The coming of the Shade

by Salizar65

Surprises

Ugh my head. Why does my head hurt? I can’t move! Why can’t I move!!! What’s going on!?Oh that’s right; I’m in Princess Twilight’s throne room being held against the wall by Solar Flare’s forcefield. I think my scalp is split open but everything else seems fine. Doesn’t feel like anything is broken thankfully but seriously I really hurt. As I look around I can see Twilight arguing and yelling back and forth with Celestia. Thankfully Celestia and Luna have calmed down enough to resume they’re original forms. I did not want to tango with one of their alter ego’s let alone both at the same time.

“Um hello? I think I need some medical attention over here, I think my head is split open pretty bad. But seeing as I can’t move I really can’t tell you.” As Everypony turns towards me suddenly I see Fluttershy right in my face trying to look at the back of my head.

“Twilight he really does have a pretty nasty cut in the back of his head that needs to be taken care of right away. With him like this though I can’t even get to it to fix it.”

“I am not putting him down.” Celestia growled trying to drill holes threw my brain with her eyes. “He is a danger to us all; I will not threaten Equestria by letting him loose.”

“Celestia I think you may be wrong here. So far he has done nothing to suggest he means us any harm. From the time he was spotted in Ponyville he has done everything he has been told to do. He has not tried to escape or attack anypony. According to the guards that found him in town he was just lying in the center of town doing absolutely nothing. The ponies that first saw him said they didn’t even notice he was there until he stretched his wings out. They said it looked like he deliberately did it to get they’re attention. He has been nothing but calm and cooperative even after I attacked him.” She turns to me “I am sorry for that by the way. When I first saw you it terrified me. My first thought was that Sombra somehow had survived and had become an alicorn, but then you mentioned your change of appearance and it made me think of a hidden changeling but that idea was also wrong.” Twilight looked slightly ashamed but covered it up rather quickly.

“I believe Twilight is right sister, usually we are the one to suggest drastic measures but in this case we believe it to be safe to allow him to at least move about.”

“What are you saying Luna? Are you disagreeing with me?”

“Yes sister, while you have been arguing with Twilight we have been talking with the others and even had the guards and civilians come in and give they’re sides of the story. Every one of them confirms what twilight has just said. He has showed no signs of aggression or threating the safety of those around him. Other than what he is nothing about how he has acted thus far has proven to be threatening. While he was unconscious we delved his mind and found nothing but found feelings for five of the ponies in this room. He also has very fond feelings for one pony in particular here in Ponyville. We see that my knowledge of this worries you, don’t worry Camo we will not say to whom it is, we will let you do that on your own time. But the only pony we did not find any found feelings for was Apple Jack, we found fear when his thoughts turned toward her and we believe it was for her ability to tell if a pony lies. Upon further investigation of this Apple Jack confirmed this theory for me when she told me he had come right out and apologized for avoiding her for that very reason. we also found many memories of his visits into Ponyville over the last 500 years; he is almost as old as we are sister. His magic is powerful; it may even be stronger than yours my sister. Of this we am uncertain, but we are certain he is of no threat to us here in Equestria at this moment. As for his intentions here though we are also uncertain as to what they are.”

“What are you saying Luna? Are you saying we should let him go free?”

“No, but we think we can let him move about as he pleases without the spells currently on him. Yes Princess that does include your sealing spell. Don’t argue with me either of you that is what we think based on both Apple Jack’s talent to detect when people lie and our ability to delve into the unconscious mind. Neither of us sensed any attempt at hiding anything. But we do suggest we set a guard to keep watch on him to make very pony feel better and escort him about our lands. But we think that is a bit far seeing as how he has been here off and on for 500 years. Though we would like to speak to him alone for a few minutes before we continue. That is if you would oblige us Camo?”

“I don’t see why not Luna, seeing as you seem to be on my side at least a little anyway. What is this about?”

“We would rather not say right now, we would like to have a question answered first. If it would be ok with you Princess could we use your briefing room over there? Thank you this shouldn’t be long. Don’t worry we’ll be fine. He's not going to hurt me are you Camo?” I shake my head “see nothing to fret over. In the meantime sister please try to calm down. Your mane is still slightly aglow and your eyes still hold a small amount of Solar Flare’s fire in them. We understand your worry but it is for not.”

I followed Luna into a room adjoining to the throne room that I never even noticed because the door blended so well into the rest of the wall. As we entered Luna shut the door then cast a spell that blanketed the entirety of the room. I looked over at her with a quizzical look.

“It is a sound barrier, it only allows sound through in one direction, Inwards. It’s so we can talk in private. No one can listen in without our knowledge of them eavesdropping. So our first question, and probably the most pertinent question, how under control is your alto ego dark fire? Yes we know about him and we know when he first manifested himself. Remember we can enter your dreams and your mind while you sleep, but only the active portion of your mind. We cannot enter your subconscious or your memories that are not active. We have known about your existence for a long time, before you ask let us explain, we also can sense a pony’s presence in the cosmos.”

This fact she is revealing this secret to me is shocking because I was completely unaware that she had that kind of power, or the fact that she could sense my presence just as I could sense hers.

