, all-black kaleidoscope. 
"What is all that?" Silverstream asked in an awed tone. 
"Shadows," Luster Dawn answered her. "Every shadow everywhere." 
"Wow!" The hippogriff leaned over until her beak was nearly touching the blackness. "And mine's in there somewhere?" 
Luster nodded. "Yours, Li'l Cheese's, Princess Twilight's... everyone's."
"Say," Silverstream cocked her head thoughtfully, "doesn't that mean we could come out through any shadow we want? We could go into Ponyville for help!"
Luster Dawn grimaced. "In theory, yes, but—" she shook her head hopelessly "—I can't tell whose shadow is whose. Without a more experienced shadow mage to guide us, we'd be just as likely to come out in Saddle Arabia. Or the middle of the ocean." She looked at Silverstream to make sure she understood what Luster was saying. "That was why I had to examine you so closely; I needed to know exactly what to look for in here."
"Oh. I just thought you were enjoying yourself," Silverstream said with a wink.
"I didn't say I wasn't," Luster answered, and wondered when she'd gotten so brazen. The more time she spent around Silverstream, the more her filters seemed to shut off.
Silverstream peered back into the pool of shadows. 
"Weird," she said. "I can't explain it, but I feel like I almost know where my shadow is in there."
"You can sense your shadow?" Luster Dawn asked eagerly. "I know there must still be a connection, but I didn't think you'd be able to follow it without magic."
Silverstream snorted. "Well, you loaded me up with shadow magic just now. Maybe that's why?" 
Luster gasped. "The scan! There must be enough residual magic that you can feel the link between your shadow and your body!"
"That's it!" Silverstream cried. "Come on, before I lose it!" She grabbed one of Luster's forelegs.
"No, wait, don't—" 
But it was too late; Silverstream dove into the unicorn's shadow.



Silverstream was reaching the end of her considerable stamina. She'd had to tense every muscle in her legs just to stand upright for Luster's scan, and the talon she was holding her friend's leg with had no strength in it. She couldn't wait any longer; she fell forward into the shadow, dragging Luster Dawn behind her.
Passing through Luster Dawn's shadow felt almost like diving into the ocean, but warmer and more viscous. Silverstream flicked her tail to reorient herself, and realized that she'd instinctively turned into a seapony as she entered the shadow world. However, it didn't seem to matter—Luster Dawn was standing on the shadow-stuff just as easily as she was floating in it. Furthermore, though Luster needed air to breathe and Silverstream now needed water, neither one was having any trouble here.
"Wow, this is so cool!" Silverstream exclaimed. Her voice sounded strangely muffled, and yet she winced as the shadows seemed to carry it outward endlessly. "You okay, Lusty?"
Luster Dawn choked on nothing. "Lusty? I'm not—I don't think that means what you think it does. But, yes, I'm fine. Can you still feel your shadow?"
"Mhm!" Silverstream answered eagerly. "It's like something's tugging me that way." She pointed in... a direction. She couldn't tell which way was which in this endless blackness, or even if there were "ways." Still, there was definitely something pulling her. It was almost like that time when she'd tried to grab something shiny and found herself snagged on a pony's fishing hook. 
Come on, Luster, come on! she thought impatiently. She couldn't quite hide her labored breathing anymore, or the sheen of sweat on her now-featherless body.
"Are you okay?" Luster asked with concern.
"Yeah. Yup! I'm fine. Just..." Silverstream winced as pain flared in her stomach. "The sooner we get my shadow back, the better." She started to swim in the direction she felt the pull from, and quickly realized that she wasn't going anywhere. Luster Dawn, who hadn't moved at all, was still right next to her. 
"This is a magical passage," Luster reminded her, "we need to use magic to get around. Let me try." 
The unicorn channeled magic into her horn. Her usual golden glow was shot through with threads of deep blue and purple, so dark that they were nearly black. It made a striking contrast with Luster's pink fur—washed in that magical light, she was just about the most beautiful thing that Silverstream had ever seen. 
"Okay," Luster Dawn said with a hint of strain in her voice, "I think I've got it. Point the way."
