A rumor was fabricated about five years after Nightmare Moon’s banishment. Over the years, the rumor was confirmed as fact by a number of ponies over and over again, and as technology developed over hundreds of years, ponies started taking photographs and filming video of the subject of this so called myth.

The myth began from the accounts of several townsfolk, all speaking of a shadowy figure about the eight hoofs in height. The strange thing was that it happened in a path. The mysterious figure never came across the same town twice.

So the guardsmen of the towns were made wary of the possible threat, and one day, a young guard posted on the night shift in Baltimare saw the figure. In a panic, the stallion threw his torch at the beast, lighting up the immediate area.

The sight the guard was privy to was not a pleasant one.

In front of him stood a fearsome creature that fit the vague description that the townsfolk had passed on to the guard. Eight hooves high, and darkly colored. But in that bright torchlight, the ground scorched from its flames, the beast was seen in all of its horrific majesty.

It was not an animal at all. It was an alicorn, and what appeared to be a male alicorn at that. His coat was matted to his skin, the fur a deep shade of crimson. His mane was completely shorn off, and his tail was simple missing. Giant and terrible scars wrapped around his body with no rhyme or reason, no fur growing over them, indicating magical cauterization. One of his eye sockets contained no eye, the hole only containing a dreadful black glow. The other eye was a sight to behold. The white of the eye were red, the iris was black, and the pupil was red as well. The red pupil bore deep into the poor guard’s face before dropping, the alicorn’s attention solely on the flame collecting at his feet.

But the strangest part of this encounter was that the flame went directly through the ghastly alicorn’s legs, the flames that should have been lapping at his chest simply fading in and out. The alicorn looked at the flame for a moment, the back at the guard, and then he simply wandered off, back on his journey.

The young guard, once he had collected himself, alerted his comrades, but by then it was too late. The alicorn was gone.

They sent word to the next town over: Fillydephia. All of the stallions in town built a blockade and armed themselves with anything they could find, be it a pitchfork or a sickle. They waited for the alicorn to appear, and when he did, it was under the cover of night. The townsfolk screamed at him, asking him to state his business. The alicorn merely growled, the deep thrumming sound instilling fear in the poor ponies of Fillydelphia.

When the alicorn finally approached the barricade, he simply walked through it. It was as if he was a ghost of some kind, taking no heed to the natural order of things. The ponies were baffled. Some of the weaker willed of them all actually fainted on the spot.

Of course with solid eyewitness accounts, even some coming from trusted members of the guard, word reached Celestia of this possible threat rather quickly.

They asked her if she knew this mysterious alicorn, if she knew what he was here for, and if she had a plan to deal with him properly.

And what Celestia said that say shaped the life of that strange alicorn, whether she knew it or not.

“We know this stallion personally,” Celestia said, startling the crowd gathered in the throne room. However, given their respect for the princess, the held their tongues. “A past prisoner of Tartarus, actually, whom we found guilty of murder two years prior.”

The crowd collectively gasped, and the guard was required to restore order. Murder was no light subject in a society comprised of creatures of prey.  

“Not long ago did this monstrous alicorn escape Tartarus. But fear not, my little ponies,” Celestia continued. “He cannot harm you. He is disconnected from this dimension. He cannot alter anything that exists in our world.”

The ponies quickly formed an opinion of this so spoken ‘escaped prisoner’. That he was irredeemably evil, that he had no right to exist. A murder had not occurred in thousands of years. Anypony guilty of it did not deserve a life of any kind.

They only really had one question.

“Your Highness?” one of the braver ponies asked, shrinking back from the Princesses gaze. “What is this alicorn’s name?”

Celestia, to anypony who didn’t know her nearly as well as they thought they did, looked impassive as ever. Had her sister been present, she would have noticed that Celestia was actually thinking rapidly, and would also have noticed the look of discovery upon her face resulting from the contemplations.

“Tenebris.” Celestia finally said. “His name is Tenebris.”

From that point on, she was a closed book on the matter, refusing to speak of it ever again.

She said that she had told her ponies all they needed to know.

Two Years Ago

“Honey, I’m home!” Shady called as he passed the door frame. He hung up his hat on a hook by the door and brushed a hoof through his wild navy blue mane. He didn’t want his love to see him with awful hat hair, after all. Walking through the sparsely furnished foyer, Shady contemplated on his lot in life.

Four years, and I still can’t believe that Sunny agreed to marry me. Shady chuckled under his breath at the thought. Three years, and I still can’t believe that we’re living in this little cottage together.

Shady was a simple stallion. He had a simple life, a simple job, and lived in a simple cottage out on the edge of simple village. But it was all he ever needed. He was happy, despite all that was going on.

Nightmare Moon had recently been banished by Princess Celestia, and while the country had initially been uproariously joyous, it had died down when news of how their fair princess was taking it. Celestia had holed herself up in her castle based in the Everfree, and only ever came out when she was required to change the night to day, and vice versa.

Even so, Shady was optimistic that the princess would recover. He was always rather chipper like that.

Was, was, was.

Shady looked up the primitive wooden stairwell to the second floor. A frown grew on his face. His wife still hadn’t responded.

“Sunny?” he called up, worried. His forest green coat stood on its ends as he heard a high pitched scream emanate from above him.

A series of scenarios ran through his mind in the span of a second: Sunny collapsed on the ground convulsing, Sunny crushed by a fallen wardrobe, Sunny weeping as she pathetically nursed a broken hoof, and countless others.

