//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Story of the Shadowmane // by Navras97 //------------------------------// Prologue Long ago, before the events of Twilight Sparkle and her friends, shortly after the events of Discord, before the rebellion of Princess Luna was an ancient secret. Many believe Princess Celestia as a perfect monarch, a physical Goddess, who brought peace to Equestria with her sole power upbringing the sun, as well as her wise leadership decisions. What many don’t believe is peace cannot be earned without sacrifice. However the Princess knew well that this statement is true, but does not openly state it. Behind all the beauty, grace, and the motherly smile is a dark and troubled past. There once lived a stallion, an Alicorn stallion. This stallion was tall, and a knight of endless power. His mane and fur was darker than the night, but Celestia didn’t care how hideous it was. He was capable of moving mountains, reaching near-light speed, magical knowledge of untold past generations, displaying humbleness and modesty was this stallion. This stallion stated his name was “Shadowmark” and came from humble beginnings to greatness. He is just about as old as Celestia, maybe even a bit older. Celestia was still young and so was Shadowmark, but they both were transfixed on each other. They both had a lot in common, being as powerful as they were. Shadowmark brought out the best of Celestia, the mare behind the royal alicorn. To Celestia, she felt like she can drop the princess act around him, and do what ordinary ponies can do like sticking your face in pies, getting dirty, and burp out loud. When Celestia exposed to Shadowmark that she will rule Equestria when she becomes of age, after all of the Royal Triarchy passes away, Shadowmark said something she didn’t expect. Shadowmark said he is not from Equestria. Shadowmark comes from another pony planet called Volkihar. Volkihar was a poor and miserable land, not capable of maintaining life. Shadowmark was originally a Pegasus, but after solely saving his people from a civil war, he reached alicornhood. Shadowmark, being an alicorn, was next in line in ruling the dying kingdom, after his father who is on the brink of passing for ruling for 5,000 years. His dream was to find the answer to restore life back into Volkihar. He read records in his world's grand library speaking of a gate forged by the ancient Gods themselves that went to a world similar to their world, hidden in mystery until he discovered them in the planet's castle. So he went through the forbidden interplanetary gates into Equestria, to find the answer. “Perhaps we could both rule together”, Celestia suggested. “But why would you”, Shadowmark asked, “my land is dying, and we have nothing to offer you.” Celestia smiled cheerfully, “a true leader must always lend a helping hand to other leaders so everyone can be happy”. Shadowmark stared into Celestia’s eyes, “thank you.” Then the two began to fall in love. When they both became of age to rule they married. The interplanetary gates located in both castles were opened and expanded. The starving ponies in Volkihar saw peace and harmony again. The ponies of Equestria happily accepted their newfound alien brothers and sisters with open arms. Volkihar rose up from the dirt and became stronger. Celestia and Shadowmark shortly had their own child, an Alicorn colt. “I don’t have anything in mind dear, so you should name him” said Celestia a few days after the birth of the new baby, “ok… alright then” said Shadowmark. “Son, from now on.... your name will be... Shadowmane.” “Shadowmane… I like it, reminds me of his father.” Celestia smiled at her new baby. As Shadowmane grew up, he showed amazing capabilities. As a young colt, he quickly learned advanced magic, and had amazing perception and indistinct. His wing speed surpassed the Wonderbolts by the time he was school age. His strength rivaled that of his father’s. He even invented the magic of mind manipulation, warp technology, and enchantment. By combining advanced warp magic and supersonic body vibration, these both key points reduce his mass to a mere 0 grams, becoming nothing but mental and spiritual energy. However Shadowmane found the formula but could never do it himself, however it is still an amazing achievement for discovering it. If Shadowmane could ever be capable of using it, he could move at light speed. Shadowmark and Celestia never quarreled, knowing they had the perfect son, capable of ruling as a dual monarchy. Shadowmane never seemed to develop a cutie mark but he never cared about that, he wants to expand his skills to everything he can. His blank flank became a symbol to the colts and fillies of Volkihar. When Shadowmane became a stallion, he already was a master of alchemy, medicinal practices, mind manipulating, martial arts, and much more. Everything seemed peaceful for Celestia and her family, kingdom, and loyal