Chapter 2: Shadow

Modern Day….

Astelle awoke some time later still curled beside the boulder in the forest. This time, however, when she regained consciousness she did not suffer the same physical pains she had before. She wondered if she had slept off the remainder of the headache and muscle aches that had been caused by the seven elements of harmony, but one swift move of her front hoof disproved the theory. However, it was not the physical pain that truly caused her harm now; that came from the emotional pain. Trixie had merely become the newest pony on the list of those who had betrayed her; and it was not the most painful by far. Still, any betrayal can take a toll on a pony and Astelle was no exception. She wished she had remained unconscious, safe in her mind from the reality that was crashing in on her now. Without her magic she had no means of enacting her revenge, and without her revenge she had nothing to live for in this life. Astelle silently hoped that when Twilight Sparkle and her friends had stolen her magic that they had taken her immortality as well. She believed that her only true release now would have to come at the end of a lifetime; though she couldn't imagine a lifetime living in this deep state of despair.

"Are you… okay?" A soft voice asked from behind her.

Astelle's ears shot up and she whirled around to confront the sound. She was caught off guard by what she saw and she couldn't respond straight away. There standing before her was her shadow alicorn; Shadow to be specific. He looked like a full-grown stallion with a pair of magnificent wings and a horn to match his impressive frame. His coat and mane were of a deep black color and if you looked closely enough you might be able to see straight through him as if he were not really there at all. The ends of his ebony mane and tail danced like smoke leaving a flame always moving and restless though there was no wind. The only stark contrast to the darkness of his coat was his eyes which were glowing bright red and staring intently into hers.

"Why are you here?" Astelle finally asked when she could reign in her surprise.

"What do you mean?" Shadow asked in confusion. "Where else would I be?"

Astelle didn't answer him straight away. Instead, she turned her head away from him and snorted angrily. The point of fleeing into the forest was to be alone, not to be followed. Shadow was not a welcomed sight to her even if he was once on her side.

"What do we do now?" Shadow asked timidly. It was strange to see a stallion of such size speaking in such hushed tones. Astelle could see the fear in him and she rolled her eyes.

"WE do nothing." She answered.

"Do… do we need to make a new amulet?" Shadow asked.

"With what? I have no magic, Shadow!" Astelle snapped bitterly.

Shadow flattened his ears and sat down quietly by her side. Astelle immediately moved away from him.

"How do we get it back?" He asked.

"There is no 'getting it back' Shadow! Don't you understand? We LOST! It's DONE! Celestia and her pet Twilight Sparkle will resume the throne and rule the ponies as if nothing has changed. Her dark secrets are preserved and I will become nothing more than a memory worth banishing."

"But… you'll think of something." Shadow encouraged, unable to wrap his mind around the idea of failure.

"I don't-" Astelle started, but paused when she realized how true her words were even before she spoke them. "I don't want to."

Astelle lowered her head and a single tear trickled down her cheek. Shadow winced when he saw it but he reigned in the impulse to reach out to her. He knew she didn't like to be touched.

"I'm done, Shadow." Astelle said looking out at the sunset that could only be glimpsed through the thick trees of the forest. "Leave me be."

"I can't." Shadow replied calmly, joining her but maintaining a safe distance away. "I'm not able to just leave you alone and in pain like this. It's not why I was-"

"created?" Astelle finished for him.

"born." Shadow corrected bitterly.

Astelle made a sound like a half laugh. It was tempting to think of Shadow as a pony, but she knew the truth. He was magic, the fruit of a spell gone awry and nothing more. After all, she had created him all those years ago, back when she was just beginning to understand the full extent of her new power.

2000 years ago…

Astelle awoke in a haze the morning after she had attempted the love-removal spell. Sunlight was directly overhead piercing down through the leaves of the tall trees in the forest. She took a moment to clear the fogginess and to find her footing as she slowly rose from the ground. She noticed the glowing green fire was still burning in the place it had been the night before and she used magic to extinguish it. As she did so, she heard a soft sound like a whisper. Astelle's ears perked up, listening for more but heard nothing. Her eyes narrowed and she carefully examined her surroundings.

"Show yourself!" She demanded. "I feel a presence here, and my magic never lies."

