> Friend from the shadows
>  by Pr1deM0rn1ngstar
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> stranger in the shadows
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Sunset walked home from the Fall Formal, she reflected on her actions. In a matter of hours, five long years of work had gone up in literal smoke. She would have laughed if not for the searing pain in her back where her demon wings had been. As she walked, the cold wind blew past, making her shiver as the cold of Autumn bit through her practically destroyed leather jacket. As she walked, she was suddenly pulled from her thoughts as a set of hands pulled her into a dark alleyway. As she turned around to see who had grabbed her, she met with two bullies who had ruled the school before Sunset came into power.

"Well, well, well." Cackled Gilda Griffin, a powerfully built woman with a bad attitude, rivaled only by her extremely short temper. 

"If it isn't little Ms. Demon herself."  Standing behind Gilda was a much shorter and leaner girl, with more of a runner's body, compared to the Amazon of a woman in front. This girl's name was Lightning Dust, co-caption of the school's soccer team and a fierce rival of Rainbow Dash. 

Sunset looked at the two in mild annoyance. "What do you want?" She asked as she looked around her for anyone passing by. Gilda grinned as she looked at her prey like a jungle cat eyeing a wounded animal. "Let's see what I want?" Gilda said, giving a thoughtful look mockingly. "I think I want what should have been mine all along."

With a snap of Gilda's fingers, Lightning grabbed Sunset's arms, pinning them behind her. As her arms twisted, Lightning slammed her elbows into her lower back, barely missing the raw wounds. "It's payback time, She-demon!" she cackled, raising her fist in preparation for a strike. Sunset shut her eyes, waiting for the hit to land, only to hear a sound she thought she would never hear in this town. Her ears were picking up the sound of a wolf followed by the cracking of whips. With the punch not coming and her curiosity winning over her instincts, Sunset peeked one eye open only to gasp at the sight before her.

When Sunset looked again, she saw Gilda and Lightning, tied down by what looked like oily black wisps of smoke, come to life. They had been surrounded by a pack of massive black wolves that looked like they had just crawled out of the dark shadows, dripping off them with each flex of their powerful muscles. As she watched, one of them twitched more than the others. This one seemed twice as big as the rest of the pack, as they were the same size as a Timberwolf from Equestria. The alpha began to change shape. He started to take the form of a young man no older than Sunset, wearing a pure black cloak that seemed to suck up the darkness around him, wolf ears poking out the top of his upturned hood. 

He then kneeled to be in direct eyesight with Gilda and Lightning. He then said in a dark and sinister voice: "I will let you two off easy this time, but if you try a stunt like this again," he then posed as he lifted the tip of his hood to give them a direct look at his face, "I will show no MERCY." From where they were looking, a toxic green light appeared in the exact spot where his eyes would be as he growled out the last word in the most blood-curdling growl she had ever heard. 

With that, he lowered his hood and continued to look at Gilda and Lightning. "Do I make myself clear?" he asked as the two would-be muggers gulped and nodded. He stood, never breaking eye contact with the two, "excellent, now beat it." he muttered to them as he flicked his wrist, causing the shadows binding the two to jolt like strings controlled by a puppet master. His arms gestured to the entrance to the ally, and the shadow strings dragged them screaming out into the open street, stopping at a street light as they crashed right on top of each other. Sunset, finally realizing she was safe, collapsed onto the cold asphalt, the adrenalin running out of her system. He must have heard her fall because he turned her way, kneeling next to her, to assess her well-being.

"You are safe, now, young one," he said in a tone surprisingly gentle after distilling so much fear into Gilda and Lightning, "what's your name?" Sunset, beginning to become light-headed, reached up to her savior's hood. He seemed to understand the request as he pulled down his hood. Sunset's eyes widened at the sight she was seeing. Her savior had toxic-green eyes that seemed to glow in the dark alleyway surrounding them, his skin as white as fallen snow, and hair that blended into the shadows of the ally perfectly. He had a scar in the exact shape of dragon claw marks over his left eye, yet he seemed to be able to see fine. His mouth had two fangs sticking out where the human canines would be. His ears weren't at the side of his head but at the top like a wolf. "I'm Sunset Shimmer," she muttered, her eyes growing heavy. "Sunset," he said calmly, "I need you to stay awake."  Sunset, not wanting to stay awake, did as was instructed. "Now, can you tell me where you're bleeding from?" he asked in a more serious tone. "My back," she said, still struggling to keep her eyes open. He nodded as he reached for her shoulders. "I'm going to turn you over to get a better look," he said as if to ask her permission. Sunset nodded, though if she understood or if she was giving consent, it was unclear.

He nodded, taking it as consent. "This is going to hurt a bit," he said, getting ready to turn Sunset onto her front. "on three." Sunset became more delirious as she nodded again, bracing herself for the pain. "One, two, Three." He counted and then turned her over as she winced in pain. From there, she felt a cooling sensation as if he were taking away the hot pain from her back. As the blood began to subside, Sunset couldn't stay awake any longer. Her eyes began to grow heavier and heavier. The last thing she heard before she became unconscious was, "Don't worry, my dear. I shall take care of you."





Sunset awoke to a warm, plush pillow under her head and a warm blanket over her body, the sun shining its warm, bright glow on her face. She smiled at the feeling that made her feel like she was back home. Princess Celestia must be starting her day by now. Better get my assignments from her done, she thought as she stretched out her fingers. Her eyes snapped open, realizing she wasn't in Equestria, the memories from last night flooding back to her. She gingerly sat up, ascertaining her surroundings and her state of being.

Sunset looked around, finding herself in a very spacious bedroom. The bed she was on was in a loft that faced a large, grand window with a beautiful view of the rising sun. The blanket she was under had a strange icon that looked like a cutie mark but not like one she had ever seen. Sunset looked down at her cloaths and found herself in a set that was not her own; they were a plain black T-shirt that was at least two sizes too big for her, a pair of black shorts with the same icon as the blanket on both hips as if it were a cutie mark. She noticed her back didn't hurt as it did last night but still felt tender. Looking under the shirt, she blushed as she saw that her bra was missing in its place and was gauze wrapped around her chest, going down to her waist.

She climbed out of bed as quietly as possible, not to alert whoever had brought her into the room that she was awake. Sunset crept down the stairs to the loft and out the door leading to the bedroom. As she walked into the hallway, she followed her nose to the distinct smell of coffee. She continued following the sent as it seemed to lead her to what appeared to be a dining room. 

Sunset stood in front of a beautiful table that looked like solid oak. On the table set a feast of toast, eggs, yogurt, mixed fruit, and a fresh steaming hot cup of coffee. She stood there salivating, unsure if she should dig in or not. "Are you going to eat, or are you going to stand there drooling?" a voice behind her asked. Sunset jumped in alarm at the sudden noise. Standing behind her was the boy from last night. He had changed his wardrobe to be almost like what Sunset was wearing. He wore a black T-shirt that depicted a stary night with wolf silhouettes howling under a full moon as its light shined down on them. He had black jeans with a leather belt with the same icon as on her shorts on the buckle. Around his neck was a silver necklace with a crescent moon hanging from the chain. His hair was combed out of his face, revealing that his eyes, which were once toxic green and now arctic blue, looked like he had seen far more than his age had let on.

Sunset sat down at the table, her savior, sitting in front of her, pouring himself a cup of coffee. She stared at him as if to try to figure him out. He looked up from his cup and chuckled. "I do apologize for the wardrobe change," he said with an easy-going smile. "your old cloaths are being cleaned and repaired as we speak." Sunset looked down at her food and started to eat. "Why did you save me last night," she muttered. "and who exactly are you?" his eyes widened as if he had just realized that he had not introduced himself. "Oh, I beg your pardon. Where are my manners?" he said. "My name is Moon Shadow, but please, call me Shadow." 


