Starswirl and Clover the Clever both bolted down the staircase of the Astrometry Tower. The Father of a 1,000 spells looked up at the sky. The solar eclipse was something he only witnessed through his telescope, but to see it with his own eyes was impossible. He prayed to whoever would listen that Luna would lower the Moon.
The wizard looked behind him to see his old student. Ever since their falling out so many years ago, Clover had gotten better at her works. Instead of focusing on magic and magical artifacts like her old master, Clover found an interest in potion making. It was later revealed that Clover had a potion for almost anything, including various combat potions. They were all locked away in a spell that Starswirl taught her. A spell that opened a tiny pocket in the Universe for almost anything to be hidden in.
The duo burst into the castle. The inside was dark. Shadows were everywhere, and from what Starswirl learned, the shadows were more dangerous than any monster they could encounter. Starswirl tensed. “Do you sense something Clover?”
“The darkness. It’s strong in here. What has Luna done?” she wondered.
“Dark magic is the bane of creation. When unleashed without a proper controller, it can destroy the Universe with nothing to stop it. Luna appears to have lost control and now she is the dark.” He began running.
Clover sped off after her teacher. “Wouldn’t Luna have some control over it? I mean, she did use it after all, she should be able to stop it.”
“Allow this scenario: you are out camping in the forest. You have a small fire to keep yourself warm and safe. Now, imagine you face a wind storm and the fire starts to move to the dry brush nearby. You try to stop it, but you lost control of it and it has burned half of the forest down. Do you still have some control over it?”
Clover thought about it for a moment. “Not really, but I—”
“But nothing! Luna let the dark magic rage through her, and now the forest is burning. Either the forest turns to ash with nothing left, or you exterminate it. Both of with require Luna’s…silence. I’m sorry, but Luna is beyond our help,” Starswirl said.
Clover was appalled. “Are you saying Luna has to die?”
“I am not saying death is the answer, I’m just saying that we cannot contain her now that she is engulfed in the flames. She must be stopped before her rage destroys Equestria!”
The duo turned the corner to be met with three ponies. All three appeared to have smoky bodies and red eyes. They all appeared alicorn by their shades, but Starswirl was unsure. They all roared, making Starswirl slip onto his stomach. He quickly got to his hooves, as impossible as it sounds given his age, and retreated to his student.
He surveyed the shadows. They all appeared to be shifting forms, like they are trying to determine what form would be best to fight them with. Starswirl had enough and stomped the ground. A ring of magical energy formed in the form of his cutie mark: a spiral galaxy. Clover followed suit, producing a magic wand inside a 4-leaf clover. These rings were their Magic Circles.
The shades tiled their heads in confusion. When he came across the combat spells, he found that the incantation alone was powerful, but the symbol increased their power 10 times over. Unicorn magic is on a different level from the Tree of Harmony, but with a Magic Circle, his soul resonated with the Tree’s power. Of course, he practiced before he perfected the ring.
The shade in the front attacked first by firing a green energy bolt. Starswirl conjured up a force field to easily block it. Clover charged up her horn, and fired a bolt of lightning at the shade. It evaporated on the spot while the other two cried out. The light from the bolt was enough to rattle their nerves. The shades both pulled back and fired their magic spells. The spells combined and were focused on Starswirl.
His force field came crashing down immediately, depleting him of his Magic Circle. Clover summoned her magic and opened a hole in the Universe. She summoned two glass bottles of a green liquid. She threw them both at the shades. They both were enveloped in a green smoke. The next thing Starswirl heard was the sound of stone hardening. The smoke died down to reveal two Pegasi statues. Their horns were gone.
Starswirl looked back at his student. “Where did you—”
“One finds a lot of herbs and magical ingredients in the Everfree Forest on one’s spare time,” she said.
He chuckled. He looked back at the statues. It appears as though they weren’t all statue because they were moved slightly. “The spell hardens them over time, so we have the advantage,” Clover said.
Starswirl got to his hooves. Together, they both ran past the statues and continued down the hall.
It didn’t take long to get to the throne room. Only a few more Shadow Ponies stood in their way, and Starswirl was happy to reveal his new spells, including Transfiguration spells and Incendiary spells. He even made the Hall of Statues come alive to slow down their enemies.
Starswirl had the suits of armor in his magical field. “Awaken, brothers and sisters in arms! The castle is under attack! Defend the crown!”
The suits of armor rose up against the Shadow Ponies. Starswirl was concentrating on the spell that allowed him to inhabit the suits around him. As the Shadow Ponies tried to fight back, Clover was busy keeping the shield over her teacher. One of the suits stomped down at the hooves of one of the Shadow Ponies, turning it into dust. Already the magic spell was getting to the wizard. He felt his magic failing him. He ordered the suits to perform one last attack, but they were destroyed as the command was carried out. The destruction of the suits rebounded off Starswirl’s horn, sending him to the ground.
“STARSWIRL!”
Clover breathed in as she kept her concentration. She had learned a new spell from one of Starswirl’s books, and if she read it right, she could find a way to help Starswirl while destroying the Shadow Ponies at the same time. She concentrated her magic to create a glowing gray ball. The ball hovered over to where Starswirl and the Shadow Ponies were aligned. The ball immediately began to spin.
The Shadow Ponies stepped back as Clover's spell grew larger. Immediately, there was a change. The ball was starting to become undone, creating a new magic. Two separate spheres began to take form. One was pure white while the other was as black as the night. The black ball crashed down on the Shadow Ponies, destroying their physical forms immediately. The white sphere gently lowered itself onto Starswirl, reviving his energy. He rose up as strong as ever.
Clover smiled as her teacher stood to face her. Instead of saying thank you, Starswirl charged up his horn. Clover had a confused look on her face before he fired. The magical blast shot past the sorcerer and into a wall. The screams of demons echoed through the halls of the castle. Clover turned to see the scorch marks of two Shadow Ponies embedded into the wall. “You have learned a lot, my student, but not everything,” he said.
Clover smiled. The two continued to run down the hall and toward the front of the castle. Starswirl knew where he was being led to. Clover was leading Starswirl toward the throne room. “This is where I met with Princess Celestia. She should still be he—”
Starswirl pulled Clover back behind a wall. Around the corner was Princess Celestia on the floor. She looked like she was hit by a magic spell. She slowly rose to her hooves and looked up. Starswirl could only hear so much.
“—You leave me no choice but to use these!”
Celestia pulled apart a section of the floor. Underneath was a planetarium with 5 jewels on pedestals. Starswirl immediately recognized them. They were the Elements of Harmony. Princess Celestia took the Elements, including the one inside the globe, and flew up into the sky. The duo moved closer to see Celestia charging up the Elements.
The alicorn opposite of her looked nothing like Princess Luna. The alicorn opposite of Celestia had a coat that was as black as night. She wore a helmet and standard armor. Her mane was nothing more than a purple mist. Starswirl guessed that it was just in a different form of Princess Luna. Forms have power. Physical appearance wields more power than many let on, he once told Clover.
The alicorns both fired on each other. The power of the Elements overcame the dark powers of Princess Luna, and she was carried up into the heavens. The moon was highlighted with a rainbow, and the shape of an alicorn’s head began to form on the surface.
When the Elements cooled down, Celestia floated gently down to the ground, and collapsed. The Element’s dropped at her side. Within a second, Princess Celestia began to sob uncontrollably. She was alone.