Shadow Grave

by Composer99

New Dawn

Boom!

The hinges of the castle doors creaked ominously under the impact. Ponies physically pushing the door shut were thrown back from the force of the blow.

“Just hold it a bit longer!” Shining Armor shouted.

Boom!

One of the hinges buckled under the strain, and the spells holding the door began to fizzle. All around him, Shining saw unicorns’ horns give out from the exhaustion. This was it: the doors would no longer hold. He shouted the orders that, he feared, meant the end.

“They’re going to break! Get back!”

Ponies scrambled away from the doors, and Shining Armor whipped up a spell to protect everypony from debris once the doors were kicked in.

There was a pregnant pause. But the final blow never fell.

“Wha-?” Shining Armour said.

They waited. Still nothing. Then there was a crashing sound from outside, as if a big pile of rock had just tumbled from the sky.

After another pause, Shining Armor trotted forward, a curious expression on his face. With his magic he removed the lumber they’d fastened to the castle doors to hold them shut, and swung the doors open.

The ground outside the castle was strewn with skeletal remains, and the giant obsidian statue had collapsed.

It took a moment of taking it all in for what he saw to register, but Shining's eyes widened and he smiled as he realised what had happened.

“She did it,” Shining Armor whispered. Then louder: “They did it!” He laughed, whooped with glee, and shouted, “Twilight won!” He laughed his jubilation to the skies above.

Ponies began to drift out onto the grounds and balconies, and they soon joined in the celebration.

---

“Twilight? Twilight Sparkle?”

Slowly waking, Twilight felt a muzzle brushing her own.

“Five more minutes, Mom,” she mumbled. Though, why was the ground so cold?

“After the night you’ve had,” Princess Celestia’s voice said, “take all the time you need.”

Twilight’s eyes snapped open. “Princess-?”

She got to her feet in a flash. “Shadow Grave! Her skeleton army!”

Celestia laid a calming hoof on her shoulder. “Easy, now, Twilight,” she said. She gestured to a shape still lying on the ground.

It was a thin, feeble-looking unicorn mare. She had a silvery-grey coat, a bleached, thinning mane that might once have been off-white, and a pattern of stars for a cutie mark. Her breathing was shallow and uneven.

“Constellation,” Celestia said sadly. “Luna volunteered to take her to the Ponyville hospital once she is done here. I fear it may be too late, but there is hope yet for her.”

Twilight took a moment to look around. There were her friends: the other Element-bearers getting to their feet and getting their bearings, and Spike and Discord (Discord!) helping attend to everypony else in the grotto. Starlight leaned heavily against a wall, still winded.

The canyon outside was littered with skeletons and shattered fragments of skeletons. The magic animating them was gone.

“Thou and thy friends have done well this day, Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Luna announced, approaching Twilight formally and bowing deeply.

Twilight leaned away from her, taken aback. “Uhhhh, thanks?”

Luna smiled at Twilight’s reply, then drew away to the back of the grotto, seeing to the welfare of the injured.

Celestia snickered softly as she approached in turn. “Luna prefers the customary formalities with which she is still familiar in situations such as these,” she said. “But it is we who should be thanking you, Twilight,” she added. “Once again, you have saved Equestria from a terrible fate.” She in turn bowed to Twilight, who blushed in embarrassment.

“Such modesty,” Cadance said, smiling, as she came up to Twilight, giving her an affectionate nuzzle. “I don’t know what we might have done if you hadn’t shown up just then. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really need to go see my husband.” She hustled out of the caves and took off, bearing for Ponyville.

“Twilight,” Celestia said, “I must now see to arranging for all this – ” she waved a hoof at the bones scattered through the canyon “ – to be cleaned up . I am sure you will be involved in that effort as well, but I think somepony wants to talk to you first.”

Celestia inclined her head slightly to where Sunset Shimmer was watching them talk while nervously chewing on her lip, smiled slightly, then trotted out of the cave, taking to the skies after Cadance with a sweep of her wings.

Once Celestia had left, Sunset bounded up. “That was amazing!” she exclaimed. Then she coughed and swung one foreleg over the other. “That is, when you’re not the one on the receiving end.” She smiled and laughed self-deprecatingly.

Twilight took her in a hug. “Oh, Sunset, I’m so glad to see you. I know it must have been awkward around Princess Celestia.”

Sunset returned the hug enthusiastically. She broke away to answer, “It was: really awkward. I know she wants to see me again to talk about everything that’s happened and see if we can mend fences and all that. I’m just not sure I’m ready for it. It was a lot to deal with, coming back for an emergency and being around her for so long.”

“You know,” she said after they released one another, “Speaking of awkward, I’ve been a human for so long it’s actually felt weird trotting around on hooves again. And being a unicorn and using unicorn magic.”

There was a wistful tone to her voice.

“Thinking of coming back to Equestria?”

“Maybe, someday. Our friends at Canterlot High still need me. And I can’t help but think that my place now is with them, and not just out of a sense of obligation or duty.”

“Listen to you, using grown-up words,” Twilight teased Sunset.

