Princess Of Shadows

by DashTillDawn

Invictus (Undefeated)

Author's Note:

Because I loved writing it, and you guys (apparently) loved reading it, here's a part two.

The Princess of Friendship lay in her bed, with her entire midsection wrapped like that of a mummy, minus the exception of her wings, which were folded awkwardly beneath her. Going on five years of being accompanied by those darn things, and she still couldn't find a way to sleep with them comfortably. She would never understand how a pegasus could live with them, though the thought had crossed her mind that maybe growing up with them provided an advantage. It must be like growing up with a horn: just an extension of one's body, not some new addition.

Twilight tossed and turned in the nearly-nonexistent light. The rainclouds blocked out most of the moonlight, leaving only a dim glow for illumination. Until the occasional blinding flash of blue lightning struck.

Crack! Thunder roared around and through the castle, and Twilight bolted upright, only to be viciously reminded of the pain in her gut. Rather than flinging herself back onto the mattress to writhe, Twilight pushed herself back, propping herself on the crystal headboard. In a chair beside the bed, Starlight stirred, brought back to consciousness by the rustling of blankets.

"Another nightmare?" Starlight spoke up, reaching a hoof onto the nightstand in search of the unlit candle that sat in wait. When she found her mark, she lit the wick with a thought and a momentary teal glow.

"The same one." Twilight stated, shielding her eyes with a hoof while they slowly adjusted to the new light. "You know you don't have to stay with me, right?"

"I want to. It's my fault you're here, so I might as well be here with you." Starlight justified.

"Well, you're not unwelcome, if I came off that way." Twilight added, sensing how her previous statement was pronounced. "Actually, I'm quite glad you're here." They both sat quietly, lost in thought.

"You should really go back to sleep." Starlight pointed out.

"There's no way I'm falling asleep again after that."

"You should try. 'Your body needs rest.' You heard the doctor." Starlight mimicked the stallion in white.

"If I need to fall asleep, I'll usually read a book or two." Twilight offered.

"Of course you do." Starlight mumbled. "I'll go get one."

"No offense, but you don't know what books I like. Just help me out of bed." Twilight started edging toward the end of the mattress."

"Nonsense. You like any book."

"True, but I can only fall asleep to a few, now get over here."

Starlight huffed and rolled her eyes, but still allowed Twilight to drape a hoof over her back for support. They shuffled down the hall with a single candle wrapped in a teal aura leading the way from a few feet off the ground. Twilight noticed the expression in Starlight's expression was of an all-too-familiar self-disappointment.

"You can't hate yourself forever." She warned.

"I can try." Starlight responded.

"No, you can't. It's not healthy, nor is it necessary. You made a mistake, and you were forgiven. It's not like this is anything new for you." Twilight didn't catch the sting in her words until they had left her mouth.

"That's exactly my point. I won't- can't let that happen again." They entered the library, and the vaulted ceilings added a slight echo to their conversation.

"I know you won't. Now, help me look for a book called- Ah!" Twilight yelled in agony as she collapsed to the floor, almost taking Starlight with her. She pressed her hooves into her temples, attempting to alleviate the sudden migraine.

"Twilight!" Starlight cried, stooping in front of the princess, unsure of what to do.

"I- I'm fine. It was just a headache." Twilight reassured her once the pain started to subside.

"That didn't seem like just a headache." Starlight speculated. "Has that ever happened before?"

"Don't worry about it." Twilight shot.

"Are you sure, because-"

"I said don't worry about it!" Twilight demanded, looking directly into Starlight's eyes as she did so, and showing the red that had replaced her usually purple irises. That was when Starlight understood what was going on. Her own eyes widened at the horrifying realization. 'Twilight' picked up on this, and pounced on Starlight, knocking her to the ground and pinning her down.

"You really thought you could get rid of me?!" The thing jived.

"We were kinda hoping." Starlight shot back.

"Pathetic." It stared into Starlight, showing only hatred and anger in it's eyes. It seem surprised when it couldn't catch a glimpse of fear from Starlight.

"You're not afraid of me?"

"Never."

"You should be. I am fear itself." Starlight stared back, returning the expression of anger with a rage of equal magnitude. She almost saw fear in her opponent's eyes. It's uncertainty grew with her confidence, but it was easily pushed aside.

"No matter. I'll still dispose of you quickly." It's horn lit with the blackness of a dark and evil magic. Just as it wound it's head back to strike, Starlight kicked, knocking it off of her. She bolted upright and wracked her brain for the spell Twilight had used to free her. Lux... something. Lux... lux what?! What did she use?! Her mind raced to remember the spell.

