//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Reunion // Story: A Shadow of the Past Revealed // by Ironskull //------------------------------// There was a knock on the front door of the library, causing Twilight to hop up from the floor with her friends (the Cutie Mark Crusaders had been made to go to bed in a guest room upstairs) and answer it. Princess Celestia was on the other side of the door with two guards at her side. "Princess Celestia!" cried Twilight happily. "Twilight! It is so good to see you again!" replied Celestia, who turned and nodded to the guards, who walked away. When Celestia turned back toward Twilight, she gasped in surprise. "Twilight, are you... quite alright?" "Of- course I am!" replied Twilight, the drowsiness as apparent in her voice as it was on her face. "Why wouldn't I be?" She let out a nervous laugh. "You look... tired." "Oh. Um, I have a... tiny confession to make," Twilight admitted. "Yes?" "I..." Celestia did not say anything as Twilight trailed off, instead choosing to wait and let her explain at her own pace. "I... haven't slept in over twenty-four hours." "I see," replied Celestia, hiding a smile. "I understand. The prospect of exploring a room full of items of the distant past would be far too interesting for you to waste time sleeping." "Oh, yeah," replied Twilight nervously. "About that... I have another confession to make." "Oh?" "Well, it turns out that... there was a complication. I- I just didn't want to bother you with it last night because you already said that you would be coming today and I didn't want to destroy your schedule..." "Twilight, you know that if something important happened that I would want you to tell me." "It was alright, actually. I was able to handle everything just fine... in the end. I know I should have sent you a letter about it, but I didn't want to just surprise you with a letter out of the blue and say 'By the way, it turns out that...' " "I can't do this," Twilight declared. "You... You need to come in and see for yourself. Twilight stepped aside and indicated for the confused and curious princess to enter the library. "Hello, my little ponies," Celestia said in greeting to the unexpected company in the library, turning her head to each one to show that she was addressing every pony present. Suddenly her head snapped back to stare at Shadow Shroud, who had his hood down. There was a moment of awkward silence. Shadow Shroud had not realized that this meeting would be so difficult for him, but now that it was happening, he found his mind locked up. He managed to say, "Celestia," in greeting, but his tone betrayed his feelings at that moment. Celestia started moving her mouth, but no words came out. Shadow Shroud was beginning to have thoughts of his own that made him wordlessly leave the main lobby and step into the kitchen and out of sight. He heard the voices of Twilight and her friends assuring the Princess, but he could not make out what they were saying. He had managed to avoid breaking down in sentimental joy at having returned to the world once again after a long two thousand years of isolation. This was probably because his mind was so desperately trying to ensure that he would not experience it a second time to actually indulge in his emotions. By the time he had earned pardon from Twilight and Rainbow Dash, he somehow already felt at home in the world once again. But this was much different. Everypony that he had come to meet over the course of the previous day had been somepony that he had never met before. But Princess Celestia was one of a tiny hoof-full of living ponies in the world who had known him in his previous life. One of the only ponies who remembered the things that he had done, both the good and the bad. And now she was the sole pony now having to reconcile to herself that he was in fact not dead, a belief that she had held for two thousand years. He was an abomination now. Would Celestia decide that the pony that she had once known was dead? She would be right. His memories from two thousand years ago seemed almost unreal, as if they did belong to another pony. Two thousand years of isolation was certain to have completely altered his mind to the point that he did not think or act at all in the same manner as the pony who Celestia had once known. As he stood in the kitchen brooding, he suddenly saw Celestia in the door way. When she saw that he had looked up at her, she raced forward and threw her front hooves around him. "Shadow Shroud!" she cried. Tears were forming in her eyes, but she did not allow it to impair her speech. "What is this that you have wrought for yourself?" "I... I have no excuse," replied Shadow Shroud, silently thanking that he was physically incapable of crying himself before rebuking himself for such a thought. "I was in such