Sunset nodded as she continued eating her breakfast. Shadow took a long drink of his coffee and cleared his throat. "Now I believe we have some things to discuss," he said, suddenly all business. "the first thing I suppose I should tell you is that those are some of my old clothes, and yours are in the wash then shall be repaired." Sunset choked on her food at this revelation, even if she had speculated that bit for herself. Somehow, hearing it confirmed only made it more awkward. "The reasons behind that are because I needed to bandage up your back, and I didn't want blood all over my sheets. That's all I did, Sunset, of that, I assure you." Sunset nodded, deciding to believe him for now. She took a long, slow drink of her coffee, savoring the flavor as it warmed her body and woke her system up. "Besides, I couldn't heal in one go." he added to clarify what had happened. "dark magic is tricky enough to heal on its own, even if I wasn't rusty at healing magic," he muttered to himself. Sunset's eyes widened as she spat her coffee.

"How do you know about magic!?" she shrieked in alarm. Shadow wiped off his face as if not faced by the scolding hot liquid. He looked at Sunset and raised an eyebrow. "Do you honestly think this dimension has never had magic before?" he asked with a sarcastic grin. "and before you get your tail in a knot, yes, I am fully aware you are not from this dimension. Your magic circuits can tell me that for themselves, my little equine friend." Sunset began to panic as she put her coffee cup down with shaky hands. "So you're telling me that this dimension had magic in it this whole time?" she asked, shaking her head as if struggling to wrap her head around that. "Yep, the only reason others haven't used magic in reason times is that the lay lines in the earth are overused to the point where they are more like shrunken arteries," he said, drinking his coffee so that there was only a little bit left in his cup. "now the lay lines look about like this." He showed Sunset his cup to see the barely noticeable amount left inside.

Sunset, beginning to feel like she was back in Celestia's school for gifted unicorns, nodded as she held onto every word. "Now, after that blast of magic from last night," Shadow continued as he poured more coffee into his cup. "I theorize that super blast of magic was like a shot of adrenalin right to the cardiac arteries." Sunset remained quiet, thinking about the information she had handed. "So you're saying, this whole time, I could have used magic, just not as powerfully?" she asked in exasperation. Shadow pursed his lips, thinking about how best to answer that. "Well, not exactly," he said hesitantly, "the best way to answer that is like this." he sighed, feeling like this was going to be a long-winded lecture. "When I said that, I could tell that you were from a different dimension by your magic circuits because they are wired differently from any other living creature from this dimension." he continued, taking another drink from his cup. "To put it bluntly, it would be like trying to wire something for AC compatibility to something for DC compatibility." 

Sunset was unsure if she should be relieved that she couldn't use magic in this dimension after last night's incident or be sad that for the next two and a half years without her magic, if she decided to stay at all. Shadow seemed to have another theory brewing as he did some math quietly. "Care to share your theory with the class, Shadow?" Sunset asked, knowing the look of a thought brewing. Shadow's eyebrows scrunched together in concentration. "Well, it's less of a theory and more of a hypothesis."  He said, finishing up his thought process. Sunset waved her hand in a "go on" gesture. "I hypothesize," he began, "that the amount of magic you blasted this dimension with would have not only filled back up the lay lines but would have made it so only people with your specific magic circuitry can use it." To prove his point, he drained the rest of his coffee and refilled it with the creamer that happened to be sitting behind the coffee pot.

Sunset looked at him like he had given her the most precious gift possible. "So I could use magic even here?" she asked like a filly on hearth's warming eve. Shadow sighed as if he knew what he had to say next would not be pleasant for her to hear. "In a way," he began, "yes, I suppose you could." Sunset's eyes widened with pure delight at using her magic again under her control this time. "However, I would advise against using your magic until you get yourself resituated," he warned hesitantly. "whoever shot that big blast of light magic to try to purify all the dark magic in your system did a half-assed job." He grabbed the coffee pot and prepared for another visual demonstration.

"If you tried using your magic now," Shadow said, gesturing to the coffee pot. "you would tear yourself apart from the inside out." Sunset didn't need him to elaborate, knowing what would happen if the two mixed. "Let me guess," Sunset sighed, "if I tried it now, the light and dark magic would fight for control and tear me apart in the process." Shadow nodded, stirring the contents of his cup into the coffee pot and stirring the two together until it turned white. "I would advise against using magic until one or the other works its way out of your system," He said, looking Sunset right in the eye. "Which set of magic you want out of your system is entirely up to you." Sunset jolted, unsure how to respond to react to that. Shadow sighed, "Look, I'm not some Saturday morning kid's show cartoon character, and I'm not your conscience, given human form because of a mental breakdown. Though if you want to be known as a selfish ambushes monster for the rest of your life, fine, that's all on you." He paused, looking at Sunset, his hands clasped together. "If you want to change for the better, I recommend keeping the light magic in your system; the choice is yours."
> The choices we make
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday afternoon, Sunset found herself outside Canterlot High, next to a large pile of bricks. Sunset was to be the construction crew's gopher for the time it took to rebuild the front of the school. She was thankful she didn't need to fill the big hole in the school's walkway. Over the weekend, they found it filled up overnight. 

Sunset was glad she didn't have to deal with the girls. Seeing them after years of tormenting them made her feel acquired. The whole school may hate me. she thought. But I don't have to deal with them for the next month. Sunset sighed as she placed another brick onto the rapidly growing pile. While Sunset continued working, she thought about last weekend's talk with Shadow.

FLASHBACK

"So let me get this straight," Sunset said after learning that she might be able to use magic again. "with this world filled with magic, I could use it again?" After all these years with no magic, she was eager to use magic. This time, she promised herself to use it for good reasons. 

"Again, yes, you might be able to use magic," Shadow explained exhaustedly, "but even if you could, you should wait until there is either one or the other type of magic in your system." Shadow felt this was the hundredth time, explaining that in the last five minutes alone. He paused, thinking about the amount of magic put back into the Earth. "There is one other thing I should point out," he said, his fingers folded together. "with the magic being indigenous to your world, only people who have their magic circuits wired for it should be able to use said magic."

Sunset raised an eyebrow at this news. "So I'm the only one who should be able to use magic here?" she asked, feeling mixed emotions. One felt relieved that her mistake didn't cause too much damage, and the other felt anxious at the fact if she did decide to go dark, she would have no one to stop her.

Shadow pursed his lips, mulling over his thoughts. "Yes, you could say that, provided nobody got exposed to either magic hand and had drastic changes done to their bodies in the process." Shadow rolled his eyes, snorting at the idea. "I highly doubt someone would do that on purpose." he chuckled, doubting that anyone would do that. To do so would be the same as shooting off a flare, pointing down at Canterlot High, then having a big neon sign saying: "I'm not from this world, and potentially dangerous. Please come and lock me up or dissect me."

Sunset's eyes widened at the idea. "Yeah," she chuckled nervously, "who would be stupid enough to do that while corrupted by dark magic?" Shadow raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh okay," she said, "so I might have used magic to turn my two underlings into demons in my army... of zombie teenagers." Shadow, for his part, showed great restraint, not yelling at the bacon-haired girl as he massaged his forehead.

"I swear kids these days have no common sense at all." He muttered in irritation. Sunset looked down in shame as she saw the folly of her actions, being mad with power or otherwise. "Aside from them, as long as nobody else had their bodies changed to fit with the magic circuits meant for your dimension, nobody else should be able to use the magic from your world."

"So the students I brainwashed wouldn't have magic being as it was just brain control, and my underlings wouldn't being as they had humanoid forms when they transformed." She thought out loud, diving deeper into thought. If those two didn't show pony features, they couldn't do magic, but the only ones that did besides me would be oh great, those five still have powers. The realization was like a shock to her system. She felt irritated that they would still hold magic but have no idea how to use it and released that if she started to stray, she would have someone to stop her before Sunset did something she couldn't turn back from, but still knowing that made one thing clear.

They are going to get us all caught and exposed to the authorities.

Flashback End

Sunset continued her work, unaware of someone walking up behind her. When she turned around, she saw Vice Principal Luna staring at her, her arms crossed. She stared at Sunset, a look of disdain on her face. "My sister wishes to speak with you and your parents, Miss. Shimmer." She said with a sour expression. "If you ask me, she's only delaying the inevitable. We should have washed our hands of you when you showed us who and what you are."

Sunset sighed, thinking the same thing. She made her way toward Principal Celestia's office only to pose when she saw the shadows behind Luna waver as if something was swimming in them. From the shadows came the face of Moon Shadow as he surfaced up to his hips, staring at Sunset with a mischievous look. She was about to ask him what he was doing when he made an "Shhh" gesture, sinking back into the shadows. The shadows that he was in reached out and attached themselves to the dark patch at Luna's feet. Luna started walking behind Sunset, the dark mass at her feet moving to always stay behind her.