"You think you can stop me? I'll just keep coming back." It reared for a follow-up strike.

"Lux splendida, non receperint vos!" Starlight called as her own horn lit with the spell. An aqua bolt of light struck the monster, and Twilight limply dropped to the ground. Starlight trotted over and nuzzled her friend, who moaned in response.

"Starlight, I just had the craziest dream." She mumbled.

"You have no idea."

"Wait..." She the princess looked around, regaining her bearing. "It wasn't a dream, was it?"

"It's back." Starlight shook her head, helping Twilight to her hooves. They stared into each other's eyes for a full five minutes while the depth of Starlight's words took their toll. Eventually, Twilight broke the silence.

"If it came back once, it'll come back again. We need a plan."

"It seems that the spell we're using won't get rid of this darkness, but rather will only eject it from the pony it's occupying to buy us more time. We're going to need a spell that will obliterate the darkness entirely without harming the affected pony." Starlight explained, trotting toward the section of the library that contained most of the spellbooks and magic-related information.

"The darkness came after me this time, so I would imagine that it just jumps to the closest pony it can. That may even be all it's capable of." Twilight added, following closely behind.

"So who's next in proximity to the castle?" Starlight questioned.

"Well the closest residential building to the castle belongs to-"

"What's all the commotion?" yawned a small, purple and green dragon as he half-walked, half-stumbled into the room, clearly having just woken up. Twilight and Starlight exchanged horrified glances.

"Nothing, Spike. We're just looking for a book that'll help Twilight go back to sleep." Starlight lied for the speechless purple mare.

"Why was there yelling and things banging around? You scared me right put of bed!" Spike complained.

"Oh, uh... Twilight bumped into a bookshelf and it toppled right on me, but it's fine. We cleaned it up. You can go back to bed." Starlight gestured to the door with one hoof while franticly paging through books with her other hoof and her horn. She paused on a page that she thought had what she needed. She levitated it over to Twilight, who took it numbly, but continued staring into space. Spike sleep-walked his way out of the room, and Starlight shook Twilight to snap her out of the shock she was in.

"It's going to take Spike." She mumbled to Starlight.

"Not if we have anything to say about it. Now read that middle paragraph and tell me if we can use it or not." Twilight's eyes flicked over the page and she nodded.

"Yes, but we're going to need more. We've got the Magna Tenebris and Lux Splendida roots already, but that won't be enough..." Twilight trailed.

"Twilight, I know you're afraid for Spike- he's like your filly- but you can't help him unless you help me. You're knowledge of the Old Ponish spells is far more expansive than mine, so I need you to help me piece together a spell to fix this. If we can't make this spell, Spike will be in a lot more danger than he is right now. Do you understand me?"

"Uh, yeah, right. Make the spell to save Spike. Got it."

"Good. Now, how about this one?" Starlight sent a red spellbook to Twilight, who shook her head in disapproval.

"No, that spell is directed more towards the transfer of magic. We're trying to get rid of it entirely. You'd want to look more for energy or magic removal or disposal: something like this, but not quite as simple." Twilight explained, passing a cyan book to Starlight, who glanced over it before turning back to the lines of bookshelves.

"What about something like this?" Starlight pulled a purple book from the top shelf with her magic, sending it straight to Twilight, who flipped through the pages, stopping on a particular section of interest.

"Yes, that's it! We should have all the pieces, now we just need to jigsaw them into something we can use." Twilight laid the book she held among four others that she and Starlight had found. That was when Spike entered the library archway for the second time. Both mares stopped to look up at him when they realized he had walked in.

"I think I forgot something in here." He stated.

"That can't be." Starlight called his bluff.

"How so?" He played innocent.

"You didn't come in here with anything to leave behind. Spike, why did you really come back?" Starlight pushed.

"I just wanna see what you're doing. That's all." He took a step forward.

"Stop." Starlight ordered.

"How come?" Spike took another step, deliberately avoiding eye contact.

"Spike, stop." Starlight stiffened. Only an intimidating coldness was audible in her voice. He tried to keep a cool expression, but he stopped his approach.

"What, you don't trust me?" Spike tried. He received only two cold stares in response. "C'mon guys... It's me... It's Spike." He carried nothing but innocence and desperation, but neither mare faltered. He bowed his head.

"So I guess that's it then." He said in a new, chilling voice. A voice that didn't belong to the tiny dragon it seemed to come from. A voice of evil that had become all-too-familiar. "Fine. I prefer the hard way anyways. It's more fun." He said, raising his claw, which was wrapped in a black aura. From that claw originated a bolt of mana, which was aimed to hit Starlight square in the head. It would have struck, too, had Starlight not ducked behind the desk. She then reached her hoof up, and pulled Twilight down beside her.

