The True Shadow

by Blackdrag-rose

Finding Shadows

Shadow Equestria, the other side of the normal Equestria, was ruled by an alicorn mare known as Princess Darkstar, the Shadow of Princess Celestia. She ruled with an iron hoof until her defeat at the hooves of her Steward Reginald, who had never been truly loyal to her at all. She had returned to undeath by the dark arts of Thrack and had found an alicorn stallion by the name of Midnight guarding a place called the Nexus, but again she was defeated. Ultimately she was brought back by her faithful stallion Atar and she ended the undead threat by making their leader, Thrack herself, be eaten by her black flames.

Now the Dark Princess stared out of Shadowlot, the shadowy empire of Canterlot, and watched the ponies work and play as if she had never come back. Her sister, Nightmare Moon, had ruled by herself while she had waited for Darkstar to regenerate, raising both the sun and the moon alone. Truth be told Darkstar was actually proud of her younger sister and was absolutely confident that when she vanished from Shadow Equestria forever she could leave things in good hooves.

Darkstar knew that since the filly known as Sweetie Belle was still alive that meant her Shadow would eventually regenerate somewhere in Shadow Equestria. The good thing was that since Thrack was finally destroyed it meant that she would not be returning to seek revenge for a fourth time. Sweetie's Shadow could even be out there right now, searching for a way to get back to her friends, the Shadows of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. The three, at the time when Thrack was living in the normal Equestria, were known as the Shadow Mark Crusaders, or SMC on their capes.

Currently she had her guards, the lesser guards who were bored after the defeat of Thrack, search the Dark Realm for any mentions of a regenerated Shadow of Sweetie Belle. It was mostly to satisfy her need to know if Sweetie even had a Shadow anymore and if she did, how much of the past did she remember? Considering that she had cast Thrack into the bowels of the blackest flames it could possibly mean that the Shadow would be like Sweetie Belle, just without the nature to kill every living pony she came across.

Darkstar lifted her head as the doors to the throne room opened and her sister came walking into the room, still dressed up in her armor. Why she never took it off was a mystery that not even Darkstar could solve. Nightmare tilted her head to the side, her way of asking if the searches had uncovered anything new since the last time she had asked. Darkstar, as usual, would shake her head 'no' in reply and that would make the dark alicorn of the night sigh slightly before continuing onto another matter.

It was something they had been doing for the last few weeks and with nearly every inch of Shadow Equestria searched it seemed like Sweetie's Shadow was gone.

"The School of Shadows opens in a few days," Nightmare happily announced, trying to bring her sister out of what seemed like depression, "I have made arrangements with Princesses Luna and Celestia to include you in the list of teachers and a place for Sweetie's Shadow is open for when we do find her. I'm surprised that Atar hasn't found anything that might lead him to a newly regenerated Shadow yet."

Yeah, Darkstar had sent the Co-Captain of her personal guard out to search for the Shadow of Sweetie Belle since he seemed to be getting bored around the castle. It was her way of making sure that every possibility of finding the Shadow was used, but he hadn't discovered anything last time he reported in. Darkened Armor and Shadence, the Shadow couple of Shining Armor and Cadence, had reported nothing from the Crystal Empire. Not even the Shadows of King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis, and Discord could find a single trace of the Shadow she had been searching for.

"Sure, eventually," Darkstar said, her horn barely lighting up as she lowered the sun and her sister raised the moon, "I'm the freaking dark immortal Princess of Shadowlot, a feared alicorn in my own right, and yet here I am, searching for a Shadow who might not ever regenerate. Let's face it Nightmare, I don't think that the Shadow of Sweetie Belle will ever exist in our world again."

"Come on now, that's no way for the Princess of the Black Sun to talk," Nightmare countered, "Sure we can't find that poor Shadow right now, but that doesn't mean that she wont eventually regenerate on her own. Give it some time sister. We both know that when she regenerates the guards will come bursting through those doors to tell you the news of their discovery. You just have to be patient."

"Patience was never one of my strongest virtues," Darkstar admitted, getting off the throne so her sister could take over for the night, "besides, if they find something at this time of night I'm sure you could handle it."

A guard burst into the room and came to one knee before Darkstar, though she was surprised to see who it was. The red coat, horn, and the familiar lance on his back identified the stallion before he even had to speak his name.