When they entered Principal Celestia's office, they found said Principal sitting behind her desk with a mountain of files on each side of her desk. One particular file had its contents practically spilling out of it. Principal Celestia looked up from her paperwork, seeing the duo standing at the door, unaware of the secret straggler hiding under her sister's feet. "Ah, Sunset Shimmer, come in and have a seat," Celestia said, gesturing to the chair on the other side of her desk. Before Sunset could move to the chair, a black tendril extended from Luna, connecting to the darkness behind that had been cast out the door by the afternoon light streaming through the open window.

Sunset sat in the offered chair as Luna closed the blinds, drastically darkening the usually bright and sunny office. "Now, Sunset, the main reason I had you brought into my office while you were working is to discuss some important matters regarding the matters of last and the paperwork you submitted for inrolling into the school in the first place." Celestia opened Sunset's file, showing her the contents inside. "The address you filled out is in the middle of a lake, the phone number you added doesn't exist, and your parents' names are fake," Celestia said, pulling out Sunset's student transcript. "that alone should get you expelled from school, the rest of your file is just the icing on the cake. Vandalism, extortion, blackmail, various forms of bullying, and more, according to your peers, as the day goes by." Celestia sighed, picking out every piece of information about Sunset's misdeeds in middle school, detailed by the entire student body and most of the staff of Canterlot High. "Now, I'm afraid I have no choice but to expel you." Sunset looked down at her feet, expecting her punishment and wondering if it would have been better to have just left through the portal when she had the chance

Shadow took that as his cue to make himself known. He rose from the darkness next to the door, wearing a beige overcoat, white undershirt, dress pants, white socks, brown necktie, and beige shoes. Shadow brushed his black hair so it would have a slicked-back hairstyle. He stood tall like a lawyer about to take the stand and cleared his throat, getting the attention of the people in the room. "I object to those outrageous statements, your honor," he said in a thick southern accent. "sounds to me like what we have here is a failure to communicate." He chuckled, putting his fingers to his Addams apple, clearing his throat again. "Sorry, I always wanted to do that." He said, in his normal voice.

Sunset stared at him in disbelief, trying to figure out how he could do these things despite not being as good at magic as herself. Celestia and Luna looked at him in confusion as he took a seat next to Sunset while she continued to look at him in fascination. "Principal Celestia, Vice Principal Luna," he said, nodding to the two principals. "allow me to introduce myself. I am the new superintendent: Moon Shadow." He held up his hand to stop any other questions. "I'm the new superintendent because Chanser Neighsay had to retire early. He was, shall we say, "active" in his ethnic opinions." He folded his fingers as he got down to business. "Now, I'm here because I have heard about Sunset Shimmer, so I came to see if the legends are true." Shadow looked at Sunset as if it were the first time they had met, giving her a wink to play along. Shadow turned to face his hosts as he placed his hands on the desk. "Before we get down to the nitty-gritty stuff, I request that I be called just Shadow. I'm not big on formalities."

Celestia blinked, clearly confused by everything going on. "As I was saying, er, Shadow? After Sunset's actions last Friday alone, we have no choice but to expel her and hope she finds another school to attend." Celestia looked down at her lap as if she did feel bad for the girl. "It would be such a shame to waste such a brilliant mind as hers'."

Shadow grinned as he stood up. "Then it's a good thing I'm here." Shadow began to pace as he wrung his hands together. "You see, it has come to my attention that Miss. Shimmer here is brilliant, but her psychological mind is a bit unstable due to some, shall we say, moral issues." He stopped pacing to face the two with a bow. "So, for the foreseeable future, she is my responsibility as a student and as my ward and shall stay a student with mandatory psychologist appointments done by yours truly. I am certified for such a position, after all."

Before Celestia could respond, her door practically got blown off its hinges. From the door came five girls. Front and center was a girl with rainbow-colored hair and blue skin, wearing a white T-shirt with a rainbow-colored lightning bolt. "Principal Celestia, you can't kick Sunset out!" she yelled, running to the Principal's desk. 

Celestia sighed, knowing the rainbow-haired girl had a bad habit of jumping the gun without assessing the situation. "I can assure you, Miss. Dash, we were just about to wrap up the details concerning that, that is, before you squashed Miss. Shimmer's guardian behind my office door." Sunset's guardian pushed the door off himself while he peeled himself off the wall, groaning in pain as he fell to the floor face first.

"Ouch," Shadow muttered onto the floor, "nice to see that you people care about one of your own." With that, he passed out the door, hitting him on the head when he stood behind it.

"Nice job knocking out the guy who was about to keep me from being expelled, Rainbow Dash." Sunset muttered, looking at the rainbow-haired girl with a sheepish look. Rainbow Dash looked at Shadow, seeing that he was indeed out cold. The blond-haired girl behind Rainbow left to get the nurse so they could take Shadow to her office, muttering about jumping the gun and knocking before entering.
> meeting Sunset's guardian
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With Shadow knocked out, Sunset was dragged to the nurse's office by the school's resident sports star. Rainbow Dash took Sunset to the nurse's office to check on her new guardian. The rainbow-haired girl stopped at the door with Sunset, who was still confused about why she was doing this and stopped silently behind her. Sunset sighed as she stopped Rainbow from reaching the door, "Why did you try to stop them from expelling me?" Sunset asked as she stood behind the rainbow-haired sports star.

"I guess we should talk about that," Rainbow sighed, "look, the main reason I stepped in is because Twilight asked us to look after you, and we can't do that if you are no longer a student here." She pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation. "I get that you never knew how to make friends, but after all the things you did, I don't think it will be that easy to trust or be friends with you." Sunset looked down in shame, seeing Rainbow's point realistically. Rainbow saw the sad look on Sunset's face and immediately felt a little sorry for the girl. "Sunset, we can figure something out to start you off on the right track." She said, slapping Sunset on the back. Sunset winced, feeling the wounds on her back open up again.

Blood trickled down her back as it dripped from her signature leather jacket. Sunset hoped Rainbow wouldn't notice as she bit her lip to stop the scream of pain. Unfortunately, Rainbow felt her jacket sticking to her back and looked down to see the small pool of blood collecting on the floor. Rainbow's eyes widened, "Sunset, I need you to take your jacket off." Not waiting for a response or compliance, Rainbow yanked Sunset's jacket and shirt over her head, seeing the two wounds from their battle. Rainbow gasped, opening the door and leading the wounded girl inside the nurse's office. She sat Sunset down on an empty bed that was regularly used by the rainbow-haired girl whenever she got banged up during practice.

Rainbow helped get Sunset's shirt and jacket the rest of the way off as she looked down at the painful marks on her back. They were crescent-shaped on both sides of her spine, facing opposite sides, stopping at the bottom of her shoulder blades. The skin around the wounds peeled as blood wept from where they had reopened. Before she could ask where they came from, Rainbow heard someone moving from the sleeping area next to them. The curtain separating the two moved, revealing a boy, younger than the man, that Rainbow accidentally knocked out in Principal Celestia's office.

He looked down at Sunset and sighed, pulling up a chair next to the bed he recovered in. "Sunset," he sighed, sitting down on the chair. "I thought I told you to be careful with those things." He looked down at the offending area of Sunset's back.

"It wasn't my fault this time." She muttered indignantly.

"Wait, this has happened before?" Rainbow yelled in alarm. Shadow looked at the girl standing in annoyance, then looked down at the blood on her hand.

"Oh, I see what happened," He muttered. "my apologies. I didn't mean to jump to conclusions like a rainbow-haired girl who doesn't know the meaning of knocking before entering." He scowled at the offending girl as he stretched his fingers out over Sunset's wounds. "Sunset, please explain things while I heal your back again," Shadow asked as a soothing green light began to glow from his hands.

Sunset, beginning to feel her wounds heal, sighed as she explained the events leading up to how she got back hurt after the battle last Friday night and how she met Shadow. As Sunset neared the end of her tale, she hesitantly added their conversation about magic and the possibility of the others still having their magic.

