Sun's Equestria Girls Adventures: Shadow Magic

by Pinkie Pie Sweets

Chapter 9: Freeing Stygian

Later on, the large group of ponies and humans are able to reach the Hollow Shades. The location looks so dark and abandoned. There is a giant hill that is casting a dark shadow over the old village.

"I don't remember reading anything that said the Hollow Shades was like this," Sunburst says.

The group walks down to the village to see that it hasn't been used for years. There are a lot of ruin houses with hay roofs on top. As they walk, they can feel an eerie presence among them.

"Ohhh. The Pony of Shadows must have twisted it to his purposes," Mistmane worriedly replies.

"I have to agree. This place looks already like a ghost town," Starry says.

"This place looks so… ancient," Human Twilight says.

"Yeah. And deserted," Aria says.

Sonata yelps to hear a noise, and hugs Sun in fright, "I don't like this place!"

"Don't worry, we're all here together," Sun says.

"She's right. As long as we stick together, there will be nothing to fear," Meadowbrook says.

Just then, they begin to hear echoing of an evil laughter.

Fluttershy gulps, and squeaks, "Except for that."

"Prepare yourselves. He is here," Starswirl says, looking serious.

Then he sternly demands, "Stygian! Show yourself and face us!"

Suddenly they begin to hear the Pony of Shadows evilly laugh, and the ground begins to rumble. Everyone look around to see the ground they're standing on begins to crack. The cracking has surrounds the area where the large group in. Unable to support the weight, the floor gives out creating a giant hole, and the ponies and humans scream as they fall into the hole.

The ponies and humans that have fallen land on top of each other. They all groan feeling a little bit of pain.

Aria mutters, "So much for the element of surprise."

Everyone begins to get up, and help each other on their feet/hooves.

Sunburst adjust his glasses with a groan, and says, "I definitely would've remembered reading about this."

"Maybe so, but this is the right place," Sun says.

"That must be the place from your vision?" Starlight asks.

"It is," Sun answers.

Just then, everyone begin to hear maniacal laughter surrounding the area. Everyone huddle together, and Starswirl makes a protective shield around them. Out of the wall, the Pony of Shadows make an appearance.

The Pony of Shadows says in a loud voice, "Welcome to the Well of Shade! When you turned your backs on me, I discovered this place. The darkness spoke to me of a power beyond any I could imagine, and I listened. The shadow and I became one. Soon, all of the realm will be the same. Then all ponies will feel the despair I did when you cast me out!"

Sonata whispers to Sun, "Boy, somepony could really use a hug right now."

"We did what we had to do! That shadow has taken over you! Maybe you didn't want to steal our magic, but the shadow probably does!" Starswirl says.

"No! It was you who were selfish!" The shadow protests at Starswirl.

He lifts his head up, and shouts, "And now you will pay!"

The Pony of Shadows launches a magical dark beam at Starswirl's shield. The shield is able to hold, but begins to crack.

"Now this could be a problem," Princess Twilight says.

"Yeah. A major friendship problem," Starlight replies.

Still using his magic, Starswirl says, "Ready? Open the portal…"

Starswirl then uses his magic to break the shield.

Princess Twilight shouts, "...Now!"

With that, the main five and the five pillars get together to begin the spell. Rarity is with Mistmane with their element, Flash Magnus is with Rainbow Dash with their element. Pinkie is with Somnambula. Fluttershy with Meadowbrook, and Applejack with with Rockhoof. The magic begins to form around them, and glow with a white light. Sunburst and Starswirl help perform the spell, and a large rainbow beam fire at the shadow. The shadow ducks and the rainbow light hits the wall. Soon a porta has appear, and begin to suck the Pony of Shadows. The rainbow beam of light hit the shadow, causing the back part of the shadow to be stuck in the portal.

Trying to break free, the shadow shouts, "No! You will not trap me again!"

Sun runs at front, and shouts, "Stygian, you have to stop! This isn't the way! I know that it was hard to deal when your friends cast you out the way they did! I know how you felt! I went through the same thing like you, but believe me, this is not the way!"

Just then, something or somepony begins to come out of the shadow's chest. There is a gray unicorn with short cornflower blue and arctic color blue mane. The pony struggles and manages to get his hoof free while he's looking like he's in pain. Sun gasps and realizes who that pony is… that pony is Stygian.

"Stygian!" Sun exclaims, uses her magic to change into her human form. Then she pony up as she grows pony ears, alicorn wings, and extended hair.

Sun flies up, and grabs Stygian by the hoof, and tries to pull him out, but the shadow refuse to let him go. And then sucks Stygian and Sun inside.

Princess Twilight gasps, and exclaims in fright, "Sun!"

Princess Twilight flies into the chest of the Pony of Shadows.

Princess Twilight lights up her horn and look around the dark void. Luckily, she is able to find Sun right away, who is sitting up and rubbing her head. The two princesses smile to see each other and give each other a hug. They then look to see the lonely young unicron sitting on the floor of the void, hanging his head down in sadness. The two princess cautiously walk towards him, knowing the sadness he has on his face.