agony." "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what means you are here before me today. It has been so long since I first wished for just one last chance to see you again. Why, I shall never let you out of my sight again!" "Celestia," said Shadow Shroud uneasily. "You must tell me. What of your sister, Luna?" Celestia slowly loosened her embrace. "She is well. She will be so happy to learn that you live still. Although, in truth, I am relieved that your return is after her troubles were resolved." Celestia gasped. "I should not have said that," she declared. "If I had been able, I would have returned you to Equestria without hesitation on any day. It is just that, it would break my heart to inform you that Luna was... unavailable. Shadow Shroud nodded slowly. "I have already heard. Twilight gave me something of a lesson on the subject." Celestia looked downcast. "Come, we should return to Twilight and the others," he said, trying to distract Celestia. "I think they want to tell you what happened last night themselves." "Are you okay, Princess?" asked Twilight carefully when the two ponies had returned. "Yes, Twilight," answered Celestia happily. "I'm better than I have been in a long time." "Show her what we... brought back from the castle, Twilight," said Shadow Shroud. Twilight nodded and levitated the ceramic box into view before placing it before Celestia. Celestia jumped in surprise when the box started shaking violently all on its own. Afraid to touch it, she looked at it from above and at all sides. She even peered into the keyhole, but there was only blackness. "What is this?" Celestia whispered. "That," said Twilight, "contains the spirit of the Nightmare." Celetia's face hardened. "How did this come to be?" she asked, carefully levitating the box and testing it's magic wards. "Nightmare had created a plot to lure me into the Castle of the Pony Sisters, so that she could gain revenge on me, or possibly to find out if she could corrupt me in my new alicorn form. She captured three of my best friends' little sisters to lure us to her," Twilight said, motioning toward the other mares in the room, who wore grim expressions. "She didn't hurt them!" Twilight said quickly before Celestia could overreact. "They're all just fine now. Princess... I have another confession to make." Celestia did not speak, so Twilight carried on. "I thought that Shadow Shroud had taken them at first. I thought that he was a monster!" "But?" said Celestia, more harshly than she should have. "But he was there to save them, Princess. He saved us all!" Over the next two hours, the details of the night were explained to Celestia. "I know that I said this already in the presence of the others," said Celestia, who was currently walking alone with Shadow Shroud through his home. "But I want to say it again to prove to you how sincerely I mean it. I am in your debt for saving my little ponies." "Celestia... I am afraid I can't accept your praise." "What?" asked Celestia in surprise. "Why ever not?" "Because I attacked Nightmare spur of the moment. I don't know what I was hoping to accomplish. The most we could do to each other was knock each other down for a moment and bruise each other's pride. I was incapable of capturing her, and she was incapable of incapacitating me. Were it not for the fact that she had captured Twilight, I wouldn't have done anything so stupid. But, it was all I could do to just keep her busy and away from Twilight for as long as I could." "But you did capture her," replied Celetia in confusion. "The firework was... rather unorthodox, but also an ingenious distraction! How ever did you come up with the idea?" "I didn't come up with the idea," replied Shadow Shroud in a tone indicating that he was making a crucial point. "I didn't even set it up. "But I almost certain that I know the ponies that did." He stopped walking and his horn lit with magic as an object floated in front of Celestia and was set at her feet. "This one," said Shadow Shroud. Celestia stared in surprise at the figurine of Applebloom. "This one," the skeletal stallion continued, setting another down, and then another. "And this one." Celestia smiled. "I had almost forgotten your talent for sculpting. It has been unappreciated for a great many years. You say that the fillies are responsible for Nightmare's capture?" "In a fashion," answered Shadow Shroud cryptically. "You'll see what I mean in a minute." "But there is no chance that they could have brought anything as large as the firework that you described upon capture, and they could not have found such a thing at the castle!" "I know!" cried Shadow Shroud in frustration. "I tell you, those three are far more clever than they look. I'm certain that they helped us at least twice. Maybe three times. It doesn't make any sense any other way!" "How