Shadow of the Past, Brought Forward Once More

by Super Ponyman

Chapter 1: Life After The Fall

Author's Note:

Whew Boy... I am rusty from being away for so long, but I’m trying to get back into writing.

The first part of this chapter is mostly just a recap of what happened in the time frame in between “The Black Sun.” And now. The later bit is an actual intro to our main character, Dusk Shine.

(Note: this is not a Burning Star Saga continuation. This is a side story from the previous entry. There will be mentions of him in this story, but no in person appearances.)

(Canterlot City, Main Street)

Canterlot City was a fairly large city. It was usually a petty quiet, occasionally a few crimes would happen, but nothing too dangerous that the C.C.P.D (Canterlot City Police Department) couldn’t handle...

That is, until Black Sun, the Armored Monster arrived... and everything went to hell in a handbasket really quickly. All of a sudden, large crimes were being committed by people who were motivated by Black Sun’s spread of fear to the citizens of Canterlot City

Eventually, the being known as Burning Star and his group of heroes emerged from Equestria... and attempted to resolve the issue.

Only to make the problem worse!

As the group were closing in on Black Sun’s identity, an impromptu betrayal by Burning Star’s former ally Prince Eclipsio forced the Alicorn of Fire to scramble together with the police in an attempt to stop the maniacal Alicorn from annihilating the city and eventually the planet.

In order to accomplish this, Prince Eclipsio needed power, both magic from this world and his In order to power his ultimate weapon, so he did something incredibly risky that had incredible ripple effects across the city, and eventually the world.

Using his unfathomable power, he forcefully awakened the arcane field that was the source of magic on Earth Alpha.

While it had its benifits to the everyday human, such as Granting those with connections to the field limited forms of Telekinesis and some telepathy.

It also brought along massive power struggles. The newly awakened Acanists, as they were called, used their newly acquired magic to start conflicts.

Regardless, His power forced Burning Star and his allies to confront Eclipsio and out a stop to his destruction. The Alicorn Of Fire eventually succeeded, but at a very great cost.

The pride of Canterlot City, the 80 story tall Canterlot Tower, was utterly destroyed by the resulting battle. Hundreds of lives were lost, and the surrounding area was reduced to a state of ground zero.

Canterlot has been wounded, and even after six months passing... no one had a clue as to how to cope with the fallout of the disaster that had become known as the “Battle Of Canterlot Tower.”

This battle eventually ended with one of the heroes sacrificing his life to destroy Eclipsio and save the city and the world respectively, he was mourned by his friends and family, obviously, finally being remembered by them after many years of obscurity.

Naturally, the police, especially the commissioner wanted Burning Star and his group to answer questions as to why they involved themselves in this.

Why did they arrive?

What possessed them to cause so much collateral damage to the city?

And most importantly, where did they come from?

Before any questions could be asked, Burning Star and his allies mysteriously vanished, leaving the city defenseless to the new assault from the Arcanists eager to tear society down in favor of one based on strength above all else.

This state Of defenselessness did not last long as another figure came out of the shadows to answer the growing crime problem. He was clad in white and gold armor that shined like a blazing star of Hope. He flew through the air and brought justice down on the wicked and evil criminals that dared to disrupt the peace.

most importantly, he wasn’t afraid to say that he stood for the people of Canterlot, even emblazoning the city’s coat of arms on his back as a sign of support for the city.

This being was Savior, the Defender of Peace and Prosperity. Savior had admitted to working against Black Sun and Eclipsio, however... he neither confirmed or denied any collusion with the destructive being called Burning Star.

Knowing that this was probably the most reliable answer, Canterlot went back to some semblance of normality, allowing Savior to act as their guardian until life could finally start making sense.

They memorialized the dead, and tried to move on. It was hard at first, the resulting dust and debris kicked up during the collapse of Canterlot Tower caused many problems.