"Atar, I was not expecting you to return for some time," Darkstar said, "What news do you bring with you?"

"She has been found at last Princess Darkstar," the stallion replied, "The Shadow of Sweetie Belle has finally regenerated at long last."

Nightmare leapt off the throne and landed by them, the news making her eager to meet the Shadow now. Darkstar was equally eager to meet the Shadow, but she had other questions.

"Where is she?" she asked Atar.

"Evilville," Atar answered, speaking the name of the Shadow Ponyville, "She was last seen with Apple Poison and Wreckaloo, the Shadows of her counterparts friends."

"Then to Evilville we must go," Nightmare exclaimed, receiving a nod from her sister, "Lead the way Atar."

Shadow Sparkle, the feared Element of Dark Magic, sighed as she watched the three fillies play around outside her library, unaware that she had sent a letter to Atar. She normally sent letters to Darkstar, but in the case she discovered the location of Sweetie Belle's Shadow she needed a way to get letters to Atar. Now she waited and watched, making sure that the three fillies had fun with Rend, the Shadow Spike, before the Princesses arrived. Her friends, the rest of the Elements of Chaos, waited on top of the other houses that gave them good view, or more of sitting in some of them since they didn't possess magic of their own.

Of course the two Princesses arrived moments later, with Atar at their backs. Shadow smiled and jumped out of the window, leaping from branch to branch until she was at the ground.

"Princess Darkstar, Princess Nightmare, Co-Captain Atar," she greeted, "I knew you would come with much haste after hearing about the discovery."

"Of course we would," Nightmare said, spotting the three fillies behind her, "and I am glad that we have managed to find her at long last."

"As am I," Shadow agreed, "but why go through the effort of finding her Princess Darkstar?"

"Truth be told I was worried that Thrack might return again," Darkstar admitted, "but even though this filly looks like she did I don't sense the same level of power within her. She is truly the Shadow of Sweetie Belle, not the monster that was feared in the normal realm. She will be joining her friends on the train to the School of Shadows soon."

"Hear that Bitter Belle?" Poison happily said, "Your coming with us to school soon. You'll get to meet your counterpart soon enough."

"This is going to be so awesome," Wreckaloo cheered, "the school will never withstand us."

"Shadow Mark Crusaders forever," Bitter added to the cheer.

"I shall write a letter to Princess Luna and inform her that the Crusaders will be joining their counterparts," Nightmare said, giving a small smile to the two mares next to her, "and hopefully she tells Sweetie that her counterpart has finally been located."

Darkstar nodded and watched the three fillies, wondering how they could be so normal when one of them wasn't even a normal pony anymore. Next to her Atar sighed and stared up at the moon, though she could tell he was wondering something as well. Whatever the case was Darkstar and Atar had planning to do before the School of Shadows opened in a weeks time. And when the school did open Darkstar would give it a lesson that nopony was ever going to forget.

Comments

[Melkor]

I donated to

and now I get 20 seconds of her voice acting. I don't know what I want though. Maybe I should...
Get to something relevant!
Fine. I just found out you have a new story! That makes this day that much better. Already 1:1 dislike/like ratio? Maybe it was that random passerby who dislikes everything.
Eat his soul?
Later.

[Blackdrag-rose]

2416881
Oh well. At least the story is up.
Yes, let's eat his soul
Ugh...not helping Darkstar

[Melkor]

2418308
This reminds me of my time spent in the "Shadow Academy"
You were there?
But of course. They tried to teach how the Dark Side was the best, but I never really bought into it. Grey is the most powerful alignment.
(Giant Star Wars reference)

[Blackdrag-rose]

2418594
Hahaha.
I hope this story turns out okay.

[Melkor]

2428552 me too.
Me three
Shut up Caboose.

[Blackdrag-rose]

2428610
More info on Darkstar, Atar, and the whole school.
Minds will be blown.
As long as i get to kill somepony I'm cool with this
Weird...

[Melkor]

2428639
You know, according to your canon Atar is a Timelord. You could "kill" him and bring in a "new" Atar. It would be legit. If you want me to explain I can do that tomorrow.

[Blackdrag-rose]

2428660
I know how they work. I meant i'd reveal a lot more on everypony. Though I would hate to kill off the current form of Atar. He's cool.