"So you're telling me we still have the magic Twilight gave us, and you do as well, right?" Rainbow asked, trying to wrap her head around the idea of being able to do what they did at the Fall Formal again.

"That's your reaction to the fact that I have magic?" Sunset in surprise.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I am freaking out about you still having magic." The athlete assured her. "But on the other hand, if you tried something like last Friday again, we would stop you." Rainbow looked at Sunset's back, seeing her injuries as the blood stopped and the skin began to close. "All throughout today, you haven't even been able to look anyone in the eye and just did as instructed. I would say you really don't want to do that again."

Rainbow looked at Shadow curiously as he finished up on Sunset's back. "Who and what are you anyways?" She asked as the green glow around Shadow's hands began to fade.

Shadow stood from his seat and stretched, letting multiple joints pop with each movement, as he turned to face the teen athlete. "My name is Moon Shadow," he said, crossing his arms. "as for what I am, I am annoyed at the rudeness of that last part of the question."

Rainbow put her hands up in defense as she took a step back. "Sorry, I was just wondering if you were in the same boat as Sunset."

Shadow sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Obviously, I'm not from the same dimension as Sunset, and I can use magic because it always had it, just not as much as it did a long time ago." 

With Sunset's back healed up and Shadow recovered from the blow to the head, the trio left the nurse's office, heading out to the front of the school. Once they reached the piles of brick, Shadow disappeared into the darkness again, leaving a small silver whistle attached to a folded piece of paper. The whistle looked like a dog whistle as Sunset picked up both, seeing a note that read: "If you need me for anything else or if you feel in danger, blow this whistle. My Shadow Wolfs will be there in an instant. Take care, Shadow."





With Shadow gone, Rainbow felt it was safe to ask a question that had been bugging her since meeting him. "Hey, Sunset, when I saw him in Principle Celestia's office, I thought he looked older, but when we were in the nurse's office, he looked about your age. How is that possible?"

Sunset sighed in irritation. "I have been trying to figure that out myself," she said tiredly. "When we first met, he seemed capable of almost anything, but when we talked the next day when he took care of me, he had a look that made me think that he was much older than his looks let on." Sunset looked at the spot where Shadow disappeared, deep in thought. "When he said he would take care of me, I didn't realize Shadow meant he would adopt me like that."

Rainbow was taken aback. She knew there was more to Shadow's actions towards Sunset, but Rainbow didn't think it was like being adopted by him. "I may not be an egghead like you, but I noticed when he talked about the past? It sounded like he was there to see it, and from how you described his eyes, I think he might have seen it."

Sunset nodded, thinking the same thing when she saw his eyes the morning of their conversation. "I sometimes get the same feeling from him, especially when he starts grumbling about the foolishness of youth these days." She sighed, shaking her head. "After what I saw the night he saved me, I don't think he's from my direction, but not human either."

Rainbow nodded, not sure what Sunset saw that night, but guessed it was something that scared Gilda and Lightning straight. If Shadow had been the one who caused that, then there had to be more to him than he let on. The bell signaling lunch rang as the two started getting comfortable. "I don't know about you, but after everything that happened, I'm kind of hungry," Rainbow said as she walked to the school, paused, and looked back at her companion. "Do you mind if we had lunch out here with you?"

Sunset's eyes widened, "But didn't you just say that I couldn't be trusted yet?" 

"I know what I said," Rainbow sighed, "but that was before I realized that you have paid the price and didn't say anything about what happened Friday between you, Gilda, and Lightning."

Sunset raised an eyebrow at Rainbow. "Which reminds me," she said, "how did you find out about that anyways?"

"It's been all over the school," Rainbow smiled, "Gilda and Lightning have been spreading the word that the 'She-Devil of Canterlot High' has a pack of vicious attack dogs." Rainbow laughed at the idea. "Shadow may be a little creepy, but he isn't a dog."

Sunset began to laugh as well. "Yeah, and what else is funny is people calling him that are only half right," she said, holding her sides in laughter. "Shadow is a wolf, not a dog, and if they made that mistake around him or his pack, they wouldn't be alive enough to call them that again." 

Rainbow looked at Sunset in confusion. "Wait, you mean that whole alpha to a pack of monsters thing is real?" Rainbow asked, fear creeping into her voice. "I thought that was just a rumor that they started to cover up the fact that two of the most violent students in Canterlot High had their asses beaten."

"Well yeah, he doesn't actually look like that," Sunset said, realizing that Rainbow never saw what he looked like, not what Sunset saw when they first met him. "I suppose I have a few things that need to be explained," She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, "I will explain everything, but it's too long to go over multiple times. So grab the others with your lunch and meet me here if you please."

Rainbow wasn't sure what surprised her more: Sunset was being upfront with her, or she actually said "please" Rainbow did what she was asked, ran into the cafeteria, grabbed her lunch, and after thinking about it, grabbed a little extra for Sunset.





The school saviors gathered outside where their rainbow-haired friend told them to meet. Rainbow, for her part, separated from the group before they had met up. Rainbow had decided to give Sunset some lunch after her friends had assembled. Sunset had just finished her part of the work she had been assigned for the day. She decided to wait for the others next to the school statue. She put her hand up to the statue's base where the portal would be in thirty moons, hoping to feel at least a trace of the magic from home. Sunset sighed as she sat down and turned her back to face the statue.

She sighed, looking up at the clear sky overhead. With the way things are going, it is going to be a long two-and-a-half years. Sunset thought to herself. Sunset continued her thoughts until she saw a shadow move over her. She saw Rainbow Dash standing over her, holding out some lunch Rainbow had snagged from the cafeteria. Sunset smiled in thanks, taking the offered lunch. Somehow, Rainbow had remembered that she was a vegetarian, seeing a delicious salad fruit bowl and an apple on her tray.

After Sunset had taken the offered tray, Rainbow left to get the others. When Rainbow returned, she had the others in tow. "All right, girls. Sunset and I have been talking," she said as she sat down next to the mentioned girl, "and Sunset has decided to tell us everything about herself."

The girls all gathered around Sunset as she began to eat her lunch. With the girls gathered around. Sunset sighed, knowing her story was very long. "Look, I know that none of you trust me or want to hear your enemy's sob story, but if you knew the reasons behind what I did, you would understand me." She said, looking up at the sky again as she took a bite of her apple. "As you might have guessed, I'm not from this dimension."
> The past of Sunset Shimmer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset Shimmer looked at the girls before her, thinking about where to begin and if telling her story would help her cause or make matters worse. She sighed, propping herself up against the statue of CHS, "so, as many of you have guessed," Sunset sighed, "I'm actually from the same world as the Princess." Sunset began tracing patterns on the statue where the portal was as if trying to draw out its magic, "however, I'm not a princess. We had the same teacher, though." 

"You don't have to tell us anything you're not comfortable telling us, Sugercube," Applejack said as she noticed the discomfort on Sunset's face. Sunset nodded in gratitude, knowing that some things in her past would only make it sound like she wanted pity and were sensitive topics.

"The thing is, unlike her, I grew up with my teacher." She said, looking up at the cloud-filled sky above. "One day, my teacher showed me this mirror and asked me what I saw in the reflection. I told her I saw myself only as a princess, standing beside her as an equal."

"Wait a minute," Applejack said, "how can your teacher be your equal if you saw yourself as a princess?"

"A valid question, Applejack," Sunset said, looking at the apple farmer. "you see, she wasn't just a teacher; she was also the ruler of Equestria." she sighed. "Very few were privileged to such a great honor, and I was of the very few." The other's eyes widened at the revelation, not knowing how to process it. Sunset smiled, remembering the days before the mirror when she was still a young filly. She was lost in her memories as she drew one last glyph on the marble statue.

From behind her, the statue's surface began to glow faintly. Eventually, it showed images as if the statue's face had just become a screen. The screen was a big beautiful castle, its walls purple, but the shadows of the setting sun made the halls seem much darker. In front of where they were seeing things stood a massive door. The door looked like it belonged to a church, solid oak with solid gold handles on both sides, slightly ajar as if someone were inside and forgot to close them on the way in. The image began to move through the door; on the other side of the door was a pure white pony.