Horrible terminal illnesses like Cancer and Multiple Sclerosis began to become more common. Obviously the cost of repairing and rebuilding buildings around the site was expensive, forcing a harsh increase in taxes. Savior supplied advanced technology in order to rebuild, but it was only a fraction of what they truly needed.

But the worst impact was the psychological damage done to the city.

The once peaceful city was reduced to a state of perpetual paranoia. While Savior’s appearance and the beefing up of the Police Force thanks to his technology provided some semblance of relief, there was no doubt that Canterlot was irreversibly scarred by the knowledge of magic, and its incredibly destructive applications. It was also adjusting to the introduction of magic and the arcane arts as a whole. The Arcanists that emerged stirred unrest, but they could quickly be put away by Savior and his wide variety of Anti-Magic technology.

But for some, life slowly went on. One such group that quickly adapted to it were the Rainbooms Of Canterlot High... who were currently sitting in the cafeteria of their newly built school building eating lunch.

During the few days before the “Battle at Canterlot Tower,” Black Sun had launched a massive assault against the school, assuming that the Rainbooms were there. Thankfully they were not, they were on a school trip to the Everfree Forest.

Black Sun had gained knowledge of this, and took off after them. This had led to the so called “Battle on Stardust Speedway,” where Burning Star and the still allied Prince Eclipsio fought hard against the monster. The mechanical being rained death upon them, but he was eventually forced to retreat.

(Canterlot High, Second Building Cafeteria)

But back to the Rainbooms. One member of the group was sitting uneasily. This was Twilight Sparkle, the human version often referred to as “Sci-Twi” as to not confuse her for the pony version that lived on Equestria.

She was currently in the middle of the newly opened Arcane Lab studying the forces of Magic with Sunset Shimmer, who since she was once a Unicorn, retained some Knowledge of arcane force from her home. Sci-Twi was also coming to terms with an... terrifying and interesting revelation of her own.

Because of the reawakening of the arcane field, her magic-powered megalomaniac persona known as Midnight also reappeared. Thankfully, she was much easier to control and Twi even began to test out transforming into her when more powerful magic was needed for her experiments.

It wasn’t easy, Midnights mind, maddened by both the new influx of magic from the arcane field on Earth Alpha and Twi’s own insecurities when it came to her truly incredible power were eating away at Twily slowly... and she feared that it was only a matter of time before she would transform and never revert back.

Rainbow Dash had gone back to the soccer team, albeit she was much more careful this time. Her encounter with Black Sun had left her legs in bad shape from the massive amount of magic being thrown around during the duel between Black Sun and Burning Star. Despite not being in combat directly, The concussive force alone badly damaged her body, forcing her into a six month Hiatus from all athletic activities.

Fluttershy was affected the worst, her injuries, both physical and psychological, were so severe that she had to be taken off world to Equestria Alpha to recieve medical treatment and therapy. After six months, She had not returned yet.

Applejack had retreated to her farm home for the semester, taking classes from there. Despite her love for her friends, protecting her family had become her number one priority, ever since Granny Smith had suddenly fallen ill with some terrible disease born of the lingering effects of the ancient magic Eclipsio unleashed upon the world.

Savior, who was once a master of the field of magic before his transformation into what he was now, had offered his knowledge on what afflicted AJ’s Granny. Eventually he diagnosed her with Arcane Poisoning. It would usually clear up, but it would be some time, and he did not know if her elderly body could take the immense stress that Arcane poisoning would place upon her body.

Rarity had buried herself in her job as a seamstress, in her role as a student, and anything else she could do. She was working herself ragged, trying desperately to keep busy. The conflict had left her shaken, as her own home in the Canterlot Tower apartment complexes had been obliterated in the battle. She was currently staying with Pinkie until her home had either been rebuilt, or at least she could find another home.

Despite her looks, Rarity had not gotten any new male crushes as of late. Most of the boys in Canterlot High seemed to avoid the Rainbooms like the plague, mostly out of fear for their own safety.