While it was true that her magic sensed a presence it was still vague on what sort of presence. She hoped it was a forest animal that had wandered too close and not a pony poking his head into business he shouldn't be. After another few moments of silence Astelle growled and repeated angrily "SHOW YOURSELF!"

This time she was met with a whimper. Astelle turned her head and saw nothing but the make-shift fire pit and the giant pile of boulders across the way where she saw her own shadow. At first Astelle thought to venture onward but realization finally took hold. If it was midday, then why would she have a shadow across the way? She looked again at the shadow and moved her hoof to the side. The shadow followed but seemed a little hesitant. Astelle walked closer and fanned out her wings; the shadow doing the same. She noticed that the wings on the shadow seemed far smaller than her own as she approached it. When she finally reached the boulder the shadow disappeared altogether into the crevices of the boulder pile.

"What are you?" Astelle asked, unafraid. There were a few moments of silence before the shadow reappeared once more. This time, however, it walked out from the pile of boulders looking like a tiny filly. The filly alicorn was almost translucent with nothing but wide blinking red eyes. Although it had taken on a much more three dimensional form, it was still translucent and Astelle could see right through it. The filly approached Astelle and she backed away from it in fear. She had no idea what to expect. This frightened the poor creature and it seemed to somehow dissolve itself into the ground and slither like a snake back into the boulder pile where it had been hiding.

"It's alright." Astelle said in fascination. "Come on out now."

The shadow opened its shining red eyes from within the crevice. It bravely ventured out once more, a little more boldly this time. It trotted up to Astelle and wrapped itself around her leg in a hug. Astelle blinked a few times, unable to process what this creature was or what it could want. Upon closer inspection she saw traces of herself in its nearly translucent shape. It might have been a perfect match for herself as a filly were it not for the wings and horn. Astelle carefully lifted her leg away from the shadow's embrace and gave it a timid and confused smile.

"Uh… so…" she started unsure if it could even understand her. "Are you here… because of me?"

The shadow nodded.

"Well, at least you understand me." Astelle noted. "Are you from the forest?"

The shadow shook its head. It wrapped itself around her other leg and nuzzled it fondly. It was a strange feeling to be held by a shadow. Although it was three dimensional, Astelle could barely feel its touch.

Astelle's mind was racing as she finally began putting the pieces together. Perhaps the spell from the night before had worked but not in a way she had anticipated. She decided to ask the little creature about her suspicions.

"Did you come from magic?"

The shadow nodded.

"My magic?"

It nuzzled her again.

"I made… life?" Astelle asked aloud. She chuckled at herself and shook her head. "No, I made… a magical… thing. This isn't life this is…an echo of a spell. So what exactly is it that you can do?"

The shadow looked up at her with unblinking eyes and tilted its head as if in confusion.

"Can you talk?"

The shadow didn't respond.

"Well that's helpful." Astelle whispered bitterly. "Look at me, I'm talking to myself. Worse, I'm talking to an imaginary play thing I conjured because I was feeling lonely! You must be the end result of prolonged loneliness I suppose."

The shadow didn't respond, it just kept nuzzling.

"Would you stop doing that?" Astelle said, lifting her hoof from its grasp and walking a few paces away. The shadow sank into the ground and slithered along beside her, and then up her back right leg and onto her wings. It turned itself back into the somewhat three dimensional form and rested there on her back.

Astelle opened her mouth to protest but she found it a little adorable as it rested there. Although this wasn't a real being, it might be nice to have something to talk to. Perhaps this too would be a spell she could master in time. Conjuring up her own shadowy friends to make up the lack of real ones seemed a little sad, but it was an eloquent solution for that pesky feeling of loneliness she had been feeling.

"Alright Shadow you can stay." She said, shaking her head and laughing at herself. The shadow on her back did not move, but its red eyes did glisten for a moment when she was turned away.