subjects… for a time. A few decades later, planet Volkihar was still prospering mainly due to it leaning on its unconditional relationship with Equestria. The seasons of the planets never aligned, and the soil of Volkihar was completely infertile. The people of Equestria did not have enough agriculture to feed two planets. Volkihar’s own sun reached its galactic terminus, and triggered a supernova. The moon was destroyed but through the efforts of the royal family, and all unicorns from both Equestria and Volkihar, the radiation downpour was avoided. Shadowmark took up the job of star-bringer and brought the small and still burning white dwarf of their sun to daytime. However, nighttime stayed without a moon. The Volkihar people however were abundant in artificial lights so night wasn’t so dark. Initially Equestria was over-abundant with fresh food and water, plenty to feed Volkihar. But with prospering kingdoms come the population growth. Volkihar’s population grew, plenty of housing, but not enough food. More and more mouths there were to feed and the earth ponies did not have enough farmers. Large majorities of ponies from Equestria and Volkihar were left undernourished. The bonds of the ponies between planets diminished, and conflict was rising. The royal family was powerless to calm the storm because they didn’t have the solution themselves. However Shadowmark, experimenting with deep ancient magic discovered the answer he was looking for. The answer to keep his people alive and thriving was revealed. This was a transformation spell, which could be implemented through horn spell. The tests on the subject showed the unicorn, earth, and pegasus ponies had superpony strength, speed, magic reserve and comprehension, and did not rely on food. The subjects grew fangs and the state could or could not be transferred through fangs willingly. However there were major side effects to the ponies’ new state. They grew darker, their fur fading into a darker color. Their psyches were different too; they became more sophisticated and brash. Their body temperatures were cold, like a corpse. And their skin burned while they writhed in agony when they were exposed to solar radiation. The side effects were alarming to Shadowmark as he dug deeper into this case. He discovered it is called “Vampirism” a life form that lived off of the blood of other life forms. The side effects are debatable, but the fact that it prevents starvation is more than convincing. Shadowmark took the hard decision of never feeling sunlight normally again and ordered the spread of the state. Arvak, the Castles court mage, was ordered by Shadowmark to create a substitute to blood. Until then, Celestia commanded for biannual required blood donations from her subjects. Shadowmark however still had to bring the sun to daytime according to theoretical universal laws. Confident in his new discovery, Shadowmark taught Shadowmane the spell as well as his finest soldiers and trusted officials how to spread Vampirism. Shadowmark and his son gave each other the “gift” and the soldiers and officials spread the gift to the rest of Volkihar. When the state of vampirism was given to the royal alicorns, their state was more powerful. They were dubbed “high vampires” since they were more resilient. Agriculture was re-diverted back to Equestria and ponies were fed well again. This action of Vampirism however was not given to the ponies of Equestria. Celestia was sensing something ominous from the pony’s new state, and did not trust it. “You’re just over thinking things” Shadowmark said, “sure it will take time for you to get used to my subjects, me and Shadowmane, but besides that we’re all still normal. “I don’t know…” said Celestia looking at her new transformed son and husband. Shadowmark’s eyes glow a dark red. Shadowmane’s eyes also glows dark red and his mane became from snow white and royal blue, to black and blood red. They both had fangs, as well as the new people of Volkihar. But the both of them seem to be unchanged psychologically. “I guess I’m just used to seeing only you honey as the only colorless pony in existence” said Celestia. Shadowmane spoke up, “Come on mom, I kind of like this new look, and it’s for the people of Volkihar.” Celestia stayed silent for a moment, and wore a warmly grin. “You’re right sweetie, thank you.” She leaned in to kiss her son’s forehead. It was cold as ice and as hard as a rock. “I knew you would understand honey, don’t worry your ponies don’t need to have this if want to” thanked Shadowmark, “I’m willing to sacrifice anything to keep my ponies safe.” A few months later, all of the Volkihar population was converted to Vampires. All immigrants from Volkihar had to emigrate back to be given proper protection from the sun. The vampires got used to their nocturnal sleep cycle quickly in their home planet. Shortly after Arvak’s portal incident that “killed” him somehow turning him