Not that the Rainbooms would hurt them, but out of fear that another horrible monster would arrive and they would fin themselves in the crossfire again.

Pinkie appeared to take the massive upheaval well, but she was hurting deep down. Eclipsio’s rage and seemingly callous demeanor when taking lives disturbed her on a personal level. She deliberated on and off with herself on why he did what he did, even asking Savior for advice, but the answer was always the same.

”Eclipsio used us Pinkie. He fueled his rage with our misplaced trust in him and he used it against us. It wasn’t personal towards us, to him we were just obstacles that needed to be removed. Nothing more.”

Out of all of the Rainbooms, Sunset Shimmer took it the hardest. Partially because she had some unspoken affection for the one that sacrificed himself... and partially because on some level, she understood the Prince’s grudge.

When she first arrived on Earth from her Equestria, she saw how naive people were. She exploited it and she LOVED IT. In a way, she was very similar to Eclipsio. The Prince had even sought her for counseling, he was intrigued by her.

Despite the similarities, she stopped at the idea of taking another’s life, even in the presence of a feeling of revenge. She also felt deeply disturbed by the Prince of Eclipses curiosity, borderline obsession with previously repugnant personality and her Arc Daemon form she took on when she donned the Element of Magic a few years ago...

She understood why, as she eventually learned that Eclipsio was a daemon prince in disguise as an Alicorn. He must have seen some sort of dark kinship between her and him. Either that or some sort of twisted attraction towards her Daemon form.

Both ideas were already spine-chilling enough on their own, but the fact that Eclipsio even confronted her post-betrayal to offer her immortality if she stood alongside him as he annihilated mankind made her sick.

Her personal analysis of Eclipsio in that moment and post-Canterlot Tower battle is that the Prince had a dangerous god-complex. He believed that morals and human laws were beneath him. That humanity would either submit to him or die.

There was no other choice in his mind. After all... he was Prince Eclipsio, Swallower of the Sun and Moon and self proclaimed “Dark God of Destruction.”

What were morals to a god? They were inconsequential, useless.

She was thankful that he was stopped and presumably gone for good as far as she knew, but she still had a feeling he would be back... someone like him wouldn’t be gone for long.

At least if pop culture had taught her anything, no good villain ever stays dead. Despite her despising thinking this, she did hope he would stay dead, and hopefully forgotten.

Currently, Sunset was walking home from her new job as secretary to Twilights Brother and Chief of Police, Shining Armor.

He had insisted unexpectedly for her to be assigned to his personal entourage, along with Savior, as she had the direct connection to the armored guardian.

Sunset was surprised by the offer, while she had an interest in law enforcement, especially after seeing Burning Star and his allies coordinating with the CCPF, she never expected to get a job in one until she passed college.

But regardless, Sunset was walking home when she spotted Twi walking towards her, the spellbooks Sunset gave her in hand. One was being levitated in front of her face with her magic, pages turning slowly.

She stopped in front of her and said, “Hey Twi. Still reading up on those spell books I gave you?”

Twilight looked up from her book and replied, “Of course. These spells are incredible, Sunset! How have i not figured out these incantations until now? I’ve already figured out how to preform prolonged telekinesis as you can see.”

“I can see that, Twilight. But don’t you think you should give it a rest for a bit? I mean you’re reading while walking, what happens if you bump into someone?” Replied the red-headed girl.

Twilight was too busy reading to respond, silently mouthing the names of spells that Sunset had learned years ago.

Sunset looked at Twilight with a worried look, as much as she admired her for her passion in learning magic, Twi was far too engrossed in it.

If anything, she needed to pace herself, last she let the power go to her head like during the Friendship Games.

Twilight eventually snapped the book shut and said, “Sunset. I can’t thank you enough for you lending me these. I’ve learned more in the past six months than my entire school life studying magical forces.”

Sunset shrugged, “Cool, I guess. But seriously, Twi. Don’t read and walk, you could trip and fall.”