“Over the centuries we have honed our dream walking skills so well we have sectioned off the dreams of all of those that live here in Equestria from those that do not. The first time you entered Equestria and slept within its borders is when we first felt your presence; we first thought it was just a regular unicorn stallion dreaming himself to be an alicorn. But after 150 years your presence hadn’t aged or changed in its viewpoint. So we became intrigued. We did not inform my sister of this fact because at the time we were still imprisoned in the moon, but we still were able to enter the dreams of others but we could not interact with them. So we watched you closely hoping that when we finally escaped our imprisonment we would have an ally to help us defeat our sister. We have been watching you and studying you for quit a long time, that is why we know so much about you and yet we only met today. We knew you were not a threat from the start but we had to act like we didn’t know you at all to keep my own powers hidden from the others. We do not wish to alarm them. So if you would keep everything we have just told you between us we would appreciate it. Otherwise we can make things very difficult for you here if you know what we mean.”

“Now back to my original question, how much control do you have over your alter ego? That information is one of the few things e could not glean from your mind in the dreamscape.”

“He is completely under my control, after the first couple of times he appeared I was able to overpower him and take complete control. He is not a danger to anypony unless I wish it. But there is something that even you can’t glean from my mind no matter how hard you try even if you knew where to look. Male alicorn’s are not the same as female alicorn’s; we don’t have just one alter ego. We have two.”

A very shocked and scared look flashes across her face and is gone an instant later.

“The first is what you’d expect from and alicorn, a completely rage induced version of ourselves. The second on the other hand is much different, much more powerful, and much more dangerous for both the alicorn themselves and for anypony around them. The second alter ego is a combination of the original pony’s personality and his alter ego’s but with one very major difference, it is of the other gender. The female alter ego is extremely hard to gain control of. It is like you trying to take complete control of me, or me of you. It can be done given enough time and effort but few have achieved complete control of their alter gender. The other major difference between the alter ego and alter gender is that she cannot take over the original pony except under certain emotional circumstances. I have to be aroused in order for her to come out and either be allowed to take hold or for her to forcibly steal control. She can be pushed away again to the back of my mind but it is no easy task. That is why they are so hard to control. I have not gained complete control over her but I have gained enough that I hold sway in what she does and can interfere with her actions just enough to get her to grudgingly do what I want her to. She is not an immediate threat to anypony, but when she gets out she can become a danger if I let her have too much control. My alter gender is called Diamondfire Shadewings. She looks very similar to Dark Fire in body and mane but the cutie mark is different and so is the gender of course.”

“Why are you telling us this? If we can’t get the information for ourself then why not keep it hidden? Why entrust us with this piece of information?”

“Because now we both have something the other does not want spread around. Balance, there has to be a balance for harmony to exist. It is only right that if I know your biggest secrete then in turn you should know mine. That is the only fair way to go about things don’t you agree?”

“You make a very good point; harmony is balance between light and dark. Neither of us wants the other to tell what they know about the other so in order to keep their own secret quiet they in turn must keep the others quiet. Very clever, we did not expect that amount of cunning from you.”

“Thank you. When you become as old as we are you become good at a few things. Now was that the only thing you wanted to talk to me about? Or was there something more?”

“There was one other thing, why her? Most stallions’ either fawn over Rarity or Fluttershy, But why her? And has there been other pairings of that kind before? That has remained a mystery to me.”

“There is no direct way to answer that question. And we do not have enough time right now to go through the whole explanation. I just do. Maybe another time I can try and explain. And yes there has been pairing of that kind in the past and its results are the same as any other pairing. There is nothing different in that aspect.”

“That is a relief to hear, as long as we don’t wind up with another discord we are ok.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. Are there any more questions you have for me? If not I think we should head back out before some pony decides to come in a check if things are alright.”

“We believe you are right, it is about time for us to return. If we have any further questions for you we know how to find you…” she points to my head “You do have an easy to recognize dream bubble.”

“Hmm. I never knew that.”

Just before we exit the room she stops and looks at me “Remember what we said…” she doesn’t finish leaving me to fill in the ominous gap. She takes down her spell and opens the door and to my relief Celestia has calmed down and the others are sitting around doing what they usually do when waiting on something. The first one to notice our approach is obviously Celestia, I can tell she is worried about her sister having been alone with me even for that short amount of time.

“Did you get the answers you were looking for Luna? Would you be so kind as to let us all know what it is that you have found?” Celestia says with just a touch of annoyance at having to ask for the information.

“Yes we did sister, Camo proves to be no threat to us at this time and he has been here many a time before today as he has stated earlier. We think the rest would be best if it came from Camo, if you would be so kind Camo?”

“Well for starters I am an alicorn as you all know and with that come's the possibility of an alter ego manifestation like with Luna and Celestia. But there is one large difference between male and female alicorn’s. Females can only have one alter ego manifest itself. Males have two. One is the normal rage induced personality but the other is a combination of the first 2 personalities. And it is not just an alter ego but a alter gender as well, in other words female alicorn alter ego. She is much more dangerous and harder to control than the male alter ego. She can only take control when I am either truly aroused by my surroundings or by my own thoughts.. Without that, she will not be able to manifest herself, only the male alter ego will force itself into reality. I have complete control of my male alter ego but the female is much harder to control, I have gained primary control of her powers but she controls the body as of yet. I find it rather important to have control over the magic rather than the body for without the magic she is as harmless as any pegasi.”

As I explain more and more I see every face go from shock to horror with every word I say.

“So what you’re saying is that you have two different powerful personalities that can take control?” Pinkie Pie asks sounding kind of excited

“Yes, I do. Though now come to think of it I can show you my female alter ego if you would like, but only under one condition.”

“And what is that?” Celestia asks with a large amount of suspicion.

“That Princess Twilight removes her spell from me so that I can take control of her magic.”