“Hey, you turn into a teenager on the other side of the portal, too!”

They giggled.

“Seriously, though, if nothing else I’d like to come back for a visit.”

“I’d like that,” Twilight said. “And I know all my friends here would, too. Although you might find it a bit disconcerting seeing doubles of all your friends – I know I did.”

They shared a smile. Twilight caught sight of the feeble pony lying on the ground, and her smile faded.

She walked slowly over to see the unicorn who had, not long ago, been a skeletal villain intent on destroying everything Twilight held dear.

As she watched the mare’s laboured breathing, Twilight couldn’t bring herself to feel any animosity. She could see only a frail old unicorn.

She stepped closer, walking around to see the unicorn’s face. It was gaunt and worn with age.

Constellation’s eyes fluttered open, and locked on Twilight.

“Twi-Twilight Sparkle? Princess?” she whispered hoarsely.

Twilight said nothing.

“Where’s – ” a cough “- Princess Cele…” she trailed off.

“She had to leave,” Twilight said softly.

Luna slowly came over, attracted by the sound. She gazed sternly at Constellation.

Constellation coughed again, wheezing.

“Doubtless Princess Celestia offered you the hoof of friendship and forgiveness,” Luna said, the gentleness of her voice at odds with the hardness of her gaze. “I am confident I speak for her when I say we are ever ready to extend it.”

“No,” Constellation said quietly with a bitter smile. “No. I don’t want your friendship, or your pity.” She sighed, though there was a gurgle in her breath as she did so.

“I made my choice, long ago,” she added after a pause. “I won’t go back on it now.”

Luna and Twilight both bowed their heads.

“So be it,” Luna said. “Nonetheless, we shall see to your health as best we can.”

“Such concern… so touching…” smirked Constellation. Her eyes fluttered closed for a second, before slowly opening.

“You don’t… don’t know what is in the dark places,” she said, with surprising strength, looking right at Twilight. “It would have been better… if you hadn’t stopped me.”

“Better?!” Twilight snorted. “All of Equestria reduced to a – to a charnel house?”

Constellation coughed. There was a rattling in her ribs as she inhaled. She fixed Twilight with another stare.

“Yes.” She coughed again, and closed her eyes as her head sunk to the ground. For a moment, Twilight feared the worst, though soon Constellation’s shallow breathing resumed.

“I fear we must act soon if we are to save her life, even if, it seems, it will be done so that she may be held to account for her deeds without hope of reconciliation,” Luna said. She levitated Constellation in her magic, laying her across her back.

She nodded to Twilight, then trotted out of the cave and took to wing herself.

Sunset Shimmer joined Twilight she looked out of the cave at the canyon, illuminated by the light still shining from the Tree of Harmony.

Applejack came up alongside them.

“I’m sorry, Applejack,” Twilight said, “I don’t know how we’ll sort out your parents from all the other skeletal remains.”

Applejack smiled sadly. “It’s all right, Twilight. I reckon Shadow Grave must have dug up the rest of Ponyville Cemetery while we were away. We’ll never be able to sort it all out. But Mom and Dad will always be here – ” she pointed to her head and then to her heart “ – even if they’re not there anymore when we go to visit them.”

She adjusted her hat. “Mom used to say that those we love will always be with us, as long as we remember them.”

Twilight thought about Applejack’s words for a moment, as her other friends assembled around her. Then she smiled.

---

The Princesses met in Twilight’s castle in the morning. Everypony had celebrated through the rest of the night. As day broke, ponies arriving by train, who had formerly been summoned to assist in Ponyville’s defence, were instead being tasked with helping clean up the mess left by the night’s battle.

They had discussed the arrangements to clean up and see to the remains of the ponies Shadow Grave had stolen from Ponyville Cemetery. They each shared their recollection of the night’s events. Finally, they also conjectured on the source of Shadow Grave’s power, and Twilight volunteered to review the thick tome they’d discovered.

They all gazed at it for a while.

“That may well contain secrets of magic I’ve spent a long time destroying,” Celestia said quietly, breaking the silence. “Nevertheless, it may be for the best that we understand it more thoroughly, so that we are not taken by surprise should anypony learn similar magic on their own.”

“I think it would be wise, dear sister,” Luna said. “Twilight’s talents at undertaking organised research are considerable.”

Celestia smiled. “I do recall being given a meticulously detailed checklist to follow when I volunteered to help Twilight. Very well.”

“There is one more matter to discuss,” Luna said. “As you know, I personally brought Constellation to Ponyville Hospital. I received word not long after that she is no longer with us.”

There was a moment of sombre silence.

“I know that you two may know her only as Shadow Grave, the villain who threatened your homes and loved ones,” Celestia said sadly to Twilight and Cadance, “but to me she will always be the promising young wizard, Constellation. For all she has done this past day, I can’t help but mourn her passing.”

“I understand, Celestia,” Cadance said, laying a hoof tenderly on Celestia’s shoulder.

There being no further business, the princesses began to break up, now looking forward to the return of their routine responsibilities.

As Luna and Cadance left, Celestia was following them out the door. She hesitated and stayed back a moment.