Twilight nodded as she responded with a sheepish grin on her face, “R-Right. Sorry. I just get so engrossed in this book sometimes that I can’t put it down until I have memorized a chapter beginning to end.”

The Purple-haired girl waved goodbye and crossed the street towards the bus stop. Leaving Sunset to walk up her front years pathway to her newly renovated house.

In the six months that had passed since the crisis that shook the city, Savior had established his base of operations underneath Sunset’s home, as it was still filled with the advanced computers and tech that Frostclaw had stolen from the government. Strangely, they still hadn’t come looking for it...

”Wonder what’s taking so long? Frostclaw wasn’t exactly subtle with his theft from what I heard.” Sunset wondered as she opened the door and was greeted by the smell of burning meat and a beeping smoke alarm.

“Great. Savior is trying to cook again. I should probably teach him how soon, I still can’t believe he doesn’t know how to cook... you’d think with all that advanced technology he’d at least search how to cook...” She groaned under her breath.

(Cnaterlot Suburbs, Twilights Home)

In contrast to Sunset, who preferred to be closer to the main city of Canterlot, Twilight’s home was picked specifically by her as far away from the city as she could get without getting out of the bus line’s route. She needed peace and quiet in order to study and experiment with the arcane arts, and doing that in a heavily populated area was dangerous.

It was a squat little home of only two stories, lying on a wide and tall hill. it was made of dark red bricks and brownstone and covered in moss that had to have grown over the course of several years. It had no garage, instead it had a large basement with several sub areas that extended throughout the inside of the hill. She had dug our these rooms using an excavation spell.

She opened the door and walked up the stairs to Her bedroom. Once she was there she plopped down on her soft bed, Leaned back against her pillow and took out the spell book again, resuming the chapter on Arcane Shields.

She was just about to finish a page when a loud banging came from her front door. She closed her book with a sigh and began plodding down the steps.

The banging got louder and a male voice pretty much shouted from the other side of the door. “TWILIGHT! Open this door, I’ve been out here for an hour!”

Sighing, Twilight opened the door to find a very familiar face in front of her.

It was her cousin on her Father’s side and Crystal Prep Alumni, Dusk Shine.

Like Twilight, Dusk had purple hair that was often styled straight order to make it more manageable. However, while Twilight often had it tied up in a ponytail that hung behind her, Dusk tied the rest of his hair up with bindings, forming a dark purple top-knot. He also had shiny black streaks replacing Twilights normally Pink streaks, And his eyes were much deeper colored, almost looking indigo instead of Twi’s purple eyes. While Twilight was only 16, Dusk was several years older than her, being 20 going on 21.

He wore a purple T-shirt and grey sweater over it, complimented by navy blue jeans and dark sneakers. His t shirt also had a 8 pointed dark blue Star on it as opposed to Twi’s Purple six pointed star that she had patched on her school dress.

“Hi Dusky, what are you doing here a day early?” Twilight greeted him, surprised by his arrival and slightly unnerved by the glare she was receiving from him.

Dusk huffed, “I caught an early train from my university out of the city. I then got a cab and got caught in traffic with quite possibly the most infuriating driver I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting. I’m tired, hungry, and I want to go to bed.”

He realized he was glaring and softened his gaze, letting his cousin relax a bit. “Erm, sorry. Was letting my temper flare a bit.”

Dusk walked past Twilight and hauled his suitcase in with his arms. It screeched along the floor before Twilight picked it up with her telekinesis.

Dusk noticed his bags floating and yanked them out of her power saying, “I don’t need your magic to help move my stuff. Sometimes a good bit of brute strength is needed.”

He scraped his bags across the hall and began taking them upstairs. Twilight followed him up to her guest room she had for when one of her friends was over for overnight studies.

He spoke down to her from the top of the stairs in an exasperating voice. “Besides, you rely too heavily on your magic, Cousin. I’d get out and build your body up a bit. Besides, Technology has the edge over magic.”