Princess Twilight calmly says, "Are you... Stygian?"

"I was, once. Until my friends betrayed me," Stygian sadly answers.

Sun whispers, "He's still rather upset to talk."

"Yeah. But we need answers," Princess Twilight says.

Sun shows the choker, and asks, "This gem… it belongs to you, isn't it."

"My choker! I… I can't believe you found it," Stygian says in surprise to see the stone.

"Yes. But ended up with some magic, and with it I was able to see your memories," Sun explains.

Sun sighs, and asks, "You never betrayed them and wanted to steal their magic, didn't you?"

"No! Of course not! I wanted their respect. I brought them together. I planned strategy, and I read all I could about the beasts we faced. But I didn't have magic or strength, so nopony ever noticed me. I went to Ponhenge to make my own copies of the artifacts." Stygian explains.

Outside of the shadow, everyone else are starting to hear everything Stygian is explaining to the two princesses.

Stygian continues to explain, "With them, I thought I could be a Pillar, too, and stand by their side in battle. I never wanted to steal their power."

Starswirl and the other pillars become stunned to hear what Stygian says. They realized that they have been wrong about Stygian this whole time. It also come to realizes that what happen to Stygian has been their fault as well.

Inside the shadow Stygian is still explaining to Princess Twilight and Sun what really happen all these years ago.

"But instead of sharing and letting me help, my friends threw me out," Stygian says in anger.

Soon enough, Stygian begins to have shadow hooves, and the same neck brace as the shadow. His mane and tail are being shadowed by the shadowy smoke,and his horn become sbacl in jagged.

In a deep, loud, and aggressive voice, he says, "So I became stronger than any of them! The darkness welcomed me when no pony would, and I will do what I must to protect it!"

This is all a misunderstanding! If the Pillars knew how you felt, I'm sure they wouldn't have turned their backs on you." Princess Twilight says.

"She's right. Starswirl and the other pillars have no idea they made you feel excluded, and how much pain and sadness you have thousand long years. But they know the truth now, and they want to do whatever they can to fix what they have done," Sun explains.

Then Sun hugs Stygian, "Please Stygian, I know very well what it's like to feel alone, but this shadow is not who you are. We can help you become yourself again."

Something within Stygian makes him feel a warmth inside. Princess Twilight gows concern about Sun getting this close, but smile to see Stygian changes back to normal and hugs her back. The two let go of the embrace to look at each other.

"I felt hurt too. But with my other friends, I was able to deal with the hard times and we were able to become friends again. You can do the same for Starswirl and the others, you just need to give them and their friendship another chance," Sun says with a warm smile.

Stygian wipes the tears from his face as he says in concern, "Even if my friends did still care, what makes you think you and your friend have the power to help me?"

"Because it's what she does," Starlight's voice answers.

The three look behind them to see Starlight Glimmer, with the human Twilight, the Dazzlings, and the two Falling Star with them. Starlight gently put them down, and they all walk toward Stygian.

"We weren't so different from you, and Princess Twilight and Sun helped us change," Starlight says.

"She's right. We all were in your shoes, but Sun and Princess Twilight turned our lives around," Adagio says.

"We ended up using magic that end up bringing out the worst in us," Aria says.

"And end up doing things we wished we hadn't, but we were able to get another chance to make up for our mistakes," Sonata adds.

"And with that, they were able to fight together to form a powerful form of friendship," Pony Falling Star replies.

"We all had trouble dealing with feeling doubted and like no one cared, but we were proven wrong and end up with lots of friends," Human Falling Star says.

"If there are two princesses in Equestria that can save a friendship, it's them," Human Twilight says with a calm smile.

Princess Twilight and Sun smile happily to hear about them having support from those who have been in Stygian's place.

"I... I want to believe you…" Stygian calmly says.

Suddenly, Stygian growls, and shouts in a deep voice, "But the darkness will not be stopped!"

Soon enough, Stygian changes back to the shadowy form and end up with the wings like the shadow. That causes the girls to fall on their back and flanks. The girls look to see Stygian is starting to struggle, and scream like he's in real pain.

"N-no… p-p-please… I-I don't want this!" Stygian screams as he struggles.

Sun and the others look to see Stygian's eyes begin to flash back and forth from the white abyss and his original eye color.

Stygian then reaches out to Sun with his hoof, as he struggles to say, "P-please… help me!"

Sun gaps, and spring to action. Sun grabs Stygian by the hoof and fly him and herself out of the shadow, and land on the ground in front of Starswirl. The shadow screams as Stygian and Sun leaves its' body. Princess Twilight and the others come after them. However, the shadow that is still has a hold on Stygian, is trouble to pull him back. Sun grabs hold of in, and refuse to let go.

Princess Twilight uses her magic to create a magical rope, and help pull Stygian,

Princess Twilight shouts, "Fight the darkness, Stygian! You don't need it anymore! Revenge isn't what you want! Friendship is!"

