The Pony of Shadows. For generations, this creature of myth has terrified every pony who heard about it, and it became known as the source of all the darkness, cruelty and wickedness in the world, the wellspring from which evil flowed. Twilight, who has led her friends against many foes in the past, seeks out this ancient enemy of her people, to vanquish it once and for all.

But when she finds it, she and her friends instead discover a different story. One the young Princess would never have expected.

Trixie wasn't sure if it was when she purchased that artifact with her last bit, or when she found herself wandering into a ruined shrine in the woods that she first went astray, but astray she certainly had gone. And now she was standing under an alien sky, empty of Luna's moon, or Celestia's sun.

Trixie was afraid that if she was not the guest of this dark and monstrous lord, she would find herself something much, much worse.

So it it was showtime. Time to earn her keep, her welcome. Because she'd rather be a guest to lunch, than the first course at dinner.

Though she might not want to admit it, it had been too long since she had a captive audience.

And who could be more captive than a Lord of Shadows entombed in a half-tartarus doom-world?

In a land of eternal night, a brave band of heroes stood against Nightmare Moon to return the Sun to their world. In a desperate bid for victory, they broke an ancient spell to pull six legendary heroes out of Limbo so that they could do battle with the Night Tyrant.

This is not the story of that battle.

It is the story of the monster that returned with the heroes - and how it found love.

Created for the May Pairings contest

Featured 5/14/2020!

Cover art by the amazing Bean.

Exactly what you saw earlier when you clicked on the short description.

Man dies and comes back as the pony of shadows, if you liked Venom and let there be Carnage, This is the story for you!

And if anyone wants to read this, be warned, shit’s about to get real.

Sunset makes it her mission to contain the stray Equestrian magic that leaks into her new home, doing her best to minimize corruption and damage to anyone that can be harmed by it. As a powerful enemy emerges from the depths of limbo, containing it may not be an option anymore.

Now, if only Twilight wasn't so eager to toss herself into the fight, that would be great.

It was incredibly rare to find a pony so pathetic and deprived of love and affection that they’d turn to somepony like him for comfort. Love, Stygian realised, and everypony’s selfish desire for it, had bestowed him with a sense of normalcy.

Note: In this story, a little bit of darkness is still in Stygian, becoming some sort of a negative second personality that influences him.

Art by some dude called LavenderRain17 on DeviantArt.

The contents of a journal, recovered from the home of Wallflower Blush. One of few items found relatively undamaged at the location. Several pages are missing, but a few key entries remain, almost as if they were spared intentionally.

Copies have been made of the entries, and the original is being sent to our friends on the other side of the portal, where they can contain it and scan it for any dark magic. We need to make sure that this doesn't happen again.

Written on commission, for Moproblems Moharmoney, with money sent to a GoFundMe. If you'd like to commission me yourself, my rules are right here.
Check out the audio reading by Rain_Flick3r!
Also check out author Patreon and Ko-Fi

The Pony of Shadows, locked up in Limbo again after being so rudely expelled from Stygian a literally unknowable amount of time ago, receives a visitor.

This was the only story entered in the 277th Writeoff contest, "Dancing Shadows," where it inspired the cover artwork created by GroaningGreyAgony. It also occurs to me that the story can serve as a prequel to a story over on my AugieDog account called "Shadow Heart."

Stygian meets his Shadow.

My (lightly edited) entry into Ruby's Alone Panic for Quills and Sofas Speedwriting Group. Initially written in 45 minutes.

The Aether. A dark place where the most vile of creature is sent to once their mortal bodies parish. Limbo. A space in between where time itself holds no power over those who are trapped. Within these two realms lies a shadow, forever imprisoned with no hope of escape. However, forever is a long time. A lot can happen.

EDIT: I updated the title card with a redraw. I hope you like it.