//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Light in the Dark // Story: Sunrise // by Black Kyurem //------------------------------// It was a brand new day at Celestia's School for the Gifted Unicorns. Many students could not believe the recent news. Princess Celestia, the appointer of the school, had taken on a personal protégé, Twilight Sparkle. Some students, out of jealousy perhaps, said it was sheer dumb luck that she happened to pass her entrance exam with flying colors and that she might have been set up. But then there were other students who believed Twilight was one of a kind and destined to do great things and she would inspire other students to do their best. Gentle Soul was one of those students. And she had her first glimpse at the young Twilight seeing her walk alongside the Princess herself. "Which book will I get to read first?" said Twilight eagerly. Princess Celestia laughed. "Have patience, little one," she said. "I'll explain everything in our very first private lesson. I look forward to all the time we will spend together. There is much greatness you will learn and be destined for and it will be my job to prepare you for it." Gentle Soul went up to Twilight to meet the young unicorn, who would one day become a princess, for the very time. "Hello, Twilight Sparkle!" she said. "My name is Gentle Soul. I'm studying calming magic!" Twilight just looked a bit nervous. "Good to see you again, Gentle Soul," said Princess Celestia. "I see you've obtained your cutie mark." "Yep! Twilight, wanna know how I got it? I used a magic spell I didn't know I had to soothe a little foal!" In a flashback, Gentle Soul noticed a crying foal in a baby carriage that apparently needed a nap, but couldn't seem to sleep despite the mother's comfort. Feeling sorry and wanting to help, Gentle Soul concentrated with all her might and unleashed a magic spell that made the foal gradually stop crying and fall into a peaceful rest. "Thank you," said the foal's mother, patting Gentle Soul on the head. And that's when the young unicorn saw her cutie mark appear. "My cutie mark!" she squealed. And the flashback ended. "Someday," said the young Gentle Soul. "I'm gonna be a therapist! And I'm gonna help ponies with their problems! That's why I'm here at the school. To learn highly advanced calming magic. Like this!" With a fragment of her magic, Gentle Soul managed to soothe the slightly nervous Twilight, making her smile. The two unicorns then laughed as Celestia smiled at them both. "I'm so sorry, Twilight," said Gentle Soul sadly. "I know that you and the Princess were close as student and teacher. And you still are. I'm sure we all wish there was something we could do." "I've looked up every single illness in the Canterlot library," said Twilight. "I even checked the Star Swirl the Bearded wing! Nothing..." "Do you suppose what has happened might have been unnatural?" asked Gentle Soul. "That's what we all thought at first, but Discord seems to be innocent." Twilight sighed. "I wish I had ideas." Gentle Soul readied her horn. "Your PTSD may have passed on for now," she said. "But it's time for your dose of calming magic. Relax." Twilight knew the procedure, so as she was enveloped in her therapist's spell, she breathed in and out, feeling heavily soothed. "I remember everything from when we first met," said Twilight. "I was with the Princess and you told me how you got your cutie mark." Gentle Soul smiled. After Twilight was done with her therapy session, she met up with her friends who were accompanied by Discord and Princess Luna. "I hate to say I told you so," sneered Discord. "But..." "Discord!" snapped Twilight. "This is so not the time!" "Discord and I may have found a way to save my sister," said Luna. "Really?" said Twilight, a bit hopeful. Luna turned to look up at Discord. "We think that Princess Celestia has accumulated the hyper-rare 'Shadow of the Dark Sun' disease," declared Discord. "Shadow of the Dark Sun? What's that?" "Well," said Discord. "As you may recall in ancient times, in the days before the Royal Pony Sisters, unicorns were in charge of raising the sun and moon. But as you can imagine, such feats couldn't be achieved so easily, although Princess Celestia does make it look easy, I should think." "There was one time in unicorn history, believed by many to be a legend," said Luna. "A young unicorn named Dusk Shine was once in charge of raising the sun, but he was unable to do it by himself. It was said that the legendary unicorn, Star