//------------------------------// // Based Off a True Experience // Story: Shadow of Twilight // by GreenS21 //------------------------------// The three unicorn mares that asked Twilight if she wanted to go to a party Moon Dancer was holding the day she was sent to Ponyville were walking along the street near the Brum Museum. The blue unicorn, who was walking a little ahead of the white unicorn and yellow unicorn, noticed something stuck to the side of the building they were walking next to. “Hey look, it’s a poster for that new movie,” she called back to her friends. Her friends trotted up alongside her, the white unicorn asking, “What’s it about?” The blue unicorn shook her head, “Seriously, I do not get this guy’s movies.” The other two unicorns looked at the poster and, after seeing it, agreed with her. The yellow unicorn looked to her side and noticed Twilight walking towards them, a small box perched atop her saddlebags. She called, “Twilight! Is that you?” Twilight looked up in surprise as the other two unicorns looked in her direction. She had seen them, obviously, but she figured they wouldn’t want to talk to her after brushing them off the last time she had seen them, so she had planned to just walk past them without saying anything. “Oh! Hey girls. What, uh, what’s going on?” she asked. The white unicorn replied, “Oh, not much. We were just looking at this poster for a new movie opening this week.” Twilight said, “Oh. Does it look good?” The blue unicorn replied, “No. The guy who did this movie? His movies always leave you going ‘Huh?’ We would know.” The white unicorn nodded, “Yeah. You know, maybe there is something good about your constant studying. At least you don’t have to worry about seeing terrible movies like this. Even you wouldn’t watch this kind of stuff, if you actually watch movies, anyway.” She then turned and started walking again, the other two unicorns following after her. Twilight watched them go with an odd look on her face until they left her sight, walking around the corner at the end of the street. After they left, Twilight walked up to the building and looked at the poster herself. Most of the poster was black except for the middle of the poster and the white writing above and below the middle. The middle of the poster had a gray picture of a pony wearing an outfit that reminded her of the Mysterious Mare Do Well’s costume. She looked at the title, “‘The Meditating Mare’… Okay, that does sound kind of dull.” She then continued walking, unaware of a pony wearing a black cloak watching her from behind the corner of a nearby building, a green aura surrounding its horn. Up ahead, the three unicorns were walking down the street, talking about Twilight. “Where do you think she’s been all this time? I haven’t seen her around school at all since that day,” the yellow unicorn was saying. The blue unicorn shrugged, “Who knows? She probably still doesn’t do much besides study, anyway.” Suddenly they heard a familiar voice call, “Hey!” They looked up to see Spike and the rest of Twilight’s friends walking towards them. The white unicorn said, “Oh, hello Spike. How’s it going?” The baby dragon replied, “Pretty good, actually. Have any of you seen Twilight?” The yellow unicorn spoke, “Yeah, a minute ago. Why? And who are… they?” She gestured to the girls as she said the last sentence. Pinkie Pie giggled and then said, “Well, duh! We’re Twilight’s friends!” The three unicorns looked back at her in surprise, the yellow one saying, “Twilight? Friends? How? All that mare does is study all day; she never wants to do anything else!” Applejack chuckled before she said, “Well, excuse me fer sayin’ so, but maybe y’all weren’t persistent enough ta git her outta her shell. She’s a good gal to be around.” Fluttershy smiled, “Oh yes. She even offered to go pick up some treats for a party we’re having later.” The blue unicorn asked, “A party? You can’t be serious!” Rarity spoke, “We’re quite serious. Maybe Twilight could have been a little more open when she lived here, but perhaps that’s not such a bad thing. After all, that’s how we got to meet her.” Rainbow Dash added, “And we’re always there for her, no matter what!” As if on cue, they all heard Twilight let out a shrill scream, causing them all to jump, followed by the sound of something heavy crashing. “What in tarnation?!” Applejack exclaimed. Rainbow Dash immediately flew down the street, heading for where she heard Twilight’s scream. “What the hay happened?” she murmured as she neared the corner. Flying around it, she called, “Twilight…?” She quickly scanned the area, soon locking onto the only thing present on the