Silverstream pointed. Luster Dawn's magic enveloped them both and... Silverstream wasn't actually sure what was happening. She had a definite sense of motion, but there were no landmarks—or land—for her to gauge their progress. She'd hoped that the pulling feeling would get stronger as they got closer to it, but that didn't seem to be happening. The two just kept moving in their non-direction for an impossible-to-determine length of time, and nothing at all changed around them. 
Until something did. 
"Wait, stop!" Silverstream cried out. The magic field around the two of them immediately winked out.
"What is it?" 
"I think we passed it. The feeling's coming from that way now." Silverstream pointed back at a slight angle to the path they'd been on before—at least, she thought so. She was pointing behind them, anyway.
"Okay. I'm going to go more slowly this time. Let me know when the direction changes again."
With a bit of back-and-forth traveling, the two were able to narrow down the location of whatever was tugging on Silverstream. However, they eventually ran into a problem. 
"All right," Silverstream said, "it's... I have no idea. It's like it's pulling me into myself now, and no matter which way we move, I feel like it's back the way we came from."
"Well, then we must be really close," Luster reasoned. "We just have to pinpoint it."
"Yeah, but I don't know how!" Silverstream cried out in frustration. The constant pain was wearing on her cheerful attitude. "It's right here and I can't find it!"
"Hey, hey, take it easy," Luster Dawn murmured. She gently rubbed Silverstream's back for a moment. "I promise I'll get us there, okay?"
Silverstream sucked in a ragged breath and quickly rubbed tears away from her eyes. 
"Okay," she whispered. "I trust you."
Luster swept around the two of them with a beam that looked much like the scan she'd used on Silverstream before. Under that light, the two could see that what had looked like an infinite pool of solid black was actually made of countless dark forms pressed together. Some were vast, others so small that Silverstream could barely see them, and they came in every conceivable shape. The seapony found the sight dizzying, and quickly shut her eyes. 
"Hmm." 
Silverstream opened one eye to see Luster wearing a slight frown. 
"What is it?" Silverstream asked. 
"I can't find anything that looks like—oh, of course!" She slapped herself in the face with a hoof. "Can you turn back into your hippogriff form? Your shadow must have transformed when you did." 
"Oh, right, that makes sense. I think." 
Silverstream focused her will on the small shard of pearl she wore around her neck, and a moment later she was back in the hippogriff form that she used on land. Like Luster Dawn, she found her hooves resting on nothingness. She instinctively flapped her wings to keep from falling, but there was no air for them to catch. She would have wondered what they were breathing, but the rules of the outside world seemed more like loose suggestions in this place.
"All right, hold still," Luster told her. "Stand just like you were while I was scanning you." 
Silverstream nodded, then realized she'd already disobeyed Luster's instructions not to move. She held as still as she could manage. At least there didn't seem to be any gravity here, so there was no weight pressing down on her rubbery legs. Silverstream shut her eyes again and tried not to think about how awful she felt—she was unable to think about anything else. 
"Let's see here..." Luster Dawn muttered to herself as she worked, "no, no... too big... too small... too many heads... no, no, no... aha!" 
"Did you find it?" Silverstream gasped. 
"I think so," Luster answered excitedly. Her magic was outlining a particular shadow that did, indeed, look like a black outline of a hippogriff. "Can you try moving a bit?" 
"Uh, sure." Silverstream raised one foreleg uncertainly. The dark shape moved as well; now a small part of it was pointing out in another direction. 
"This is it, it has to be!" Luster Dawn exclaimed. 
Oh, thank Celestia. Silverstream could have sobbed with relief, but she didn't want to disturb Luster's focus. 
"Ready?" The unicorn asked. 
"Yes, do it. Please," Silverstream begged. 
"Hang in there," Luster Dawn encouraged her as the beam from her horn intensified. "We'll have you fixed up in no time."
The dark silhouette, outlined in Luster's magic, seemed to become even darker. It developed a strange sheen, like light reflecting off of water at night. 
"The passage is open," Luster said. "Just remember, we have no idea what's waiting for us on the other side."
It can't possibly be worse than this, Silverstream thought privately as another wave of pain burned through her. 
"Thank you," she said aloud. "I'm ready."
Luster Dawn nodded grimly, and her magic guided the two of them into Silverstream's shadow.