After a day of wandering, Astelle had found an attractive meadow to spend the night and was beginning the process of setting up her camp site. Shadow was close at her back legs watching as she used her brilliant magic. Astelle lifted a large fallen tree from the ground effortlessly. She twisted its form around weaving branches into each other until the tree looked a little like a lounging chair. Astelle walked over to it and sat down regally. She noted a lake nearby and with a flick of her horn a little stream of water rose up from the lake and wound around towards her in mid-air like a floating creek. Shadow watched with its unblinking eyes and Astelle caught it staring at her on more than one occasion. She smiled a little, finding it fun to have a pretend audience to see her masterful work. She decided a little showing off was in order. She called down some leaves from the branches of other trees and fashioned herself a crown from them. The remains of her old crown she now wore around her neck. She caught the shadow looking at it and she had an idea. She lifted the ruby center and the chain of metal that was now holding it in place and created an entirely new-looking necklace with the ruby at its center. Now the amulet appeared to be an alicorn with red wings much like herself.

Shadow trotted to her side gleefully and attempted to jump up onto the lounge chair with her. Astelle watched it curiously.

"Just fly up here." She said matter-of-factly. The shadow looked up at her then back at the chair not understanding what she meant.

"You know… use your wings?" Astelle said, fanning out her wings. The shadow copied the movement and fanned out its wings as well. Astelle expected the shadow to use them, but instead it waited patiently for her next instruction. She sighed in slight annoyance and flapped her wings, taking off from the chair and hovering just above the ground. Shadow flapped its wings too but it did not ascend to the sky as she had. It jumped up on its hind legs and flapped a little harder but to no avail. Its bright red eyes looked sad and frustrated that it could not do as she had done. Astelle tilted her head and landed beside it.

She wondered how a being made entirely by magic could not manage to fly. It was acting like a pony filly instead. Shadow was grateful to see her land and sank into the ground and slithered up her back leg to rest on her back again. It nuzzled its face into her mane and she could have sworn she felt it.

"My desire for company must be stronger than I thought." She said aloud. "I've given my magic a personality of sorts. If Starswirl were here he would want to document this, scribble everything down in his scrolls as he as always done."

By the end of her sentence Astelle's words were bitter. The shadow must have sensed her anger and sorrow because it hopped down from her back and sat in front of her, just watching her in silence.

"It would be nice if you were useful." Astelle said to it flatly. Shadow tilted its head.

"Hmm…" Astelle said thinking aloud. "Perhaps you can be… what exactly can you do little shadow?"

The shadow gave no response.

"Oh… right… you need a command. I forgot you're not an actual being. I keep talking to you like you're a filly. Alright then, Shadow: bring me that stone over there." Astelle said pointing in the direction of a small pebble a little ways away. Shadow obediently followed her order and trotted happily along to fetch the stone. When it approached it, it pounced on it and swallowed it whole. Astelle was about to cry out in disapproval when she noticed the stone appeared on her hoof. Moments later, shadow reappeared at her hooves just as wide-eyed as ever.

Astelle blinked a few times and looked from the pebble to the shadow filly and back.

"Teleportation? You're a teleportation spell?" Astelle asked. Shadow didn't understand, it merely tilted its head to the side and awaited more orders.

"Alright then, I want you to teleport this pebble back where you found it without moving a step." Astelle said, giving the pebble back to the shadow filly. Shadow leaned down and wiggled his little rump in the air before chomping down on the pebble which instantly disappeared and reappeared where it had been before. It looked back up at Astelle happily as if it were proud of what it had done.

"Don't get too excited" Astelle said. "Teleportation is a highly basic spell. Every unicorn can learn that, it's nothing special."

Shadow sat down at her hooves undeterred by her tone.

"What else can you do?" Astelle asked rhetorically. "Can you make yourself a little more… solid?"

Shadow blinked a couple times in confusion and looked down at himself his form flickered a few times and Astelle thought she could see glimpses of hoof imprints in the grass where he stood but the imprints faded away quickly as shadow returned to his nearly translucent state.

"That's highly limiting." Astelle said bitterly. "I can conjure baby alicorns that teleport objects. That'll certainly impress Starswirl." She added sarcastically.

Shadow did not understand the double meaning to her words. Instead, it nestled happily at her hooves curling up as a filly would.

"Stop doing that." Astelle said, backing away. "It's… it's not right. I'll start to believe you're something you're not. You're just magic…" she said trailing off towards the end. Shadow had ignored her protests and instead climbed back up onto her back where he loved to nestle.

"Are you listening to me? You're not a filly, you're a spell." Astelle said. She turned to see shadow curled on her back with his eyes closed. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought it was asleep.