road at the moment. And her face paled in horror. A carriage much like the taxi carriage that Rarity and Sweetie Belle’s parents rode in had smashed into the side of one of the buildings, looking as though the reins had snapped while the one pulling it had tried to go too fast while making a sharp turn. But that wasn’t what scared Rainbow right now. What scared her was the lavender foreleg and hind leg sticking out between the crashed carriage and the building. They were completely still and blood was running down Twilight’s flank, the carriage having no doubt crushed her against the wall. Her saddlebags and the box she was carrying were on the ground nearby, their contents having spilled out on the ground. Some of the cupcakes that had fallen out had been splattered with her blood. “TWILIGHT!” Rainbow Dash screamed as she flew towards the wreckage, the sound of the other girls’ hoofsteps beginning to fill the air. ________________________________________ Twilight hesitantly cracked an eye open, the memory of her latest death fresh in her mind. She realized she was lying on her front on the floorboards and slowly started to move. She was, at least, glad she didn’t have to wake up in a similar position to how she died. How creepy would it have been to wake up standing up and leaning against something? As she stood up, Homunculus spoke, “Don’t give up, Twilight. It’s dangerous to be alone. Do something, or else you’ll never break free from this.” ________________________________________ Twilight was walking along the road near the art museum after picking up the cupcakes from a bakery when she saw the girls she knew from her days at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. She immediately ducked her head, remembering brushing off their invitation last time she had seen them. She tried to sneak around them so as to avoid any possible hostile confrontation, but the yellow unicorn saw her and called, “Twilight! Is that you?” Having been spotted, Twilight figured she might as well see if she could make amends. The whole encounter played out exactly as it did before, though Twilight did try to interject at several points to try to keep the conversation going longer. It failed in the end and the girls walked away, still as disinterested in sticking around after seeing the movie poster. As she looked at the poster again, Twilight thought, “What is it about this director that seems to be unpopular? This movie doesn’t look very exciting, but from the sound of things, neither is anything else he’s directed. Maybe what he needed was some help coming up with ideas?” As if in response to her thoughts, she saw the Z-pad’s familiar glow coming from her saddlebag. Taking a look at the date, she saw it was telling her to travel to ten years ago during the middle of winter. “It’s going to be cold there,” she murmured to herself. Taking a glance down the street, she reminded herself, “But that’s not nearly as bad as getting crushed by a runaway carriage.” Nodding, she pressed it up against her horn and lifted off the ground a moment later, disappearing before her killer could try to crush her against the wall again. ________________________________________ Twilight began to shiver as she appeared in her destination time, her hooves sinking into the snow as she landed. She looked around; snow was falling around her and there was a slight mist in the air, making it hard to see very far. The snow around her went up just past her hooves, which she suspected would make it hard to run very fast. It definitely looked like the middle of winter in Canterlot. As she looked, she noticed the younger version of the dark yellow earth pony the group had met earlier outside the art museum standing a short distance away, a green saddlebag on his back. His head was tilted up towards the sky but his eyes were closed, as if he was trying to remember something. He soon hung his head and sighed, “…Failed again.” He then opened his eyes and looked in Twilight’s direction. Upon seeing her, he exclaimed, “It’s happened!!” Twilight glanced around nervously and muttered, “Oops…” The dark yellow pony ran up to her and placed his forelegs on her shoulders, saying, “You’ve come! You answered my call, didn’t you?” Twilight backed away, allowing the earth pony to drop to his hooves, and said, “What? No, I didn’t answer anypony! What are you talking about?” She then turned to walk away from this awkward meeting. The earth pony pleaded, “No, no, no! Wait!” Twilight stopped and looked back at him over her shoulder, asking, “What do you want from me?” The pony looked at her for a moment before starting, “L-let me introduce myself! My