Twilight lowered her eyebrows in exasperation and she pinched the bridge of her nose, “Dusk. I get that we haven’t seen eye to eye when it comes to the whole technology vs magic debacle, but you could at least take the help when I offer it.”

Dusk Shine rolled his eyes, “I get that. But I’m not the type of person who relies on others to do my own work. Plus, your recent track record of keeping problems of a magical nature under control is pretty crappy right now. Considering the whole fiasco surrounding some guy called Burning Star.”

Twilight arched an eyebrow and asked her cousin, “Wait, why do you want to know about Burning Star?”

Dusk pulled out a calling card and answered back, “Because I’m doing an investigation into him, Cousin. Burning Star was a strange and overwhelmingly powerful being, whose mere presence seemed to warp the fragile fabric of the universe. Whoever he was or is, I want to find out.”

Twilight helped take Dusk’s laptop out and plugged it in before saying, “And what were you looking to find out about him? I had meant him a couple times during his time here fighting that monster called Black Sun. Maybe I could tell you some stuff about him that I observed?”

Dusk’s eyes practically lit up as he opened his laptop and brought up his digital notepad

“Yes I would like to hear what you thought of him. Try to tell me as much as you can about him. What did you observe? How strong was he?” He said, fingers eagerly hammering away at the keys.

Twilight laid down on Dusk’s bed and put her chin on her fist saying, “From what I could gather, Burning Star’s attitude was... intense to say lightly. Other than Rainbow Dash, who probably beats him in sheer competitive spirit, Burning Star was passionate and determined, but still rather melancholy. He seemed to be very aware of the soreness of the problem at hand and judging from what Sunset told me about him, he had been dealing with some personal issues for a while.”

Dusk typed away in silence before asking another question, “Ok, cool. How about his powers? You see anything that really that was astonishing or beyond belief?”

Twilight nodded, “I don’t think much he did was able to be believed by normal people, even I was having trouble grasping the sheer volume of magic that was flowing from him in his fight with Eclipsio. However, his spells were very uncreative and purposeful in use, since he mostly was using combat magic. He could blast fireballs, summon small meteor fragments, fly. Very basic abilities to me, at least. While he certainly had the power to even surpass me, he has very little skill in spellweaving anything truly advanced or even using magic as a utility outside of combat. I rarely saw him use anything beyond simple telekinesis to catch his weapon and pull it towards him.”

Dusk finished typing for a moment and asked, “Why do you think that was exactly?”

Twilight shrugged her shoulders, “I’m not entirely sure. But judging from what I could observe, whoever trained him, trained him specifically and entirely for combat in Magic, he also seemed to have advanced hand to hand combat techniques, probably as backup against non-magic opponents or when magic isn’t a safe option. In short, He is a warrior, not a thinker. I’m not saying he is unintelligent, but he clearly runs more on instincts than thought. Makes him predictable, but you shouldn’t underestimate that.”

Dusk clicked his laptops trackpad and saved his document before saying to his cousin, “Ok that’s enough for today. I think I have enough information to start my analysis of Burning Star.”

He motioned for Twilight to leave the room as he said, “Right now I’m just really tired from the train ride and the cab ride, I’ll see you in the morning Twilight.”

With that he shut the door and Twilight heard the sound of Dusk flopping onto the bed.

Twilight replied, “Ok. See you tomorrow Dusk. Love you.”

Twilight walked into her room and closed her door before she began to get undressed and changed into her pajamas.

”I didn’t think Dusk would be here till tomorrow. Wonder why he is really here? Can’t be just because of some Fire-clad Equestrian showing up a while ago? Twilight thought to herself as she laid down.

She closed her eyes and thought to herself, Whatever he’s after, I’m sure it isn’t that big a deal. With Savior flying around, we really don’t have that big of a risk of him getting jumped.”

She sighed to herself, ”My cousin may be smart and good at a great many things, but good at magic is not one of them...”

With that she fell asleep in her soft bed, letting the cool air and hum from her air conditioner put her to sleep.