A Dark Shade of the Past

by InfinityBreach

Oh, The Irony

A Dark Shade of the Past
by InfinityBreach

Chapter 33: Oh, The Irony

"It's good that Fluttershy and I both will be fine by the time Nightmare Night rolls around. The problem is that I have no idea when that is, Twilight." I said, getting off of the guest bed. It had been three days since we had arrived back in Ponyville, and Fluttershy and I were finally able to get up and walk around, almost being fully healed.

Rainbow was still mad at me though. Fluttershy heard what Rainbow did, and scolded her for it, and tried to explain the reasoning of what happened, but Rainbow would have none of it.

Twilight had kept her promise, not telling Fluttershy or anypony about the other injuries I endured, and keeping me away from the hospital.

As for why I was locked in library, and refused to see anyone? I told Twilight to tell them the partial truth of it. I was healing from Rainbow Dash. Twilight also told them that I was sulking about from the conflict with a friend… which was also true. The fact that Rainbow was mad at me, troubled me a lot. I even had a few nightmares involving not being able to save Fluttershy, and then Rainbow using me as a punching bag as payback….

Anyway…

"Nightmare Night is something that used to be celebrated similar to the Summer Sun celebration." Twilight said.

"I don't know what that is, either." I stated, a bored look on my face.

"As I was saying," Twilight began again. "Nightmare Night used to be called the Fullmoon Fall Festivity. The Summer Sun Celebration and the Fullmoon Fall Festivity are events in which Princess Celestia or Princess Luna will use their powers to bring up either the sun or moon, respectively."

"That actually sounds kind of cool." I said, imagining the sun and moon glowing as they rose over the horizon.

"Originally the Summer Sun Celebration was like a huge party, where all the ponies would go to have fun and meet the princess. It's still the same way, except it's not a huge party anymore, but more like a parade. It also marks the beginning of summer. While on the other hoof, the Fullmoon Fall Festivity was an event where ponies would go to play games of all sorts. Now though, we dress up in costumes to be characters of all types, and go out to other houses, where they give us a lot of candy. We also still play games of all sorts, which hasn't changed from the original celebration. It is made to mark the end of fall." Twilight continued, finishing up her lecture.

"Candy? Like that sweet stuff that Pinkie usually gives me?" I asked, my ears perking up.

"Yep! Just the sort." She said with a smile.

"I am so in for this! That sounds awesome!" I excitedly said, feeling better than I had in days.

"Well you do need to dress up for it. Any ideas what you're going to dress up as?" Twilight asked me.

"Uh… I don't know a lot about costumes. Or even about some of anything that I could dress up as…" I muttered.

"Well if why don't you come down stairs and look at some books with me?" Twilight said. "You haven't been out of this room for days, and really, my library is still too small for you, Princess Luna, Spike, and I to live here at the same time."

"Yeah.. sorry about this, Twilight." I said, rubbing my hoof on the back of my neck.

"It's fine, especially since you've been helping out with the library while you've been here. It's just really small." Twilight said, shaking her head.

"Well… if I've healed up enough to be able to go out, I might as well…" I muttered.

"Okay, then. So come on let's go downstairs and see what books we can find." Twilight said, as she grabbed my hoof dragging me out of the guest room.

As soon as we reached the main room, she began to levitate a bunch of books from the shelves, placing them on the table in the middle of the room.

She began going on a tirade of ideas. "Here are some of my favorite characters in some series I've read. You should try reading some, and see if any of them interest you.."

The front door to the library opened, a loud voice echoing through. "Hey, Twi. I'm here for the new Daring Do book…" A certain cyan pony had walked in, saw me, and began glaring.

"On second thought, whatever. I'll just buy it from somewhere." Rainbow said, closing the door to the library.

I was hit with a wave of melancholy, what happened before I got to the library now going through my mind again. "Maybe I should just go back to the guest room.. and just stay there.." I said, turning around about to make my way back up the stairs.

"Oh no you don't!" Twilight said, teleporting in front of the stairs. "I will not have you mope around like this! Here, just… just read this book!" She finished, levitating a random book in my direction.

Then Twilight began walking to the front door. "I need to go and give Rainbow this Daring Do book, though. Just… don't go upstairs. Try to have fun with reading. Enjoy yourself."

With that, she was gone.

I looked down at the book I was now holding. 'This looks really familiar…'

"This… is this the book on the Elements of Harmony..?" I asked myself. "I guess Twilight was too focused on Rainbow to realize she gave me this…"

I opened up the contents of the book, looking at some of the images.