The white pony was taller than the average pony, tall enough that she could almost be mistaken for a horse. She wore a pure golden crown kept in place by a long spiraling horn sticking out of her forehead at an angle. Her mane and tail were a radiant variety of colors: blue, pink, red, and yellow, flowing together in some ephemeral breeze that seemed to make the colors dance as her mane and tail swayed. Facing the pony was a massive mirror that rippled like water when she touched it with her hoof. She looked at the background behind her in the mirror, and the pony saw a lone pony peeking out from behind the door.

The larger pony's eyes widened when she saw the orange pony behind her. "What are you doing here, Sunset?" she asked as she turned to face the pony at the door. The girls gasped as Sunset stepped out from behind the door.

"Sunset, that's what you look like as a pony?" Rainbow asked as they watched the two ponies talk. The shorter pony had orange fur and a familiar red and yellow mane styled like the girl facing the statue's base. The others watched as the familiar-looking pony moved to stand next to her mentor. 

"Sunset, you look so cute!" Fluttershy squealed in a not-so-shy way at the sight of Sunset's pony form as she stood before the portal.

Sunset couldn't believe her eyes; as she watched the younger pony touch the portal. Curiosity, she mirrored her younger self and put her hand on the portal where her younger self's hoof was. When the two made contact with the portal, the pedestal it was in flashed a blinding white light. As the light cleared, the girls looked at the statue again, seeing the sceneries change, moving backward as if it were a movie put on rewind. When the images finally stopped, the podium showed an aerial view of the castle. The view zoomed in on the front of the castle, showing two cloaked ponies standing before the castle doors, one holding a bundle aloft with an aura of crimson-red magic.



* * *


"Stellar, do you think this is such a good idea?" a male voice said, moving his head to look at the bundle as it seemed to squirm in its crimson cocoon. The figure, now known as Stellar, placed her contents on the steps before the door. She then removed her hood; to reveal a mare with a red and orange mane and fur the same crimson color as her magic.

"We don't have any other choice, Solar." She sighed, clearly having this conversation before. "All we can do now is hope the princess takes her in and gives her a better future than we could." Stellar walked up to the door, giving it a firm knock, and turned to the bundle she put down. She reached out her hoof to remove a small area, revealing a familiar-looking head of red and yellow hair. Stellar lowered herself down and gently kissed the top of the sleeping infant's head.

"Goodbye, Sunset," She whispered, "hopefully, we can see each other again in the future." With that, Stellar and her husband walked away from the castle and away from their infant daughter, hoping that she may find happiness and love in the care of the Princess.



***



Sunset gasped as she pulled away from the statue and fell to the ground shaking and twitching like she was having a seizure. The girls watched their charge as the seizing continued getting worse by the minute. They ran towards the convulsing girl, not knowing what to do. Thinking quickly, Fluttershy and Applejack rolled her onto her side as the others argued if they should call an ambulance. Finally, Rainbow knew who to call, though the others had not met him. Rainbow ran over to the spot where she had seen him disappear from looking into the shadows out of sheer desperation.

Rainbow saw a shadow that looked big enough for a human to crawl out of and bent down to look directly at the shadow.

"SHADOW, SUNSET NEEDS YOU!" She yelled at the top of her lungs into the darkness.

At first, nothing happened. Thinking it was the wrong idea, the rainbow-haired girl stepped away from the shadow as she tried to think of another way to contact him; just as she was about to turn away, the shadows began to twist and warp as if something was climbing out of it. They then took on the shape of a man, and a clawed hand popped out of the darkness, followed by the other till eventually; Shadow pulled himself completely out. Shadow looked at the prism-haired girl with a raised eyebrow.

"What's the situation?" he asked, sounding calm and calculating. Rainbow turned to her group, gesturing for him to follow her, not knowing how to describe what happened. Shadow nodded as he followed Rainbow close behind. Rainbow tried to catch Shadow up on what caused her to summon him. Shadow nodded along to show that he understood the gist of it.

"And then she started acting like she was having a seizure or something," she said, "I figured with her not being from this dimension, she wouldn't have proof of identification or her being a horse, she wouldn't react to human medication the same way as us." She looked at Shadow in worry for his response.

"I get the point, Rainbow," he grunted as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "also, for one: she is a pony, not a horse. If you did call her that, you would be calling her a whore, and for two, just because she is a pony in Equestria doesn't mean that everything about her is one over here."

The girls looked up as they heard Rainbow and Shadow approaching. Shadow, not in the mood for any more nonsense or questions, shoved his way to his charge's side to check on her condition. She had stopped seizing, but she seemed to have trouble breathing instead.

"Sunset, can you hear me?" He asked as he pulled out a flashlight pen and checked to see if her pupils would diolate. With a great deal of effort, Sunset nodded. Shadow seemed satisfied with her reaction as he moved his hand to Sunset's forehead. Shadow doing much more than taking her temperature winced as his hand was shocked when it came into contact with her skin. Shadow looked into Sunset's eyes and sighed.

"I was hoping that it would happen naturally," he muttered, "but it looks like your magic is off balance, and it's trying to tear you apart like I thought it would." He looked deeper into Sunset's eyes, seeing all the fear and pain she was in. "I guess I have only one question for you now; do you want to be good and with people who make you happy or wicked and forever be alone?"

"I...I want to be good." Sunset gasped in between labored breaths.

Shadow nodded as he stood up and looked at the girls looking on in curiosity and annoyance at being shoved. Shadow drew a circle in the air as the shadows cast by the afternoon sun mimicked his actions, forming a much bigger circle on the ground surrounding the two as arcane symbols began to form along the outer edge of it. He then drew a smaller circle around Sunset, encasing it in a pentagram of a star, with Sunset at its center.  Shadow put his hands together as if he were praying and began to chant in a language that sounded older than any other had ever heard.  Halfway threw his chanting, Shadow knelt, putting one hand on Sunset's head and the other over her heart. He leaned his head back looking up at the sky, his chanting getting faster.


"What in the Sam Hell do ya think your do?!" Applejack yelled as she stormed toward the circle. Before she could step into the outer ring, she stumbled back, holding her nose as if she had slammed face-first into a brick wall. As Applejack was about to try again, Rainbow put her hand on the apple farmer's shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. Applejack looked at her friend, showing her anger. "Ya better have a damn good reason for stopping me, Dash." She growled with her fists balled, ready to throw her prism-haired friend's hand off.

"You mean aside from stopping you from hurting yourself and making things worse?" Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow.

"How am Ah going to make it worse exactly?" Applejack asked, an indignant look in her eyes.

"Well, for starters, he knows what he's doing, and for second, what he's doing is magic, and last I checked, neither of us knows anything about it," she said, raising an eyebrow as if to challenge her logic, Applejack mulled over her words as she looked her friend in the eye, seeing Rainbow being honest, and sighed in defeat but then grew to have a curious look on her face.

"How exactly do you know he's doing magic, and how did you know how we needed him," She asked, looking down at the circle, "and are you sure he's doing magic that will help looks like witchcraft to me?"

Rainbow laughed, "Yeah, not going to lie, it does, but trust me, it's for a good reason." She then looked at Shadow and sighed. "He's not a bad guy AJ, but he does use magic, just not the same way we did last week."

Both girls looked at Shadow as he seemed to be done with whatever he was doing. He stood up and sighed, cracking his neck in discomfort. "Damn, that always puts a major kink in my neck," he muttered, stretching his stiff joints. "Well, looks like all that's left to do is wait." He announced, moving over to lean on the statue.

Rainbow realizing it first, watched as her eyes grew wide. "Shadow wait, don't lean on-" she yelled, but it was too late. With another blinding flash, the statue's surface showed the streets of Canterlot City.
> The night of the Fall Formal elsewhere
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shadow had thought he had seen a lot in his long lifespan, but a long twisting column of rainbow-colored magic that seemed to be from some other dimension was new even for him. He had been walking along to the only cafe he knew of open late at night. However, what was surprising when he walked in was the number of negative emotions flooding the place. Over the arguing around him, he heard a light, haunting song coming from the back of the cafe.

From the back, he saw three hooded girls being the source of the music. He watched as the trio lowered their hoods. One, obviously being the leader, had orange and yellow hair that seemed impossible to tame, mulberry-colored eyes, and skin the color of a slowly dying fire. The girls across from her were trying to chat with their fiery-skinned leader.

