My Little Pony: The Shadow Games

by raven618

1:1 Twilight Sparkle

Friendship is Magic Part 1

Twilight Sparkle

Many years ago, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this the elder used her powerful unicorn magic to raise the glorious sun at dawn and bring daytime to all the land; while the younger sister brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom, and their subjects- all different types of ponies.

But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies loved and played in the beautiful day her sister brought forth, but they slept through her dark and dangerous nights. One fateful day, the younger sister refused to lower her moon to make way for the dawn. The wise elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one’s heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness, Nightmare Moon. She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night.

Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: The Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her evil sister, and banished her permanently to the moon. The elder sister took on the mantel for both the sun and moon, and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.

"...and moon, and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since." A young violet coated unicorn said as she finished reading the history book. Placing her hoof on the Unicornian drawing of the 'Elements of Harmony' she mumbled to herself. "Hm, Elements of Harmony. I know I've heard of those before... but where?"

This was Twilight Sparkle, daughter of Twilight Velvet and Night Light, a studious young Unicorn. Ever since she was accepted to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns eight years ago, she had earned top grades, passed every exam, and made exactly one friend in that time, her number 1 assistant Spike. There were a few other students she was familiar with, and they were perfectly willing to call her a friend; but Twilight was far from willing to do the same. Not because she didn't like them, she just didn't have time for friends or parties or 'hanging out'; she had studying to do. After all, in addition to being the top student at the school, she was also the Princess's personal student.

"There you are Twilight!" Twilight's walk back to the school's library was halted when three of her classmates: Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts and Minuette, suddenly blocked her path. "Moondancer is having a little get together in the west castle courtyard. Just a gift exchange, couple of card games, and some snacks. You want to come?"

"Oh, I'd love to girls, but I've got a lot of studying to catch up on."

"But, it's summer vacation." Minuet stated. Instead of responding, Twilight just quickly continued on her way.

"Gah! Does that pony do anything except study? I think she's more interested in books than friends."

"I know I've heard of The Elements of Harmony." Twilight repeated, returning her mindset to its studious nature, driving all thoughts of friends and card games from her brain. 'Stupid fad.' She thought to herself.

Passing a few other ponies, she came to the school's library, which was also her living quarters. Opening the door with her magic she rushed inside, calling for her assistant. "Spike! Spike!" A grunt drew her attention to the floor, where a purple scaled baby dragon with green spines was lying on the floor. "There you are. Quick! Find me our copy of Predictions and Prophecies." Taking a second look at her assistant revealed a yellow, something, impaled on his tail. "What's that thing?"

The dragon pulled the item off his tail using his claws, a feature Twilight had spent a good deal of time studying. "It was a gift for Moondancer but..." He paused when a busted stuffed bear fell out of what Twilight now realized was a box covered in wrapping paper.

"Spike, you know we don't have time for that sort of thing." She said, looking through a small stack of books.

"But we're on break." Spike complained.

"I know, but I'm not going to let some break stand in the way of my studying."

Spike wanted to point out that what she just said was backwards, but Twilight was now pulling random books off the bookshelf, completely forgetting about how she had organized them just last week. 'She must be really out of it.' he thought to himself. 'I'd better just get it for her.'

Twilight had several books floating around her in her magic now, none of them the one she was looking for. "Spike!"

"It's over here." Seeing the object of her desire she grabbed it her magic and pulled it to her. She let the other books out of her magic and brought the book to her reading desk.

"Elements, elements." Twilight muttered as she flipped through the book, "A-ha! Elements of Harmony." The entry in the book was unusually short, only one sentence long. "'See: Mare in the Moon.'?" Twilight began flipping back in the book until she came to the page with the information she was looking for.

"Mare in the Moon. Myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria. Defeated by the Elements of Harmony. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about night time eternal."

"Spike! Do you realize what this means?" There was no answer. "Spike?" She looked around the room, only to look out the window that was the back wall and see Spike out on the path, carrying his gift in his claws. Twilight sighed, Spike was her number one assistant, but sometimes his social tendencies were incredibly bothersome. She grabbed a scroll and quill from her desk and began writing a note to the Princess herself.

My Dearest Teacher,

My continuing studies of Pony magic have led me to discover that we are on the precipice of disaster. For you see, the mythical Mare in the Moon is in fact, Nightmare Moon, and she's about to return to Equestria, and bring with her eternal night. Something must be done to see that this terrible prophecy does not come true. I await your quick response.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle

Finishing the letter, she wound it up into a scroll, and sealed it. She then returned her saddle bags to her back, put the letter and the book in said bag, and set out after Spike. She could have delivered the letter to the Princess herself, but this was far too imperative. The Summer Sun Celebration, the longest day of the year, was tomorrow (or tonight, depending on how you looked at it) and it was the one thousandth Summer Sun Celebration. Meaning Nightmare Moon would return to Equestria in- Twilight quickly checked the sun- fourteen hours. Celestia needed to take immediate action, and Spike was the fastest delivery colt for the Princess around.