can you be so sure?" Suddenly, there was a popping noise from below. To Celestia's astonishment, the figurines were now huddled together with guilty expressions on their faces. "There!" shouted Shadow Shroud, almost manically. "You see it? You see it?" "I see it," assured Celestia. "That wasn't you?" "No! I've been watching these... ponies for a couple of hours now, and I swear, these things have minds of their own, and they know things that they shouldn't!" "Know things?" "Yes, like when somepony is in trouble and needs help, or where to find... random... stuff like they did! Sweetie Belle insisted that she had taken that box from her sister, but you know that that can't be! She found it at the castle!" "Except..." said Shadow Shroud, suddenly calming down somewhat. "The box was trapped. It dumped a bucket of water on Sweetie Belle's head when she picked it up. It's like, these things," he indicated the figurines. "were playing a prank or some nonsense!" "Could it not be that they were hoping for Nightmare to be the one to fall for the trap?" offered Celestia. "That- could be actually," said Shadow Shroud. "It wouldn't have worked, but maybe they didn't know that..." "It would seem that the fillies are under the mistaken impression that Nightmare has a weakness for sweets. They might find that true of my sister, but Nightmare would not have indulged in such things. "You mean you think that Sweetie Belle- the real Sweetie Bell, and this, figurine... were thinking along the same lines?" "It is probable. Tell me, how can these fillies preform tasks if they are inanimate? Aside from apparent teleportation." "Again, I don't know! Every time they do that 'pop' thing, things just change all at once! Can you believe, I saw with my own eyes a miniature zipline spontaneously appear in my own home? The high end was attached to the top of a bookshelf, and those three were sliding down it with silly expressions on their faces. They rode it all the way down and then hit the wall. They just stayed like that though. I removed them from the thing, and a moment later I find them all with hooves over their muzzles!" Celestia stopped blinking. "So they can spontaneously summon a zipline?" "No, I know where they got the materials for it. Magical artifacts are in the minority around here. This place is loaded with junk more than anything, I just like to keep it out of sight, and out of mind. I don't know how they found it all of course." "Shadow, was I incorrect in my assumption that you created these figurines?" "... No. But I did not put any spells on them, of any kind. I don't know what's happening." "It sounds to me," said Celestia, suddenly taking on her "teacher" voice, "that these are simply fillies being fillies. Their... lifestyle appears completely alien, and their relationship to their breathing counterpart is questionable, and, although you did not see it coming, they are under your care now. Have you told anypony else of these circumstances?" "No." "You may do as you see fit," said Celestia. "However, I advise you that it is not wise to leave three fillies unattended." "That is my final words on this matter for now," said Celestia as she began to walk back in the direction that they had come from. Shadow Shroud followed her. "I will not be intruding upon Twilight or yourself any longer, as I still have duties to attend to. I am taking the nightmare with me. Luna will ultimately be the one to decide her fate." Celetstia stopped in front of the portal, then turned around abruptly toward Shadow Shroud. "Let me look at you once more before I go, and be glad! For it is not the last time, but one of many more to come!" "Hello!" came the cry of Shadow Shroud's voice from below. "Anypony home?" The Cutie Mark Crusaders scrambled to the window of the clubhouse and saw the skeletal pony standing outside. "It's you!" said Apple Bloom happily. "What are you doing here?" "Actually," replied Shadow, "I was hoping you three could help me. "Help you?" "Yes. I have a question for each of you. If I want to get on your sisters' good sides, what would I need to do?" "You mean other than save us from the Pony of Shadows?" "Yes." Rainbow Dash awoke to a strange noise. She groaned and sat up on her cloud, nearly falling over when she realized that she had company. "Whoa!" she shouted with a start at the unexpected guest. "How'd you get up here?" "I just teleported up," answered Shadow Shroud. "Sorry that I woke you up." After a moment Rainbow Dash let out a laugh. "You know, I forgot for a moment that you're still an alicorn, even if your wings-" She stopped and turned red with embarrassment. "Sorry." "It's fine. I just came up to ask you something." "Oh?" "Would you mind posing for me?" "Posing for you? What, did Rarity put you up to this or something?" "No! I just wanted to make a little sculpture