Before Shadow moved any further inside, he posed, feeling a tremor flowing throughout the earth's long-since dormant lay lines. The shockwaves resonate with Shadow, making it feel like they were a foreign Magic, something not of this dimension. Shadow turned around, heading back out the door; what he saw when he set foot outside would have filled most with a sense of wonder. For Shadow, he only sighed in annoyance.

"Dammit all, what in the unholy hell did Equestria shove through the portal this time?" He grunted as he pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation.

His ears twitched, hearing the trio from before heading his way. Thinking fast, Shadow disappeared into the darkness and reappeared in the alleyway next to the coffee shop. The trio burst out of the coffee shop and stopped to stare at a towering beam of white light encased by a spiraling Spire of rainbow-colored light.

Shadow watched as the puffy-haired leader schemed and smiled at her plan. He watched as one turned; her eyes widened as he locked eyes with Aria Blaze; her purple eyes smoldered as she stormed towards him. Shadow grinned as he retreated further into the alley, expecting the fiery-tempered temptress to follow him. Shadow reached the alleyway's dead-end and turned to face his target, only to be met with an elbow to his throat, pinning him to the wall.

"Shadow," Aria growled in his face, practically nose to nose with him. "I told you, if you showed your face around us again, I would kill you."  Shadow just chuckled, forcefully removing his attacker's elbow from his throat. He twisted it into a joint lock, then kicked the side of her knee, making her start to fall to the side. Using her momentum, he pivoted behind her, twisting the captured arm, pinning behind her, putting his knee to her back, and successfully pinning her to the ground. 

"And I told you," Shadow whispered, his mouth right next to Aria's ear, "try your hardest mi hermosa canción de muerte ." He moved his mouth to the tip of her ear, giving it a gentle nibble, feeling Aria shudder in ecstasy under him. Shadow moved his other hand to slowly caress her cheek lovingly, feeling Aria nuzzle him, returning the affection. Aria gave him a ghost of a smile as Shadow eased off her and released her captive arm. She turned onto her back as Shadow moved his knee to her side, looking into those ever-changing green eyes that held so many of the world's secrets. Aria cupped his cheeks, pulling him in for a patient kiss, starving for the sensation she hadn't felt in years.

"Aria, where did you go?" a voice yelled from the opening of the alleyway. Shadow's head snapped up to look for the one who had dared to interrupt his passionate reunion. Raspberry eyes met acid green as Adagio and Sanada looked for their wayward sister and band member. Adagio grunted in annoyance at the sight, 
"We have work to do, Aria. Quit with the foreplay and get out from under your freak of a pet."

Shadow growled as he stood up and stormed to the overly confident siren. "I suggest you watch your tongue with me, Adagio Dazzle before I take that stupid cursed trinket of yours and shove it down your throat."  

Adagio grinned at the provocation, "I'd like to see you try, Grogar spon." She said,  standing on her toes as she attempted to get in his face. "What we do is our business, and what you do is your business. That is the deal we made." Her eyes widened in mock accusation, "Unless you want to go back on your word and make a liar out of yourself."

Shadow was beginning to lose his patience. He knew that Adagio was trying to provoke him to make him look like a threat to their plans, which was technically correct if not for the agreement. Not wanting to prove her point, he grabbed her shirt collar, lifting her off the ground.

"Perhaps age has dulled your sense of memory, Adagio," he said, pinning her to the adjacent wall. "allow me to refresh it. The terms were: 'We will not interfere in each other's affairs unless provoked and or if one group is trespassing in the other's territory.' You are doing both. I prefer to think of myself a patient man; however, even the great Buda loses his patience when insulted for a third time." Shadow took a deep, calming breath as he slowly released his grip from Adagio's shirt, allowing her to slide down the wall back to her feet. Adagio looked raddled as she retreated to the opening of the alleyway, looking at her sister as she stood watching the show.

"We're leaving Aria," Adagio growled, then looked back to Shadow. "if this is your turf as you say it is, then we will try to stay out of our way, but if you try to get in our way, or do anything to delay our plans then all bets are off." she leaned closer as if to try to whisper to him, "And unlike you, I don't care if I make a liar out of myself."  With those words said, she stormed away from the old traveler, taking her sister. Before Aria left, she gave her lost lover a small smile.

With the two siren sisters gone, Shadow sighed as he dug around in his coat pockets. Finding what he was looking for, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes, took one out, and popped it into his mouth. With a snap of his fingers, a black flame appeared on the tip of his pointer finger. Using the fire, he lit his cigarette, taking a long drag. With a smoky sigh, he jumped onto the roof of the cafe. Taking another long pull off his cigarette, he looked across the city at the rising smoke in the distance.

"Well, looks like I'm overdue for a meeting with another old associate," he muttered as he finished his cigarette. "I hope she is ready to get an ear full."





As Shadow reached the area of the smoke, he looked at what must have been the aftermath of a battle. The building had a massive hole punched through as if punched out, and the front yard had a deep crater. Shadow looked up at the sky and saw the smoke obscuring the full moon. Looking around, he saw that nobody noticed him using this to his advantage. He jumped to the top of the horse statue as he watched the front of the building.

As Shadow watched the building, he saw two boys carting away carts of brick and a girl sloppily adding mortar to the damaged front. Shadow rolled his eyes at the sight. Good grief, do child workman's laws mean nothing to these people? He thought as he saw a tall, blue-skinned woman walk out of the building. She said a few words to the group, and the boys dumped their last load, and the girl put down her pastel. The two boys walked inside the building while the girl walked toward the south side. With the coast clear, Shadow jumped down from the top of the statue.

Shadow turned to face the smooth surface of the statue's plinth. He looked at the smooth mirror-like surface and scowled as if he was trying to remember something. Finally remembering what he needed, he drew a few runes onto the plinth. He stood back and watched as the surface rippled and warped as the image of a dark room began to appear in it. Shadow looked back at the building and sighed, seeing no one coming out. He turned back to the plinth and took a deep breath.

"CELESTIA RADIANCE, GET YOUR FAT CAKE-LOVING FLANK IN HERE NOW!!!" He boomed, not caring that he could and possibly would be heard by the people in the building. His voice raddled the statue and the crystal structures through the mirror. He waited a moment, his patience already thin from his previous encounter. On the other side of the portal, the door leading to the space beyond began to open. A long swirling horn slid through the doorway, followed by the rest of the sun princess's head. Shadow rolled his eyes at the sight, gathering his thoughts before he began his lecture.

"Oh, quit hiding behind the door like a scared little filly," He grunted, "a mare your age should be able to act more mature than that, and besides, it's not like I can do anything from over here with the portal closed, now can I?"

"I . . . I wouldn't put it past you to try Shadow." Celestia shuddered like a child preparing themselves for a scolding from their parent. She stepped through the door, still hesitant, expecting something more to happen. Shadow made a swirling gesture with his finger as if to say: 'twirl around and let me get a look at you.' Celestia sighed and did as requested.

"My, my, how you've grown," he muttered, remembering the small, young, newly minted alicorn that could barely control her wings. Shadow cleared his throat as he stood straiter. "Now that that's out of the way, I was just calling to ask . . . WHAT IN THE UNHOLY HELL DID YOU TOSS HERE THIS TIME!!!" He roared, for the second time finally getting his frustrations out.

"I didn't do anything this time, so why am I getting scolded?" She muttered under her breath.

"What was that," Shadow growled, "quit mumbling and look me in the eye when I'm talking to you, young lady."

Celestia's ears drooped down as she looked him in the eye. "I said; we didn't dump anything over there this time." She said clearly. "A powerful ancient artifact was stolen from one of my more recent students by an ex-student who I had to ban from the castle because she wanted too much power too soon."

Shadow pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed for the fourth time in one night. "And what reason did she have for wanting such power so quickly?" he asked, already feeling more of a headache. Celesta pawed at the crystal floor, a habit she did when confronted with a topic she didn't like talking about.

