A Dark Shade of the Past

by InfinityBreach

A Glimpse Of Truth

Celestia ran towards the castle infirmary with one thought in her mind: no matter what he had done, he didn't deserve this. Nopony did.

Tears were forming around her eyes as she entered through the door, panting from running down the long halls of the castle. She looked at her staff, who were staring at her in shock, for they had never seen their princess so upset before.

"Please.. help him.." Celestia murmured.

Quickly her staff of nurses and doctors all dropped everything they were doing and lifted the bleeding alicorn onto a bed, and immediately went to work on him.

Celestia sat down next to the bed as the doctors continued to work, none daring to ask what happened.

Deciding to try to think about the fun past compared to this dreadful moment. She took a walk down memory lane: but kept thinking of all the worst things. Discord, going insane with power, being absorbed by darkness, and nearly taking over Equestria. Luna, overcome by jealousy, and almost being destroyed by the darkness inside her. All of this was his fault. But... they were friends.

They all were friends.

Celestia sighed.

An hour had passed without her noticing. Shaded was lying on the bed, apparently stable.

He was in a cast covering a good portion of his torso and lower half, and his face still had a sense of utter pain stretched across it. Celestia just sat there and stared at him.

She brushed her hoof across his face, and whispered, "Oh why did things have to change..."

At the feeling of her touch, Shaded awoke from his slumber. As he opened his eyes slowly, the first thing he saw was Celestia, her eyes closed with tears flowing down her face.

"Celestia..." he began. "I am very happy of your concern towards me, but you should realize who I am, and who I am not. Then again... those things could be the same." Celestia stopped and took a look at him again, this time examining his whole body instead of just his face. This was Shaded... but the Shaded Darkness she knew had no horn, and no wings.

The Shaded she knew was a simple equine.

"... You're him, arent you?" she said slowly.

"Yes, I am the essence of his power." He told her, closing his eyes.

Celestia then began to calm down, and in a more serious tone said, "Why are you here?"

"You know why I'm here. I sent you a message telling you that he was coming, and the first thing you do is contact the holders of the essence of your power. I am not pleased." the being began. "Darkness must exist within every universe, and the fact that this universe is void of it is going to cause instability within here, destroying all of 'her' work."

"His and your powers are not welcome here. He nearly destroyed everypony with his power when this all started." Celestia countered.

"Actually, this all started with you. It ended with you too. Maybe if you were a better friend, then none of this would have happened, and you six would still be inseparable." he stated.

"I am the ruler of Equestria, and I treat all my little ponies equally! They are all my friends!" She remarked angrily.

"So, you send your friends to the moon? Seal them away in stone? Take away their powers, and make them constantly move from place to place? Make them omnipresent so that they aren't able to physically be anywhere? Lets not forget what you did to my counterpart either, blasting pure light into darkness completely destroys it, wouldnt ya know? Let me tell you something: the reason why the Elements of Harmony stopped working for you was because you were the Element of Magic, the binder of Friendship, and when you ran out of friends, you were force-removed from the Elements." he replied, glaring at her.

"Now let me tell you why I'm here: I am going to recreate Shaded's form, but because of what you had your Elements do to me, I have no choice but to make him in the same form I am, with all of these horrid bruises. Since he is in all terms being reborn, he will have no memories of what happened, or even of his name. I will send him to a place where he can be happy, and simply be an output for my darkness. As long as he remains with friends, and is enjoying his life, nothing will happen." he finished.

"But... what will I do if he grows out of control again?" she slowly asked, defeated.

"Nothing. You cannot and will not interfere with my plans anymore then you already have. The only reason why I haven't wiped you from this very existence is because from all of the old memories I can feel from Shaded. He cared highly about you. Just like he did with everyone." At hearing this, Celestia flinched, a twinge of sadness appearing on her face.

The being injured in bed looked at Celestia, and sighed. "Let me tell you something. I spend every day watching over everything, everywhere, all alone, in a place where nopony is meant to exist. Let me explain this to you. I am Darkness. Not just a name, but the very thing itself. I need these little 'outputs' of my darkness in every world because without them having amazing friends and fun life's to counteract my power, my darkness would eventually leak out of that lonely place, and destroy everything, leaving everything dead." he finished.

".. I dont quite understand but.. okay. Do what you must, but don't let any of my ponies be hurt." Celestia said, looking away.

"Sigh... This is going to take awhile to heal..." the being muttered to himself, looking at the bandages. "I need to leave now so I can fully recover. I bid you adieu, Celestia. Just remember: do not interfere with my plans."

With that, the being disappeared, leaving nothing but a silent Celestia behind.