of you. So that I have something to remember the fastest pony I have ever met." "Really?" asked Rainbow Dash, intrigued. "So, even two thousand years ago, you never met anypony as fast as me?" "That's right," answered Shadow Shroud honestly. "Well, alright then," said Rainbow Dash, standing up. "It's the least I can do for you to look awesome." "So let me get this straight," said Applejack, standing in the orchard. "You saved mah sister. And all ye want in return... is to let you make a little statue of me?" "If it's not too much trouble." "Course it aint!" she replied, setting the apples that she was carrying down. "Just... don't include all the dirt an' muck. And make sure that you get my good side!" "This is a statue," reminded Shadow Shroud. "That means it shows all of your sides." "Oh. Tha's right." "My goodness, you a professional at this!" exclaimed Rarity excitedly, examining Shadow's work from every angle. "How wonderful! You have such sophisticated detail and elegance! I can see why you went searching for the best when you asked me to model for you!" "Thank you?" replied Shadow Shroud. Sweetie Belle had assured him that Rarity would jump at the chance to be the center of attention, but he had assumed that "narcissistic" was a strong word. Rarirty gasped and held her look-alike figurine to her mouth. "Do you know what would be marvelous?" "No?" anwered Shadow Shroud, staring at the figuring contacting Rarity's lips. "This is just begging for an appropriately sized little dress! And do you know what would be the perfect dress?" There was a popping noise. Shadow Shroud stared at the figurine. "Oh no," he thought, horrified. "This wasn't supposed to happen for a little while! Where did that even come from? Where did she get it? Rarity looked down at the figurine for a moment, and then looked back up with shock. "That. Is exactly what I was thinking!" she cried. "How in Equestria did you know?" "Lucky guess?" There was knocking at Shadow Shroud's door (which had recently been installed in front of the portal for the sake of privacy). He answered immediately and was greeted by Princess Celestia. "Celestia!" he said with relief. "I'm glad you could come. I tell you, I'm about this far from being driven completely insane!" He held up his front hooves to demonstrate, leaving almost no space between them. "I am sorry that I could not respond quicker to your request," replied sympathetically. "You know how it is." "I do," Shadow Shroud affirmed. He hesitated. "How is Luna? She came to say 'hello' the day after your visit, but she didn't stay long. Is she okay?" "I believe she was feeling rather overwhelmed with all of the news at the time. I am unsure as to the wisdom of her decision to keep Nightmare so close, but it was her decision, and I do agree that nopony should have to subjected to void for the remainder of all time. Of course, at first all she could extract from the box was fits of rage, but after about three weeks the nightmare seems to lose her will to fight. Luna simply... Talked with it. I would often be there to listen, although I was primarily keeping watch over her... just in case. "She doesn't say anything hateful to Nightmare, nor does she make accusations. She just... tells it what is happening in Equestria. And Nightmare just listened. And then just yesterday, she began to speak back, although I am unhappy to report that she was hateful. Luna just took it all. "Of course, I wasn't going to let that creature get away with such hate, even if Luna was willing to let it go. When Luna was absent, I confronted the abomination myself and made it clear to her how much more I would allow before sending her prison to Tartarus." "From the way Nightmare reacted, I was sure that I would have to make good on my word, and I do not think I would have regretted it. Much. But, this morning... "I found Luna using Nightmare as an opponent in chess." "Wait!" exclaimed Shadow Shroud in horror. "Luna lifted the magic suppression spell?" "No, she did not." Celestia assured. "She made it clear that she will not ever let Nightmare out unless I can agree with her that, by some miracle, she could be trusted. Nightmare was calling out coordinates that she wanted her pieces to move to, and Luna moved them for her." "And she wasn't being hateful?" posed Shadow Shroud doubtfully. "She was not. She made a comment about how it was foolish that the only pieces to actually look like ponies were not the king or queen, and remarked that the role of king and queen should be swapped because it is a ridiculously long standing tradition from when Equestria was under the rule of Discord. "She was also rather smug when she ultimately emerged victorious. She needs to learn to be more gracious." Celestia sighed. "I am growing weary of this talk of Nightmare and Luna. It causes me enough