"Her name was Sunset Shimmer. She was in my charge at a very young age, and she must have seen me as more than her guardian or teacher, something that I could never be: a parent." Celestia began, looking at the floor. "I taught her almost everything I know. She was a prodigy having more magic power than any other unicore I had faced in the last thousand years." She sighed, regret written on her muzzle. "Then, one day, I told her to make some friends, a feat I had never completely mastered. She failed to make friends and take my advice, but when I showed her the mirror and asked what she saw, she told me she saw herself as a princess. That caused her to redouble her studies to the point where she practically spent all her time in the library. I had to ban her from it till she made some friends, but she snuck into the forbidden section of the library and stole strictly forbidden books. I caught and banished her from the castle, but as soon as I came to her courtiers, she left, defeated my guards, and disappeared through the portal." She sighed and shook her head, "I had hoped that once the portal opened again, she would return and reconcile with me, but I can see now that might just be wishful thinking."

Shadow felt his rage boiling inside, filling in some blanks that Celestia had most likely left out. "So let me get this straight," he began angrily. Celestia sensed the sudden change in attitude and practically wilted at the sight. "A young filly who saw you as a mother wanted you to become one so bad that she wanted to become a princess just so she could be your daughter stole a powerful magic artifact, and she tried to use it here because you not only cast her out but did the same damn thing that you did with your sister and refused to notice her as a daughter in the first damn place and on top of all that you replaced her?" 

Celestia whimpered on the floor. Her front legs crossed over her muzzle in a feeble attempt to shield her eyes from the onslaught of rage. "Yes, I messed up, I realize that, but please watch over her. She may not be my daughter, but I would make it so instantly if given the chance."

The fire in Shadow's eyes cooled, hearing the honesty from the sun princess. ''You still care for her, then?" Not waiting for an answer, he sighed. "Very well, I shall heed your request, but tell me: what does she look like?"

Celestia looked out from under her legs at the steady evaporation of his anger. "You mean you will do it?" She asked, hope in her voice. "Oh, thank you, Shadow. She has red and yellow striped hair, orange skin, and emerald-green eyes. I have information that she is a student at the school in front of the portal."

Shadow turned around, looking at the building behind him. "So this is a school, huh?" he muttered, "I can work with that. Very well, Celestia, I will watch over this ex-student of yours. This Sunset Shimmer."
> The first hand to extend
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The girls watched the reel unfold as Shadow slid off the statue's front. Before Shadow's head hit the ground, a pair of buttery yellow hands caught him and gently lowered him to his charge's side. Fluttershy looked at the two, unsure of what to make of them. Applejack sighed as she sat down, contemplating what the girls had just witnessed.

"Ah don't know about yall, but Ah think what we saw just answered a few questions and made more to ask." She said, looking at the others. She looked at Shadow, a scowl on her face. "Ah, mean; is it a good idea to let him be around her even if it was a job request from royalty?"

"Shadow did make it clear that he doesn't follow anyone's orders, no matter who they are unless it's for a good reason or he agrees with the situation," Pinkie said, looking at the sky. "and why am I just now getting a line in this book? Just because you don't think you can do me justice doesn't mean I should sit here and be quiet the whole time." She added to the sky, where the person who knew who she was talking to won't even dignify that with a response.

The others looked at Pinkie with raised eyebrows, not questioning her, and chaulked that up to Pinkie being Pinkie. Before the others could do anything else, a set of long legs clad in gold-colored shoes stood at the head of Sunset and Shadow's unconscious forms. The girls looked up and saw that those legs belonged to Principal Celestia, standing with her arms crossed and a face that said she was not amused.

"Would someone mind telling me why are Sunset Shimmer and a young male passed out in the school's front yard and why is it that I came out here to check on the progress the construction crew was making to hear someone yelling my full name and something about me having a fat cake loving flank?" She asked, tapping her foot as she waited for an explanation. The others looked on, trying to find a way to describe what happened in a way that didn't get their assigned friend or her guardian in trouble. Before anyone could say anything, Sunset began to stir as her guardian fully regained consciousness.

"Ugh, I haven't felt this much head pain since the tequila incident during Carnival." He muttered, massaging his head in an attempt to relieve the pain. He then looked up blurry-eyed at the school principal. "Well, this can't be good." Shadow said, looking at the girls for an explanation of what happened and why their principal was there.

"That would depend on your explanation of who you are and what happened, young man." Celestia said, with Shadow looking mildly annoyed at being called a 'young man.'  Shadow stood up and stretched the kinks out of his back. Shadow wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to be honest as he stood before her and tried to think of something. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to have an option other than to be honest. Sunset looked up at her guardian in blurry-eyed confusion.

"Shadow, I thought you left already." She muttered, unaware of her principal standing next to her or the wince he made at her words. She did notice that the other girls stared at her with wide eyes. Sunset raised her eyes in confusion why they were staring at her like that. The other girls looked to Sunset's left, and she followed their eyes, only to meet the sight of her principal's hips. Sunset looked up and met those familiar eyes, the same eyes that she had seen her mentor give her far too many times to count. "Oh, I'm in trouble again, aren't I?" She whispered, feeling an increase of dread in her chest.

"Again, that would depend on your explanation of what happened here, Miss. Shimmer," Celestia said, shifting her eyes from Sunset to the young man she had called Shadow. "also, how can that be Superatentent Shadow? He looks like he couldn't be much older than you."

"I do believe I can explain that, Tia," he said, getting off the ground as he brushed off his pants and straitened his shirt. With his cloaths back in decent order, his form began to change and grow into the man who had stepped into Celestia's office earlier that morning. "this would be what you were thinking of when you heard my name, right?" He looked at the school principal seeing the shock and confusion. Celestia nodded and then looked at Sunset as if she would be able to clarify what she had just witnessed.

Sunset shrugged, just as confused with everything her caretaker could do. Shadow stood in front of the portal, inspecting it to make sure whatever spell was on it had worn off and wouldn't affect anyone else who decided it would be a good idea to start poking around it again. When he seemed satisfied with his findings, he put his hand on Celestia's shoulder and took her inside the school to explain everything that had transpired outside.

With Shadow gone and lunch almost done, Sunset and the girls packed up their things to head back, the girls to class, and Sunset returned her tray before getting back to work. After disposing of her trash and returning her lunch tray, Sunset began her return to work, only to be stopped by a gruff and masculine voice.

"Well, look, Hell spat back out its demon." Said a voice belonging to the school's resident muscle for brain meat heads with Gilda and Lightning Dust. "See, guys? I told you that the she-demon was alone." The same voice belonging to Dumbbell caption of the boys' wrestling team and notorious bully wannabe. The five began to inclose Sunset as they closed in on her grinning as they cracked their knuckles. "As Gilda told you last weekend, she-demon: it's payback time." With those words, they all began their assault, pushing and punching Sunset until they had her on the ground.

With Sunset on the ground, Gilda drew closed, having a crazed look in her eyes. Gilda put her foot on Sunset's back, grabbing her arms to force them behind her. "That stupid mut of yours nearly broke my arms that night," She grunted, making Sunset's arms straight behind her at an aquitard angle. "so, I'm going return the favor with yours." Before pulling any farther, she felt someone behind her and her allies. Behind them stood a young man with dark chocolate brown hair and sea-green eyes covered by black-rimmed glasses. He had fair skin, wairing a sea foam green shirt with a gold-colored number one in the middle and rusty red cuffs on the short sleeves. He wore dark blue jeans and white socks with black sneakers.

"Oh, it's just the other freak," Gilda grunted, letting go of Sunset's arms. "Lightning, Dumbbel, you two hold this she-demon while I deal with him." Gilda stormed over to the young man, a cold sneer on her face. "What do you want? We're busy here, so unless you want to join the she-demon in a beating, keep walking and keep your mouth shut."

The young man stood firm, his arms crossed in defiance, "What I want is for you to leave her alone." He said with his voice calm but with a slight lisp. Gilda sneered at him, drawing closer, her fist clenched.  Sunset knew what she was going to do. Her eyes widened as her anger boiled, not because of what was being done to her but because of Gilda's actions. Sunset felt her skin getting hotter as her anger grew. Lightning and Dumbbells yelped in pain as they let the limbs they held go; they stood back and looked at their hands, seeing first-degree burns. Sunset, finally free, stood shaking in barely contained fury.