from a vampire into an undead skeleton, he discovered the wormhole leads to an endless sea of what supposedly was blood, just less diluted and not as potent as real blood. From here on out, the planets became fully independent. However this did not stop the vampire ponies from biting necks. A large group of vampires, sick of blood substitute, invaded through the gates and terrorized Canterlot and all other kingdoms. The guards and the Princess were powerless because they were the vampires were too strong and too fast. They brought cloaks to resist (not fully protect) the sun and darted from shade to shade. All the townspeople were sucked dry of blood and left comatose. The Equestrian government, especially Princess Celestia was enraged from this incident. So the Volkihar government set up tighter security among the gates. This did not help as invading crowds began to become much larger, even the guards joined up. They did these raids with precision, invading when Shadowmark and his son were asleep and when it was nighttime in Equestria. Luna couldn’t make the moon move any faster as it would disturb the universal laws. Millions of Equestrian ponies are left comatose, mentally scarred, fearful for their lives, or even dead. Even the most steeled of soldiers were unwilling to cross the gate. Luckily no one showed signs of vampirism so the crowd had no intention of spreading the state. As Equestrian and Volkihar ponies distanced each other, so did the relationship of Shadowmark and Celestia. The two never showed much love for each other. Luna secretly asked Arvak to find a cure for Vampirism but Arvak replied stating that the book in which the spell is found says there is absolutely no cure for Vampirism. After an intense argument paired with destroyed walls and smashed family photos, Celestia and Shadowmark finally decided to divorce. Since both planets are fully independent now, the gates were to be fully deactivated. Shadowmane loved both his parents deeply but had no saying in the divorce. Shadowmark and Celestia’s final agreement together was who would Shadowmane go with? Shadowmane created a highly powerful cloak that would fully protect him from solar radiation so he would be able to live in Equestria. As much as he liked Volkihar, he wouldn’t like a life without his mother and far away in another solar system. He never had much of a special bond with his father because he was always kept busy. Shadowmane disliked his father for not taking the time to not spend time with his only son. He decided he would go with Celestia because he knew that vampires are immortal so his father doesn’t need him. After the closing of the gate Shadowmane was now stuck in Equestria forever. But Celestia now hated and despised vampires and began to hate her son over their actions in Equestria. So in an act of hatred and pain, Celestia cast a freezing spell on her son when he had his guard down. With the spell she added a long hibernation sleep spell. She knew that Shadowmane can be frozen forever and still live since he’s already undead. She couldn’t even trust her own son not to bite people, and knew that he would face discrimination from her subjects, and her reputation as a princess would be ruined. She did it mostly as an act of hate but an act of protection as well. She took the ultimate sacrifice of losing her own son she loved so dearly to keep her kingdom safe. Celestia ordered that the entire presence of Volkihar be completely wiped off of Equestria. Every library book, every record, every house, every import, all of it was burned to ashes. Every pony took a dead serious oath to never ever speak about the events that occurred and they kept their word. The sisters agreed to never speak of their past lives that involved Shadowmark or Shadowmane, or any undead pony. Shadowmane’s frozen body was sealed by Luna and Celestia themselves to an underground preservation room on top of the Library of Ponyville. He was sealed there because Celestia doesn’t want him near Canterlot at all. Shadowmane’s day cloak was also left with him in a chest next to his body. The wooden pony head in the lobby was the key to opening the bunker; it had magical properties that only an Alicorn could detect. No one would ever know that it’s there for more than just decoration. It has been millenniums since that day, all the ponies that took the oath or experienced the pain are now long gone. Equestria is now filled with ponies that don’t even know what vampires are, even Celestia’s top students or government officials don’t know. Only she and Luna knew the truth. Celestia continues to show the ever graceful and majestic presence in the lives of her subject, appearing to be a perfect leader and ruler of Equestria. The last words of Shadowmane as he was slowly frozen and put to sleep, her son which she loved with all her heart, still ring in her head, as if it was yesterday. “But…I thought you loved me. Why…?”