The first page was a picture of what appeared to be the world, completely sketched, but lacking any color. I flipped the page again, and saw that the six elements in what appeared to be there stone form, with some sort of object in the middle of them all, arrows pointing from the object to the elements. I briefly wondered if Twilight had seen this before, when I remembered that she wasn't only a wielder of an Element of Harmony, but she also extensively researched them and their powers.

I turned the page again, turning seeing the elements in a different form, now appearing as symbols. I briefly gazed over the one that should have been the Element of Generosity, the symbol appearing to be that of a sideways 8, like the one in my room. I shook my head, and turned the page. The next page had them as crystals. The next, in their current state of being jewelry.

"How many forms do those things have..?" I asked no one in particular, deciding not to dwell on it, and to just open the book again to a random page.

I now stared at the horse formerly known as Shaded Darkness, master of darkness throughout Equestria.

His body was pitch black, his eyes glowing a bright blue, with red encircling the outer part of the blue. His horseshoes looked to be encompassed in metal of some sort, larger and more sturdier than my horseshoes. 'In a way he kind of looks like me, except with more… authority? Power? I don't know..'

Then it clicked in my head. "Twilight said that a lot of these books could be fake, so does that mean this is fiction too? If so, I could pretend to be this 'Shaded Darkness' for Nightmare Night! I could be…" I struck a dramatic pose. "… the master of darkness!"

I sat back down, thinking about how my outfit could go, when I began to wonder something. "What the heck is darkness anyway? Is it like.. shadows? Or is it something evil? It can't be night, because that's Luna…"

"You called?" Princess Luna said from above me.

"AHHH!" I yelled, dropping the book. I steadied my breathing. "Geez, Princess! You scared me…"

"Oh, I apologise, Eclipsal. The powers of the night allow me to sneak about without being heard, I did not mean to frighten you." Luna said.

"It's… it's fine." I replied, getting up.

She then picked up the book using magic. "What art thou reading?" She questioned, opening the book.

Her face froze as she looked at the picture of Shaded Darkness. "I.. this book.. it is the Book of the Elements, yes?"

I nodded my head slowly.

"I guess Tia would give this to her student, as they are the new wielders… but.." She focused her eyes on the picture, as if she was trying to concentrate to the best of her abilities.

"I.. I need to go back to the castle for now." Luna said. "Tell Twilight I thank her for her hospitality, but I must go and speak with my sister about urgent business."

I nodded my head again, and watched as she teleported away.

"… I feel like all the ponies around me are slowly going crazy." I said to myself. "Or maybe I just don't have the full picture."

Twilight chose this moment to appear back at the library, walking through the front door.

"Hey, Twilight. Princess Luna had to go; said she had some urgent business to talk about with her sister." I explained, as she nodded in understanding.

She sighed and closed the door. "Anyway.. have you found anything interesting?"

"Actually first I kinda have a question about the history books." I said. "You know how you said that a lot of the history could have been rewritten by the princesses?"

"Yeah, it's a hypothesis. Not one hundred percent sure about it, though." Twilight stated.

"Well, do you think that also applies to this book?" I asked, levitating the book I had to her.

"Huh? Why did you get this?!" Twilight asked me, looking shocked.

"Because you were so flustered that you gave me this book to find something to dress as, instead of a normal one."

Twilight face-hoofed. "Next thing you know, I'll be misplacing my element, somehow."

Then she continued speaking. "I can almost fully assure you that there is no way this book has been edited. It was enchanted by something before the Elements were even created, maybe even before the princesses were born. Whoever did make it though, had to have some of the most magical power in history."

"So… let's say I wanted to dress up as that horse, Shaded Darkness. Would that be disrespectful considering who he was, or would that be fine?" I asked her.

Twilight blinked, a confused look on her face. "Well, considering I didn't even know who he was, I doubt many other ponies would. Also, I dressed as Starswirl the Bearded one year, and he was one of the most highly qualified unicorns in history. So there won't be any disrespect taken."

"Perfect. This is going to be cool." I said, a smile painted on my face.

"Why do you even want to be this horse anyway?" Twilight asked me.

"Well… I'm a horse. The only kind that we know of in the world. He's a horse. The only one that I know of. So it just makes sense, doesn't it?" I explained.

"Well.. I guess so." She said, a skeptical look on her face.

I took the book again, and pointed to Shaded's hooves. "Do you happen to know what type of metal this is, or how I could possibly get something to look like that?"

*Twilight's POV*

'Why the hay does he even want to do dress as this stallion, anyway? I guess it doesn't really matter; he looks pretty excited about it. It's nice to finally see him being happy considering how he's been the past few days..'