Swirl the Bearded, told him about the existence of dark magic, very powerful but unnatural. Dusk Shine was warned about the possibilities of dark magic being unbalanced for any unicorn, but he wanted to take his chances for the sake of being able to raise the sun. Dusk Shine was a very courageous and noble unicorn of his time, wanting nothing more than to help his fellow pony kin. And with the power of the dark magic, Dusk Shine was finally able to raise the sun on his own, but to this day, nopony knows how he acquired the dark magic. "So the second time he tried to raise the sun again, he was suddenly stricken with a temporary heart attack that healed on its own, but contracted the same terminal illness that my sister now has, and underwent tons of body pain. And since nopony knew anything about the dark magic or any details, Dusk Shine fell into a coma and died peacefully a day later. The illness was then christened as 'Shadow of the Dark Sun'." "How come you never mentioned this sooner?" asked Twilight. "Because Discord and I only just found out ourselves," answered Luna. "It was believed that since no unicorn wanted to make the same mistake of resorting to dark magic, the history was said to have been buried, not to be acquired by anypony. Discord found a hidden passage in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing and was able to obtain the long forgotten book on Dusk Shine and his connection to Star Swirl the Bearded. After the death of Dusk Shine, several unicorns decided to pool their magic together to raise the sun without the use of dark magic, but it was only a valiant effort in vain. In fact, it is said that before Celestia and myself became destined to raise the sun and the moon for many eons to come, unicorns had in fact used powerful dark magic just to be able to raise the sun." "What about alicorns?" "Any alicorns that lived before us were in fact able to join their energies together and raise the sun without dark magic and it was believed that only alicorns would be capable of raising both the sun and the moon. As you know, the sun has much more density than the moon, so it always required much more effort than raising and lowering the moon. As for the Shadow of the Dark Sun illness, in our history, and this dates back to the days before Equestria as well, only five ponies have ever contracted it. Four unicorns and one alicorn. They all went through the same symptoms that my sister went through today and later died because nopony knew how to treat them. So that would mean my sister is the second alicorn to be infected." "Ah reckon this explains a lot," said Applejack. "But it doesn't explain how the Princess got this... 'Shadow of the Dark Sun' disease." "Yeah," agreed Rainbow Dash. "She never contracted any dark magic... Did she?" "We don't believe she acquired any through normal means," said Luna. "Discord and I now believe that somepony must have infused her with some kind of dark magic that unintentionally activated whenever she raised the sun. And if that's the case, we don't know how long she's had the dark magic. But somehow it must have been assured that whoever secretly slipped her the dark magic was hoping she would acquire the hyper-rare condition. And it worked." "That's nuts!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Who would do such a thing to the Princess?" "It's certainly beyond me," said Discord. "A traitor, perhaps?" "Like you?!" snarled Rainbow. "Oh, please. Didn't we go through this already?" "Then prove it! Tell us the cure for this... 'Shadow of the Dark Sun' whatever!" "Now, you certainly can't think I'm all knowledgeable about the darkest of dark magic, do you? I've only used my magic for chaos and anarchy! Not dark, sinister, and evil." "Riiight..." But Rainbow's sarcasm earned her another angry stare from Fluttershy. "I don't know what to tell you, my little ponies," said Discord. "I'm afraid there's just no way to counter this illness. Such a rare condition, nopony knows anything. There's no way... Well, maybe there is one way..." "There is?" said Fluttershy. "Oh, please, Discord! Please! If you know anything, please tell us!" "Certainly, dear Fluttershy." But then Discord looked uncertain. "On second thought... I'm not so sure." "What? Why not?" "Well... I just don't think you might take it seriously." "I think it's fair to say that at this point, we might as well trust you on this," said Luna. "Oh, very well. There might be one pony who has the answers we seek... the Suppressor of Shadows!"