“Twilight?” she asked.

“Yes, Pri – sorry, Celestia?”

Celestia turned.

“I wondered if perhaps I could speak with you privately for a moment.”

“Of course!”

Celestia smiled. “Thank you, Twilight. I wanted to ask if all went well with Sunset Shimmer during the remainder of her stay here. I knew she was uncomfortable around me, so I did not feel it wise to pressure her into any sort of discussion between us.”

Twilight thought back to earlier in the evening. After helping organise some of the clean-up efforts, both at the Tree of Harmony and at the castle, she and Sunset had taken time for their own heart-to-heart talk before Sunset had gone back through the mirror.

“I know she wants to make things right with you,” she answered. “She just doesn’t feel ready yet. I think she feels conflicted about whether or not she really wants to return to Equestria for good, or to remain in the other world. I know she’ll come around to talking with you someday, and she told me she wanted to try sooner rather than later. Unless you wanted to visit the other world yourself? Maybe she’d be less intimidated by you as a human than as a regal alicorn pony.

“But that doesn’t actually answer your question, does it? She was happy to see me, and we had a good time talking together. She eventually decided she had to leave before her friends back in the other world got too worried about her and tried something drastic.”

Celestia was silent for a moment. “Your first answer may not have directly answered my question, but of the answers you gave I feel it was the more informative - and important. Thank you, Twilight, you’ve given me much to think about. Perhaps in a few weeks I could impose upon you so that I could write Sunset a message in my old journal?”

“I’d be delighted!” Twilight answered enthusiastically.

Celestia smiled. “Excellent. I also wanted to ask: are you sure about taking on the task of combing through Constellation’s journal to learn her secrets? It may not be pleasant reading.”

“I understand,” Twilight said. “But it’s important for Equestria, and after everything I went through to get it, I feel responsible for ensuring its safety and security myself.”

“Of course,” Celestia nodded. “Finally, there is the matter of which we spoke two nights ago, before all this began: you were struggling with the matter of alicorn longevity, and how your friends’ passing might affect you. I know we’ve all had much on our minds, but in case your concerns remained foremost in your thoughts now that the crisis is passed, I wanted you to know that should your fears on the topic ever seem overwhelming, please feel free to write or visit me if you desire a friendly ear, or even a shoulder to cry on.”

Twilight smiled, nuzzling up against Celestia. “Thank you, Celestia,” she said, speaking the other princess’ name in what Celestia thought was a surprisingly unreserved way - finally. “Applejack said something about her parents that will help set my mind at ease, once I’ve had time to think about it.”

“I do not doubt it. Each of your friends possesses great wisdom, in their own way. Yes, even Pinkie Pie.”

Celestia turned for the door again, then paused, turning her head back to Twilight, smiling.

“Twilight? Thank you, for everything.”

Twilight smiled back. “You’re welcome, Princess,” she said with a wink.

---

Twilight Sparkle examined the repairs that had been made to the doors of the castle – her castle. Satisfied with their state for now, she stepped out along the road into Ponyville.

Spike was asleep. The poor thing – he’d been exhausted by the time they returned to the castle. It had been a very late night.

Also asleep was Starlight Glimmer, who’d barely recovered from all her exertions during their journey into darkness and back. Twilight had a mind to have her get checked out at the hospital once she woke.

For his part, Discord had left after joining in the celebrations for a while, saying something about wanting to get back to his gardening. Twilight suspected there was more to it than that, but Discord wasn’t the sort to plainly state he was working through his feelings about anything. (More like try to pull some dumb manipulative stunt that ends up backfiring, she thought with a smile.)

That left five other mares waiting for her a few yards outside. Like Twilight, they were bleary-eyed for lack of sleep.

“Well, Twi?” Rainbow Dash asked. “You ready to get some grub? The Bit and Bridle is already open and offering all-day breakfast.”

Twilight paused, looking at them each in turn. My friends, she thought.

“I must say, I could do with a coffee and pancakes just now,” Rarity said.

“Boy howdy, I’m so hungry, I could clean my plate faster than a herd of rabbits could nibble down a field of carrots,” Applejack exclaimed.

“I suppose I am feeling a little peckish,” Fluttershy managed.

“Mmmmm… all-day breakfast…” was all Pinkie Pie managed to say, leaning back on the ground and drooling.

Twilight chuckled softly.

“All right, girls. Breakfast out it is! Let’s get going.”

Six friends headed down the road into town, together.

---

The partially collapsed cavern was almost entirely dark, save for flickering violet light at one of the small terraces that pushed up from the water. This terrace was mostly submerged, as a result of the tons of rock that had fallen into the pond.

The flickering came from the runes inscribed in the wall along the terrace’s rear. They were slowly fading.

As they finally flickered into complete darkness, there was a sound resembling something like the wind pushing sand across stone, and then a whisper.

In forgotten depths, you will be changed.

Author's Note:

Internet cookies to anyone who gets the pop culture reference near the end of the first scene in this chapter.

Comments

[Composer99]

7980297 Ah, yes, I've seen Maleficent, and I do remember that line.