I looked at the picture of Shaded Darkness, looking at the metal around his hooves. It looked almost like platinum, except with a silver sheen. She couldn't tell from what metal it came from, but she imagined that the only pony she knew that would have any idea about precious metal and gems would be…

"Rarity might know." I replied, looking back up at him. "She works with metals and gems all the time, for her jewelry and dresses. So she would be able to tell what this is, I think. It does look like it might be a part of the armor the princess's wear, too. Might even be a mixture of both horseshoes and armor. But yeah, go ask Rarity."

"Okay, I'll go see if she knows about this." Eclipsal ran out of the house with an excited look on his face.

I looked at the door he left open when he bolted out of it, and couldn't help but smile. 'This is exactly what he's needed.'

I then frowned again. 'I still need to find out a way to talk Rainbow into forgiving Eclipsal. There really is no reason for her to be mad at him…'

"But first thing's first." I muttered.

I yelled up to the top of the stairs, hoping my assistant was willing to get up. "Spike! I need you to write a letter!"

*Eclipsal's POV*

I knocked on the door of the Carousel Boutique, hoping Rarity would answer soon. My cutie mark was beginning to glow, and there was no way for me to really cover it.

I heard a slight yell from inside, and assumed that it was Rarity realizing who was at the door. There was a scurrying noise, and the door opened.

"Come on, quickly get inside." Rarity said, ushering me in her home.

She closed the door behind me, and then turned to me. "I haven't seen you out in awhile, Eclipsal. Is there something that you need?"

I gave her a smile. "Actually, yes. I want to participate in Nightmare Night dressed as this stallion." I levitated the book up to her, and she grasped it with her magic.

"Ah… I see." She examined it for a few moments, as a smile came across her face. "Yes.. I do believe I can do this. It shall be perfect; you will be the talk of the town with how well I'm going to make these horseshoes!"

"Yes! Thank you, Rarity. I appreciate it. How much do you think this will cost me?" I asked her.

"Why, nothing at all, dear." She said, waving her hoof in the air.

"N-nothing?" I asked. "Rarity, I insist.."

"Tut, tut, tut. I will have none of this." Rarity stated. "I do free work for friends, and if that isn't a good enough excuse for you, then take this as a 'thank you' from me to you, for helping Fluttershy."

"But.. I wasn't able to prevent her from getting hurt. I don't really deserve your thanks…" I sighed.

"You jumped off of a cliff to save Fluttershy; you deserve my thanks. There is no way you could have prevented anything that happened, especially since you had no idea that nasty Hydra would be there. Now listen to me when I say this; Rainbow was extremely mad because she had been friends with Fluttershy for years. You must forgive yourself, and forgive her, because she has quite the temper, and an extreme loyalty to her closest friends." Rarity stated.

Her horn began to glow again, as she summoned a kettle and a teacup, pouring a cup of tea. She handed it to me, and said, "Now here. Drink up, and turn that frown upside down. This house does not tolerate unhappiness."

I grasped the cup with my magic, taking a small sip of the tea. I looked back up at Rarity with a smile. "Thank you, Rarity."

"Speak nothing of it." She said, once more waving her hoof in the air. "Now let's see if we can figure out your hoof size…"

Author's Note:

(A/N) Early update because I WROTE 2 CHAPTERS LAST WEEKEND MOTHERBUCKAS. Now I just need to get to writing the Nightmare Night special which will be up on Tuesday/Wednesday, to coincide with Halloween. After the Halloween update will be the end of another Arc, I think. So I'll probably be doing a Q&A on this next weekend, so yeah! Ask me questions for it, if you want to. Also, I was talking to one of my IRL friends about this story, and he got mad at me for letting Fluttershy get hurt ._. He said that everyone rages at the author when Fluttershy get's hurt, but nobody here raged. Well, except Rainbow... Anyway, REVIEWS!

FanFiction:

Kiri the brony- At the end, it was talking about Rainbow turning on Eclipsal without any consideration for what he had done.
Loyalty has been brought into question, if you catch my drift.

Dainn- Yeah, it sucks. But I mean, if your best friend since childhood got hurt, and someone else could have prevented it, wouldn't you be a bit peeved too?

GAMMA DAWN14- Hehe thanks :3 I tried to capture the emotion of that chapter as well as I possibly could, so I'm glad it came across!

FiMFiction:

toasty_muffinz- what do donkeys have to do with this..? Oh. OH. You mean the curse word! OHHHHHH. That makes more sense now.

Comments

[Telly Vision]

and the real nightmare night i just around the corner