stress when I am in their presence. What of your problem that you so desire my help?" Shadow Shroud sighed. "I have been studying the nature of the pony figurines while I figure out what to do with them. I have actually been able to learn much, despite my confusion. Almost everything about them just leaves me flabbergasted. But one thing that I have determined is that they only become 'animate' if I, the creator, have a personal connection with the pony that I sculpt. "I take it that you determined this through trial and error," mused Celestia. "And had at least one success." "I did. I started out by creating figurines of the fillies' sisters. That at least put an end to the stress of them making a giant mess of my possessions. They... keep the fillies out of trouble, or at least make them clean up whatever mess they make. Which is what I was hoping for." "This reinforces my belief that they are somehow reflections of the living pony," Celestia said. "It does," agreed Shadow Shroud. "Although they hardly duplicate the actions of their counterpart. I checked. They do seem to act in ways that I would expect from the real ponies. And I know for a fact that they have their memories." "So what is it that is causing you such stress?" asked Celestia. "Come see" said Shadow Shroud, exasperated. He led Celestia to a locked door. "They can't get out if the door is locked," Shadow explained as he undid the lock. "It looks like they teleport around the place, but if they can't walk out, disregarding the fact that they don't seem to walk at all, they don't appear outside. And they used to wander all over the place before I locked them in." Celestia made a sour face. "Isn't locking them in a little harsh?" He paused while twisting the door handle. "Actually, one of them can still get out. Twilight. But it's not really a problem because I figured out that she likes to sneak into my library. The one full of regular, not-dangerous-magical-tomes books that aren't filled with dark magic. I have way too many books. "But I don't think the others mind being locked in here. They... set up in here." Shadow Shroud swung the door open and Celestia gasped. There was a miniature village set up in the room. It was composed of replicas of the homes of the elements of harmony (including a farmhouse), but no other residences. There was also a lone water tower and the Ponyville schoolhouse, presumably for the fillies. "Did you make this for them?" asked Celestia in shock. "No, they did!" he shouted in frustration. "Why do ponies taking care of themselves bother you so?" "Because the way they do it... just doesn't make any sense!" "I'll admit," Shadow said in a calmer tone. "I made the library. I thought that it would be nice for them to have somewhere familiar to be. The fillies seemed happy enough, but the others were just... sad, I suppose. I didn't know why they would be at first. When I gave Twilight a proper tour of my home and took the opportunity to ask what might make her friends sad, without giving away any hints about... all this. "She immediately said that they would be unhappy if they couldn't see their friends, and then it hit me that I had to get them all in here. I made Twilight's figurine right then. Pinkie Pie was easy, she let me sculpt her figurine without a fuss. Fluttershy was a little harder, but she did want to thank me for saving the fillies. She's astoundingly skilled at standing completely still. "Actually, that was one thing I could not get across to Pinkie. She stayed in one spot, sure, but she wouldn't stop. Bouncing. It turned out alright though. I'm guessing her hair is always a frazzled mess." "But then they all got together and hollowed the library sculpture out themselves. I've looked inside, it's a pretty accurate reconstruction. And then Twilight suddenly started sending me letters, which I can't believe I didn't think of. I had to use a magnification spell to read it of course. She asked for more building materials. "I did bring them wooden logs and stuff. I don't know how, but they broke it all down and made it into that town you see there. And I also wrote back to Twilight asking her about the nature of the figurines, but... she doesn't seem to know! It's almost like she doesn't even realize that they are stuck in one spot most of the time! I'm actually pretty sure that, from their perspectives, they aren't. It's crazy. "And then she told me that she was getting lonely without Spike, and so I had to go and recruit him too. "And by that time, they had finished making all these buildings, and those trees suddenly popped up out of nowhere!" Celestia followed Shadow's hoof to the Apple family farm. Sure enough, there was an orchard planted in a patch of dirt. Actually, she realized that the entire town was sitting on dirt. It only expanded enough to reach all of