"I'll keep him busy. You stay hidden and finish the spell." Starlight whispered to Twilight, who then began pulling books from the desk to the floor, where she could work in relative safety. Starlight rose, staring down the drake that had once been her friend. There wasn't even a trace of her old friend left in it's reddened eyes.

"You just don't give up, do you?" The thing jived, sizing up it's opponent. Starlight spotted a standing mirror, and began forming a plan. She slowly crept her way towards it, keeping the shadow busy with conversation.

"I'm not afraid of you. I never was, and I never will be." She shot.

"Fear is the body's natural response to danger, therefore, you must be afraid of me. It's your primal instinct."

"The body only fears threats, and you are no threat. You're just a spell that was miscast, and you will be dealt with accordingly." Starlight had expected this to get through to him, but it merely made him smirk.

"You really don't know what I am, do you? You may have brought me here with that little spell of yours, but I have existed for millennia. I am the very definition of fear. The only thing you did was give me a chance to manifest in a mortal body. Though, I suppose I should thank you, for without your lust for power, I wouldn't have the opportunity to destroy you." He let another blast of darkness fly from his claw, but Starlight was ready. She kicked the mirror into the path of the projectile, which ricocheted off and retraced its path, directly into the one that had fired it. The thing that was once Spike was knocked back with the impact, and let out a cry of pain. Strangely, the cry sounded like it belonged to Spike, not the thing controlling him.

"If you hurt me, you hurt him too." The thing laughed while pulling itself to its feet.

"Then I'll just have to beat you without firing a shot." Starlight remarked.

"Don't you get it? I'll just keep coming back. You can't win." Starlight glanced over to the desk Twilight was hiding behind, and saw a purple hoof waving to her: Twilight's signal that she was ready.

I must admit, though, you have proven a decent adversary. Maybe I shouldn't kill you. You'd make a great second-in-command. Once I brainwashed you, of course. Your friend, however, doesn't deserve that honor. A real warrior would come out an fight me, but she simply hides behind a desk. Perhaps I should provide her with some motivation." He turned his attention to the desk that Twilight sat behind. With a wave of his claw, the desk was sent careening into the wall, smashing into pieces on impact. Outside, the storm raged on, wind howling at the castle walls. Thunder crashed, but nopony paid it any mind. The newly uncovered Twilight rose to her hooves, staring down the darkness.

"Strange: you don't seem as afraid as you were when we met last."

"That's because I'm not. I know your deepest fear now." Twilight retorted.

"I didn't realize I had one. Please, inform me. It jived.

"You're afraid of not being feared. Well, guess what? Nopony is going to fear you anymore." Twilight's voice became cold and dark with her final sentence. It took the thing only a few seconds to fully comprehend what she was saying, but that was all she needed. There was a purple bolt in the air, and then there was a blinding flash. Outside, the storm cell died out entirely, leaving nothing but puddles and fallen branches to be remembered by. When the light faded, she shadows were visibly being ripped out of Spike's body by force, and then disintegrating into the air. When there wasn't a trace of darkness left, the drake went limp, but Twilight was there to catch him on her back before he could hit the ground. Starlight couldn't argue that Twilight had motherly instincts toward the dragon. He wasn't blood, but he was family anyway. She chuckled at the princess.

"What's so funny?" She asked, turning to Starlight.

"It wouldn't be physically possible for you to love him any more, would it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, he's family, and you're always there for him."

"I'd do the same for you if I had to." Twilight glanced around the room, cringing when she noticed the broken desk with a few ruined books. "Do you think it's actually over this time?"

"Without a doubt. What spell did you use, anyway?"

"Eicientur in tenebras: lucem accipere."

"And that's why I had you make the spell. I only understood about half of that." Starlight joked.

"You'll get there one day. I know you will."

"But until then, let's get some sleep. I trust that this one will wind up sleeping in your room tonight?" Starlight gestured to Spike.

"I think all three of us should stay in my room. We could have a makeshift slumber party."

"I think it'll be all slumber and no party. I'm exhausted." Starlight mused as they entered the bedroom.

"You have no idea." Spike mumbled. Twilight and Starlight shared a laugh before crawling into bed. Spike and the princess were unconscious the moment they hit the mattress. Starlight looked over at the other two, smiled, and joined them in their slumbers.

Comments

[DashTillDawn]

8597184
Beautiful. I love it.