name is Oleg, and I am a filmmaker! Just a novice at this point, but… Anyway, ever since I saw you a year ago, I’ve been meditating every chance I can get, channeling all my energy towards seeing you again. And finally, you answered! To think I had such power… I will never forget this moment! Maybe I should base a movie on this!!” Twilight uttered, “Uh…” Oleg went on, “But what kind of film should it be? A bold and moving drama about a stallion that has miraculous powers? Or a science fiction blockbuster featuring a psychokinetic hero?!” Twilight muttered, “Um…” In her head, she was thinking, “That last thing he said… Did I give him the inspiration for that movie, ‘The Meditating Mare’?” Oleg seemed to interpret her silence differently, for he said, “I can see that you’re the type of mare who prefers not to betray her excitement. But let me ask you something…” He walked a few steps closer to her and asked, “If you were making a film, what kind of movie would it be?” Twilight looked back at him in surprise; she wasn’t sure what to say to that. She’d seen movies since she and Spike moved to Ponyville, yes, but while she had her favorites, she couldn’t think of anything she liked. All she could think about was the hectic day she had been having. “Wait, that’s a good movie element, isn’t it?” she thought to herself. Looking back at Oleg, she asked, “Something about time travel?” Oleg backed off and looked up, saying, “Ah-ha, that’s a pretty good angle.” His expression then became one of deep thought and he looked down, asking, “But what about the motivation? Why would somepony want to wander through time?” Twilight watched as he took a few steps past her before stopping, still thinking. Twilight’s own thoughts were telling her to keep going. The only other thing she could think of involved conquering the world, and she certainly didn’t like movies revolving around that. So instead she asked, “Because the pony wants to find out the cause of their own death?” Oleg replied, “Cause of death, huh? It… needs something else – any ideas?” Twilight thought for a moment before asking, “Well, how about a love story?” Oleg looked up for a moment before turning back to Twilight and saying, “Oh wow, I’m impressed. You’ve really got me…” He then got up close to Twilight and said, “Listen, please don’t tell anypony about this project. Once I’m a little higher on the food chain, I can film this.” He then backed off, murmuring, “But it needs something more – a soul, if you will.” He then shook his head, “Well, that’ll come later. Watch for it in the theaters, though, all right?” Twilight nodded unsurely, “Uh, okay.” Oleg looked at her and asked, “You’re not happy? I am, really I am. Most sincerely. I don’t want to call this a token of that feeling, but here.” He reached his muzzle into his saddlebag and came back out dangling an egg-shaped watch on a chain in his mouth. He dropped it into his hoof and said, “Please accept this as a gift, in the name of this encounter.” Twilight looked at it and asked, “Uh, are you sure? It looks kind of expensive…” Oleg replied, “Oh, that’s all right. It may look fancy, but it’s just a replica.” He then held it out towards Twilight, who hesitantly took it with her own hoof. Looking away, Oleg explained, “My family has the arts and crafts gene, so to speak. Our special talents revolve around making things, and this is the kind of thing my father likes to make. So there are cameras and pocket watches all over his house, and what I like to do is give them to friends.” Twilight smiled, “Oh, well, thank you then.” She then placed the watch in her right saddlebag. Oleg replied, “No, thank you. I consider you one of my greatest benefactors, you know. Just talking to you like this gives me something immeasurably valuable.” Twilight asked, “Really? It does?” Oleg nodded, “Yes, it does, absolutely.” He then gave her a curious stare, asking, “By the way, how did you acquire the power to do what you do? Is Princess Celestia capable of that?” He then pleaded, “Please, please, tell me about your powers. They dwarf those of any unicorn I’ve ever met!” Every alarm in Twilight’s head began to go off, telling her she needed to walk away from Oleg immediately. She quickly said, “You can’t ask me to do that… I mean, I can’t. Try to forget about all of this, please. Goodbye.” She then walked around Oleg and started walking away from him. The dark yellow earth pony called, “No, wait! You can’t just go!” But Twilight didn’t stop; instead she increased her pace to a run, disappearing into the mist. After running for several minutes, Twilight slowed down to a trot, looking back over her