the structures, but it was there. Celestia focused on the little apple trees. "These are alive. And bearing tiny apples," she said. "You're telling me. The ponies are made of stone. Strange, but I can live with that. The buildings are made of wood and a little bit of scrap metal, for sinks and utensils, except the library." Celestia looked at the library again and noted that it was not a living tree. She wondered if it would have been if Shadow Shroud had not created it himself. "But where. In Equestria. Do you get seeds that grow one foot tall apple trees?" Celestia was dumbfounded. "I don't know where the seeds came from, but at least when I saw carts loaded with tiny little apples start showing up, I knew where they came from. What did not make sense in the least was when baked goods started popping up outside Sugarcube Corner. They don't have any hay or wheat. They don't have a processing mill. They do have flour. Also, that pink pony is making way too much cake. There aren't enough ponies here to eat it all, and it just piles up. Celestia took note of the stack of rather delicious looking cakes in front of sugar cube corner. Unfortunately, it would barely be a morsel if she were to devour it herself. Then she reconsidered Shadow's words. "They have need to eat then?" "I've never seen any of these ponies actually eat or drink anything, but I have seen dirty plates in the sink. Filled with water." Celestia took a step back and considered the town for a while. Finally she said, "Well, I must admit that this is all rather startling, but there is nothing to actually cause worry as far as I can tell." "You are right, even though this doesn't make much sense, it's not actually a problem," replied Shadow Shroud. "Except one thing. Do you see the school?" Celestia looked at the school again. She realized that at some point while they had been talking, several ponies had appeared outside of it. Several fillies and colts. Oh dear. "The Crusaders needed to have their regular teacher to continue their education. She was terrified of me until Apple Bloom proved to her that I wasn't a threat. And then they wanted their class mates. But this isn't the end of it. Applejack and Applebloom miss their family, Fluttershy is getting lonely without any animals around, and everypony at school needs somepony else to take care of them other than Miss Cheerlie. And the new ponies are going to want more friends. And those ponies are going to want more friends. So guess what I get to do for the next who knows how many weeks? "Make friends with every last pony in Ponyville." Celestia burst out laughing. "What is so funny?" demanded Shadow Shroud. "I'm sorry," said Celestia, who was trying to control a fit of giggles. "It's terrible that this has happened to you in such a way as to make it look like a chore, but... I think you could do with making a few more friends." "A few?" "Well," Celestia said, suddenly not laughing. "Everypony you used to know is... gone, Shadow. And Ponyville as a whole needs to learn that you are not a monster." "Not everypony I knew is gone," said Shadow Shroud. "There is Luna and yourself." "And we will always be. But we have our royal duty." "Some things never change," muttered Shadow Shroud. Celestia smirked. "There is one other you may meet that you once knew. In fact, if you are to meet everyone in Ponyville, your meeting is inevitable. "What?" asked Shadow Shroud in surprise. "Who?" "Discord." "DISCORD? I'm sorry, as in, Lord of Chaos Discord?" "Yes. He has... changed. For the better, I assure you." "Forgive me if I'm skeptic. Are there any other evil powers running around that I thought were long gone?" Celestia kept silent. "You're kidding me! Sombra?" "Sombra was defeated once and for all about a year ago," said Celestia. "Tirek?" "Still confined in Tartarus, as he hopefully ever shall be." "Bahamut?" "...What?" "Don't tell me you've forgotten," said Shadow Shroud, not believing it for a moment. "He's only the hugest living thing in the universe. By several orders of magnitude." Celestia said nothing. "Looks like a thousand mile long snake with claws, but is supposedly actually a spacefaring dragon? Big droopy mustache? Doesn't acknowledge the existence of anyone he can't see, which is almost everyone? Idea of a gourmet meal is a nice round star? Like our own sun? Almost ate the sun itself just after Discord was defeated? The only reason he didn't is because you appealed to his arrogance? Swore he would be back after two thousand years before taking off?" "I know of whom you speak," said Celestia uneasily. "That dragon is the size of the entire country. If he were anywhere near Equestria, our astronomers would have located him. We are safe from him for now, and we are prepared for him should he be foolish enough to make an appearance." "I... I need a moment."