"Don't you dare hurt him, Griffen." Sunset growled as her whole body seethed in rage. The area around her warped as the temperature rose, sending heat waves out around her. Gilda, who didn't notice the sudden rise in temperature or her allies backing off in fear, stood defiant. "I may have been a bitch during my time as queen, but even I had lines that I wouldn't cross, and your about to cross it."

Gilda raised her eyebrow at her words, then cackled in delight. "You hear that, boys?  The she-demon has continence all of a sudden, and of all the times to use it, she decides to use it on of all people Rusty Re-"

"Don't . . . you... dare. . . finish that SENTENCE!" Sunset screeched before Gilda could even get passed the T in her word. With the force of the screech, a massive sound blast ripped from her vocal cords in a way that sounded like an angry bird of prey. The sound wave, with the sudden heat rise, sent some backward and others knocked unconscious. When Sunset finally calmed down, she saw that her attempted hero had been spared from the blast, but his glasses had been knocked off. Sunset saw where his glasses had landed, picked them up, and returned them to the boy now named Rusty. She knelt, handing Rusty his glasses. "Are you okay?" She asked, worried that she had somehow hurt him with that shockwave.

"Oh, I'm fine," Rusty said, pushing his reacquired glasses back into place, "thank you." His sea-green eyes seem to sparkle behind his glasses, giving them the appearance of a calm sea after a storm. Sunset stood up, offering her hand to the kneeling boy. Rusty grabbed the offered hand, surprised at how warm it was, and stood still holding onto the outstretched hand. 

Before either one could speak, Sunset began to waver as she became dizzy and lightheaded. Sunset began to fall over, but before she could hit the ground, her shadow warped as a huge, black wolf popped out of it catching her by the back of her head in his furry side. The wolf lay down, trying to keep Sunset's head as steady as possible against him. The wolf whimpered in worry, as he nuzzled the firey-haired girl at his side. Rusty watched in fascination as he tried to approach the black wolf.

Rusty knelt next to Sunset, checking for any signs of trauma. He felt Suset's body shifting in pain as the wolf touched a spot on her back with his nose. The wolf wedged his nose under her shirt, lifting the back as best he could. Rusty watched as her shirt was lifted, revealing two lines of blood trickling down her back and the bruising on her back where Gilda's foot had been. The wolf tried to clean up the blood with his tongue, only to be shoved away from the wounded area. 

"You can't do that, it'll only make things worse," Rusty said, gently lifting Sunset and putting her on the wolf's back. "Now, obviously you are not your average wolf, so follow me and I'll show you to the nurse's office." The wolf nodded in understanding as he followed the young man who tried to help his charge.
> The seeds of light
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rusty had just finished the fifth period after he dropped Sunset off in the nurse's office. He debated to see the fiery-haired girl check on her, but before he could, he stopped in the doorway to the class and saw a massive black wolf. By the looks of things, this wolf was much bigger than the one that helped haul Sunset to the nurse's office, this one being an alpha. A few students were in the hallways, paying no mind to the massive black wolf as it lay in front of them. Rusty looked at the students, unsure if they saw what he was seeing.

"Mr. Rails, if you don't need anything else for this class, hurry along to your next one." Miss. Harshwhinny said in her usual posh and formal way. She walked over to the doorway and looked out, seeing the students but missing the wolf as it yawned and stretched itself out. "Get to class before I start giving out detentions." She growled at the students as she walked back into her classroom. The wolf watched the teacher leave with a disapproving look in its eyes. Rusty decided to ignore the wolf and walked to the nurse's office. As he walked, the wolf stood and began to fall in line a few paces behind him. 

Halfway down the hall, Rusty looked back and saw that the wolf was still following him. He grunted in slight irritation as he continued walking down the hallway towards his destination. Halfway there, he stopped and sighed.

"Why are you following me, and nobody else can see you?" He asked, looking at the wolf as he paused and scratched his ears. "Come on, I know you can understand me." The wolf looked him in the eye; his back rose and fell as if he was giving a light sigh. The wolf then looked around to see if they were the only ones in the hallway.

"I am not following you; I am merely going in the same direction and figured I would keep an eye out to make sure no one else is stupid enough to pull a stunt like earlier with you," The wolf spoke in a male voice, as he lowered himself down to look Rusty in the eyes. "And before you start freaking out, of course, I can talk young Rusty Rails."

Rusty's eyebrows raised at the wolf in suspicion. "How do you know my name, and who are you?" he asked, feeling more suspicious of the wolf. He didn't know what it was, but something about the wolf's eyes made Rusty think there was more to him than being a well-spoken wolf.

The wolf seemed to smile at the question. " I beg your pardon. I have misplaced my manners for a moment there." He said, straightening himself out and raising his right front paw over his chest as if he were doing a courtesy. " I am Sunset Shimmer's legal guardian, Moon Shadow, at your service."

Rusty blinked in confusion. " Moon Shadow, I've heard that name before," he said, trying to remember where he had heard it from. "You're the new superintendent, aren't you?"

"Indeed I am," Shadow smiled, nodding his head. "And I know of you, young Rusty Rails because you were the only one taking the Liberty of defending my ward. You have already met one of my shadow clones, and what he sees, I see." He walked around Rusty as if to inspect him. "How strange. it has been a long time since I've seen a heart as pure as this." He muttered to himself. " With the heart as pure and courageous, I would say this soul would be more like the paladins of old."

Rusty was more confused about how a wolf could be Superintendent Moon Shadow. He decided to save that question for later as he looked at the clock and saw it was almost time for the next class. "Crap, I'm going to be late." He muttered as he decided to forgo his trip to the nurse's office until the end of school. With that, Rusty hurried along to his next class, leaving behind Shadow, who looked on in fascination.

" Very interesting indeed," Shadow muttered, "perhaps with the help of this young lad, those seeds of the light I had planted will flourish and grow into something beautiful."





As Rusty sat through his last class, he could barely concentrate on his work. He kept looking out the window, a fiery-haired girl on his mind as the clock ticked on. The finale bell rang across the school as the hallways filled with the sound of students eager to escape the confines of their classes. Rusty calmly gathered his belongings with a specific target in mind to reach. As he neared the office, he noticed Shadow sitting in front of the door. Standing behind Shadow, he saw someone else was arguing with him.

"Shadow, I don't see why I should thank him when I saved him first." a girl's voice groaned as she stared down the black wolf, her arms crossed in defiance.

"I told you, it doesn't matter who saved whom first. What does matter is the fact is, he stepped in when he was under no obligation to do as such in the first place," Shadow sighed as he laid himself down to look her in the eye. " and I'm going to continue to sit here until you thank the young man for stepping in when he did. I can wait for eternity till you do, whereas you only have till the school closes for the night." he leaned in closer, giving her face a big lick, making her hair stand on end, and the girl he was arguing with looked on in disgust.

From behind them, Rusty cleared his throat awkwardly. "Is this a bad time, or should I come back later?" he asked, unsure of what was happening. Sunset sighed in relief as she tried to put her hair back in place.

"No, no. It's fine Rusty. I was wondering if Shadow was a Grogar spon or if he was secretly Discord in disguise." Sunset explained, looking at the wolf with detest. Shadow growled at the name with annoyance. He shook furiously as if to shake something off of him.

"Please never compare me to him again," Shadow snarled, his anger clearly showing. "I hate being compared to that old son of a chimera." Sunset looked at him with curiosity, finally getting her hair in place.

"How do you know about Discord?" She asked, looking at him with fascination. Shadow shook his head and looked behind him at Rusty. He squeezed over a little, allowing Rusty some space inside the office. Rusty nodded as he entered the office, squeezing through the doorway. Shadow looked back at Sunset, nodding to Rusty for her to say something. Sunset sighed, knowing she wouldn't get out of saying thank you to him. "Thanks for stepping in when you did Rusty," She said, "I appreciate it." She looked at Shadow with a look that said: "Are you happy now?"

Shadow nodded in approval as he watched on from the floor. He smiled as Rusty nodded in appreciation. "I only did what was the right thing to do." Rusty smiled nervously as he fidgeted with his shirt sleeves. Sunset smiled at him as she walked over to him and nodded to the door for him to follow. Rusty nodded as well he followed her out the door and Shadow stayed behind smiling at the two, knowing they would become good friends or perhaps even more given time.