The shadow continues to growl in anger as he tries to take Stygian into his hold, But Sun and Princess Twilight refuse to let go. Sun doesn't notices, but her crown along with the geode and the choker's gem begins to glow

Sun screams, "Come on Stygian, think of the ponies who really care for you! You got to think of all the good times you had with Starswirl and the others! All the adventures! And all the fun!"

Human Twilight grabs hold to Stygian, and her geode necklace begins to glow to as she says, "And there will be more fun and friendship for you to enjoy!"

The Dazzlings also grab hold of Stygian, and their heart gems along with their geodes begin to glow too.

"She's right! Starswirl and the others realized their mistake and how wrong they were to treat you!" Adagio says.

"They never meant to cast you out, Stygian!" Sonata screams.

"You got to give them another chance," Aria shouts.

"You have to fight it!" Human Falling Star shouts, and her geode necklace begins to glow to.

The girls continue to pull Stygian out of the shadow, but it's not making it easy for them.

Starlight exclaim, "Girls!"

Starlight then uses her magic to create a rope tie it on Stygian's waist. Soon all of them begin to pull, hoping to break Stygian free.

"It's not working," Human Twilight screams.

"The shadow is refusing to let him go," Aria shouts.

Princess Twilight continues to struggle, "Ugh! The shadow won't let go of him. He wants to stop, but he can't do it alone."

"Then we must help him!" Starswirl says.

Soon, Starswirl and Sunburst use their magic to make magical ropes that tie around Stygian's waist. And the main five and the other pillars use the elements to create magical ropes to help set Stygian free. They all pull with full force as the Pony of Shadows scream in agony. As they pull, Stygian is starting to see that Starswirl and the others do care, and want to be friends with him. He then begin to think of all the good times, that he had with them, and wants to do more of it.

Just then, the choker begins to glow bright as Stygian is finally set free from the shadow. Sun, Human Twilight, Human Falling Star, The Dazzlings, Princess Twilight, and Starswirl begin to float up into the air. Sun who is holding Stygian looks at him with a smile. He smiles back at her. The choker comes off of Sun's back and back on to Stygian's neck where it belongs. Seeing the magic from the choker, Sun understands now what the spell Stygian tries to cast in the past has done.

Just then, Sun's element, geode, and Stygian's choker begins to glow. Human Twilight and Human Falling Star's geode glow, along with the Dazzlings geodes and heart gems. Soon the other elements and the artifacts begin to glow as well. At that moment, The human Twilight and Falling Star, and the Dazzlings pony up, and transform to the form they have taken back at Camp Everfree. Sun however ends up taking the form she has gain during the Friendship Games.

Twilight and her friends, along with the pillars are paired by their element and create a circle. Then Human Twilight, Falling Star, and the Dazzlings create and inner circle. Finally Sun and Stygian are in the very center.

Stunned the Pony of Shadows demands, "How is this possible?! The spell Stygian casted didn't work!"

"That's where you're wrong! The spell Stygian casted didn't coped the artifacts, it copied their magic and they absorbed into the gem without anyone noticing! With the elements, the artifacts, and the geodes, they are able to increase the most powerful magic of all!" Sun says.

Soon enough, the magic from the items sets into the middle, where Sun and Stygian focus their magical item together. Soon a powerful magic of rainbow colors hit the Pony of Shadows and sends him to limbo. Soon the portal to Limbo closes up, and unleashes a magical ray of rainbows into the sky, and disappears. The clouds disintegrated and the moon is shining at the village ruin.

Coming out of the hole is Sun who is still holding Stygian, and everyone and everypony float out of the hole by Sun's magic, and land on the ground.

"Yeah! Oh, it felt sooooo good to do that again!" Rainbow cheers in excitement.

"Friendship power rush! Whoo!" Pinkie happily cheers as well, jumping on to Rainbow Dash.

"Still, we did it! We really did it!" Human Twilight says in excitement.

"The Pony of Shadows will never bother anypony again," Pony Falling Star says.

Rarity looks on her neck to see her element, "The elements! They didn't disappear!"

"Maybe because we use their magic to healing magic instead of banishing," Fluttershy says.

"I have to agree," Human Falling Star says.

Sun look ahead to see Princess with Starswirl. Sun then takes Stygian to see Starswirl. Seeing Sun coming with Stygian, Princess Twilight steps back a little to give him and Stygian some space. Sun the puts Stygian on the ground on his hooves. The two look at each other, not saying a word.

Starswirl calmly says to Stygian in apologetic tone, "Long ago, you needed our help, Stygian. But instead of listening, we turned our backs on you. Pride clouded my judgment. I owe you an apology."

He then turns to Sun and Princess Twilight, and says, "Thank you for helping us see the errors of our ways, princesses. It seems I never accounted for the Magic of Friendship."

Twilight smiles, and says, Thank you, Swirlstar!"

But Twilight corrects herself, saying, "Uh, Star Swirl!" and her cheeks begin to blush.

Starlight comes to Starswirl as she clear throat, and says, "Soooo... apparently a conversation can save Equestria?"

Starswirl chuckles, and says, "Something tells me I will be making a lot of apologies today."