shoulder. Thankfully, it seemed that Oleg had not tried to chase after her. He was a nice pony, obviously, but there was no way she was going to tell him about her time traveling device. Looking forward again, she realized she was walking along the road leading in the direction of the art museum. “Is there anything else I need to do here? I’m not sure… Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to look around a little. I mean…” *THWACK* Twilight came to a stop, jerked out of her thoughts as the loud sound cut through the silence. It sounded familiar to her. Having spent a lot of time in the castle growing up, she had come to know many of the sounds that could be heard on the castle grounds; including the ones made by the royal guards during their training (she had even made a list of the sounds once so she could identify what was disrupting her studying). The answer soon hit her. “Was that a crossbow?” she asked herself, looking around worriedly. To her, it sounded like it came from up ahead, although she wasn’t sure how far she was from the source, considering sound carried farther in cold weather. She started running again, heading for the museum. As she ran, she saw a figure appear up ahead and came to a stop. Leaning forward, she took a closer look. She quickly realized it was Homunculus, and he was carrying something wrapped in a blanket on the crook of his hoof. She couldn’t exactly make it out from where she was standing, but it almost looked like a baby pony. Homunculus looked back over his shoulder at her for a moment before turning and walking away. “Hey!” exclaimed Twilight before she started running again, trying to catch up to him. But she didn’t get very far before he disappeared into the mist. Realizing that it was too late to catch up with him, she continued on in the direction he had walked. He may be gone, but it sounded like the sound of the crossbow had come from that direction. Twilight soon came across a dark orange unicorn mare with an auburn mane and tail wearing a white fur coat lying in the snow, a crossbow bolt sticking out of the back of her head. A green unicorn stallion that had a dark gray mane and tail was kneeling next to her, using his magic to extract the bolt while shaking her, saying, “Sweet Celestia! Lady, are you okay?!” The mare looked up at him and then forward, moaning, “Where… my baby… he…” She then rolled over onto her side, not moving. “Baby…?” Twilight murmured. The green unicorn shook the mare, saying, “Come on, lady, hold on!” A light blue earth pony stallion with a red mane came up from behind Twilight and, upon seeing the mare on the ground, asked her, “What’s going on? Somepony hurt?” Twilight looked back at him and said, “I don’t know. Can you get a doctor?” The earth pony nodded, “You got it!” He then turned and ran, heading for the nearest doctor’s office. As Twilight turned back to look at the mare, she noticed a dark blue unicorn with a violet mane and tail had arrived on the scene. He asked, “What’s going on here?! A mugging?” The green unicorn asked, “Hey wait, isn’t this Eckart’s wife?” Twilight looked up as she heard young Eckart shout, “Miriam!” The dark brown unicorn soon reached the scene and pushed the green unicorn aside. He then shook and picked up the mare in his forelegs, saying, “Miriam! Stay with me, hold on! Oh no, where’s Dante, wasn’t he with you?!” He then looked at the ponies gathered around and asked, “Did anypony see a baby?!” Twilight gave a short gasp, remembering Homunculus. He had been carrying a baby, and it was suspiciously close to this scene… Eckart noticed Twilight’s reaction and asked, “Did you see him?!” When Twilight stuttered, Eckart pressed, “Did you?!” Twilight shook her head, “I… I don’t know.” The dark blue unicorn looked over at the green unicorn and asked, “Did anypony see who did this?” The green unicorn shook his head. “Oh no, this is not happening…” Eckart moaned, clutching his wife close to his chest. From around the corner of a nearby building, Oleg was observing the scene of the crime. “Oh man, this is terrible,” he breathed. He pulled his head back around the corner and leaned his back against the wall of the building, looking down. Suddenly, inspiration struck, “A major case! That’s it! Murder mystery and time travel! That’s the concept.” He took a few steps forward, saying, “This is going to be one hot project! But, hmm… if this relates to that and… It needs a little more work; actually, it’s going to need a lot of work. But, I must make this my masterpiece.” Taking one last look around the side of the building at the crime scene, Oleg snuck away to start working on his new project.