She arrived at the west castle courtyard. A table was set up with a wide assortment of different fruits and snacks. The three mares Twilight had passed earlier were standing around chatting with each other. Spike was handing his busted gift over to a cream coated mare, Moondancer, when he noticed Twilight trotting towards them.

"I thought you didn't have time for this sort of thing." Spike said sarcastically.

"I don't." Twilight said, trotting past a rather excited Moondancer who looked like she was about to greet her. "I'm here because you left, and I need you to send a letter to the Princess."

"Well as long as you are here, why don't you enjoy yourself." Moondancer asked. She was a very learned Unicorn, nearly as studious as Twilight, but was held back from her full potential because of her tendency to socialize. As a matter of fact, she and Twilight were very similar, they had the same straight hair style, and they both had a double streak running through their mane and tail. But while Twilight's were purple and magenta running through navy purple, Moondancer's were purple and lavender running through red. This similarity was probably because they happened to be third cousins; something Moondancer was very excited to find out while Twilight just ignored it.

"Thank you, but I expect to be too busy to stay long." She pulled the letter out of her saddlebag and gave it to the baby dragon. "Now send it Spike."

"Now?"

"Of course."

"Um, I don't know Twilight. Princess Celestia is really busy with the Summer Sun Celebration. And that's like, the day after tomorrow."

"Tonight actually." Minuet said trotting over, "Celestia is going to be raising the sun from Ponyville tonight."

"That's just it. Tonight is the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration, it's imperative the Princess is told right away!"

The other mares looked at each other, "About what year it is?"

"No. About-" Twilight stopped herself before she said more. She didn't want to start a panic before Nightmare Moon returned. "Look, it's just really important."

"Okay! Okay." Spike held up the letter and breathed an emerald green fire over it. The letter vanished and the smoke from the fire traveled off towards the castle. "There, it's on its way. But I wouldn't hold your breath."

"Oh, I'm not worried. The Princess trusts me completely. In all the years she's been my mentor she's never once doubted me."

Twilight was expecting to get a reply right away and was surprised when one didn't arrive.

"So," Moondancer asked, "are you two doing anything for the Celebration?"

"Not really." Spike answered.

"Well, if you get finished with your studies," Lemon Hearts put the term 'studies' in air quotes, "You could come down to Ponyville with the rest of us. You're invited too, Moondancer."

"Thanks."

"Ponyville..." muttered Twinkleshine, "I've never heard of that city."

"It actually a town, just a few miles south of here." Minuet answered the yellow mare. "You know Lyra Heartstrings? Green coat, kinda looks like me? That's her hometown."

"It was founded roughly a hundred years ago by Earth Ponies." Twilight surprised herself by actually joining the conversation, "It's a farming community, with a few private businesses and stores."

"It's also a hotspot for duelists." And just like that, what could have been an intelligent conversation about history and culture was train wrecked because of a card game. Thanks Minuet. "I hear someone in the town invented some kind of arena where the cards actually come to life."

Any further talk about that stupid card game was halted when Spike's cheeks suddenly expanded, and he belched up another tongue of green fire, which condensed into a scroll identical to the one Twilight had sent just a few moments ago. Spike went over to the snack table and grabbed a cupcake to get the taste of burned paper and fabric out of his mouth.

Twilight made to grab the scroll in her magic but was beaten to it by Twinkleshine. "My dearest and most faithful student, Twilight." She read in a mock imitation of the Princess's voice. "You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely." Twilight beamed with pride at the Princess's words, despite the overdone tone of the pony relaying them. "But you simply must stop reading those dusty old books."

For the first time in the life of Twilight Sparkle, her brain stopped working.

Comments

[Speculore]

So I'm guessing that the characters are still ponies and they play the game with their hooves?

[Darthvalgaav]

An interesting start. Would have liked to see more differences between this and the actual opening of the show however. I'll be on the lookout

9766665
I actually did a few stories were ponies dueled. I gave them duel vests like in GX since it felt like a more natural thing for them

[Queenofbloodandroses]

For the first time in the life of Twilight Sparkle, her brain stopped working.

Eventuly Twilight stoped thinking

[nightshroud96]

Pretty interested in the crossover.
Wonder how things go for Spike in this one? Hopefully he doesn't get left out big time or ending up in the girls' shadows there..

Wonder which summoning methods would be in here?