“Sunny!” Shady yelled. He bolted up the stairs, tripping over his hooves, nearly bashing into a wall as he turned a corner in the hallway.

Finally, he made it to the bedroom door, and immediately rammed into it, sending it flying open. What laid before his cerulean eyes had never appeared in his hastily thought out scenarios.

Two indiscriminate shapes shuffled below the covers of his queen size bed before freezing. All sound in the room ceased. Shadys mind went blank as it attempted to process what was happening. The two shapes eventually moved up and became two heads looked up from below the covers.

One of the heads was that of Shady's wife, Sun Shine. Her orange mane was disheveled and wild, her yellow fur matted with sweat. Her feathers were ruffled, her wings fidgeting and restless. Her sky blue eyes were wide, shocked, and aimed right at her husband.

The other was the head of Shady's best friend and coworker, Rose Garden. His pink coat and short red mane were in the same state as Suns, but his magenta eyes were filled with something different then hers; fear.

The first to break the silence was Sun Shine. She awkwardly cleared her throat, then addressed her husband.

“S-Shady.” She gulped. “T-This isn’t what it looks like.”

Shady blinked, then turned his head to Rose. The pink unicorn gulped, looking back and forth between Sun and Shady.

“I-I should go,” he said hurriedly, untangling himself from the covers and getting to his hooves. But Shady was blocking the door.

“I-I…I don’t…” Shady stuttered, the harsh reality of the situation dawning on him. “Why would…I can’t…I can’t believe…” He held a hoof to his head for a moment, closing his eyes. Rose saw his opportunity and took it, cautiously walking towards the door. Suddenly, Shady opened his eyes, and struck Rose with all of his might. Rose cried out and backed up, holding both fore hooves to his bleeding muzzle. Shady began to advance on him.

“Shady!” Sun yelled. “Stop!”

“How could you do this to me?!” Shady screamed in righteous fury. “Why?!” He began to beat down on Rose, accentuating each blow with a word. “What-possessed-you-to-betray-me-like-this?!” The kicks flung Rose back until he was up against the window, bleeding and stuttering apologies over and over.

“I’m s-sorry, I’m sorry, I-I’m so s-orry, I’m sorry…” he moaned pathetically, begging for mercy.

“Shady, that is enough!” Sunny screamed, getting out of the bed. She flew over to her husband and tried to hold him back, but he merely shrugged her off, his superior strength too much for her.

“No, it is not!” Shady yelled, turning back to face his wife, who recoiled in fear. Seeing her in this state somewhat calmed the beast in Shadys heart, causing him to back away from her and look down.

“I thought I meant something to you,” he whispered, rage and grief filled tears falling to the floor. “I thought you loved me!” Sun reached out with a hoof, but Shady just lightly smacked it away.

“Don’t touch me!” he screeched. His ear flicked back, picking up the sound of Roses incessant apologies.

“And you!” Shady turned to his friend, leaning his head down and scuffing a hoof against the ground. Words not enough to express his anger, he simply screamed in rage and charged, catching Rose in both hooves and crashing out the window. Shards of glass punctured Roses back, and a few stray pieces left jagged cuts in Shady's muzzle, legs, and barrel.

Barely two second passed. In those two seconds, Rose felt the last two emotions that he would ever experience again: fear and regret.

The cold hard ground was almost welcoming to him.

Celestia wasn’t having a good day. Or week. Or month. Or year.

Or years. Three, to be precise. Three years ago today marked the day that she was forced to make the hardest decision in her life; a decision that led her to imprison her beloved sister in the moon. Celestia knew that it would be a while yet before her sister could return, and spent her days and nights in her disheveled castle’s throne room, ruminating on years gone by.

The room was a mess. The hole had several holes in it, allowing moonlight to flood through unevenly across the room. The carpet was frayed and burnt, indications of the battle that had occurred between the two godly sisters.

Luna’s throne had gotten the worst of it. Directly after Nightmare Moon’s banishment, Celestia fell victim to a flood of frustration, anger, and sadness. In her whirlwind of emotions, she had destroyed her sister’s throne, leaving a black crater in the ground next to her own throne.

Next went the lunar banners, the furnishings, sections of the wall; nothing was safe. By the time she’d spent herself and collapsed into a heap of sobbing despair, the room looked as if three alicorn princesses had fought it out rather than two.

Nowadays, Celestia wasn’t the same caring and mothering ruler she had once been. On the rare occasions that ponies saw her, be it diplomats or royal guards, she put on a weak facade of her old self. It didn’t take a mind reader to tell what she was truly feeling.

They say time heals all wounds. Celestia figured that the saying only came about because of the mortality of all life…excluding her and her sister.

Celestia was broken out of her morbid contemplations when two earth pony guards burst through the damaged doors, looking wild and panicked.

“What is the meaning of this intrusion?” Celestia said with a scowl. Inwardly, she berated herself for her rude behavior, but decided that apologizing would be a mistake, only serving to undermine her standing.

The guards bowed their heads low, shaking slightly, obviously in fear. Celestia wasn’t quite sure what they were afraid of.

“Apologies, Your Highness,” one of the guards groveled. He raised his head, and Celestia saw something she hadn’t seen for a long time, and had hoped to never see again. His eyes were a dead man’s eyes, eyes that had seen the most terrible thing imaginable to ponykind. Celestia recoiled imperceptibly, going over the implications of his look in her mind. She opted to let him speak instead of drawing her own conclusions, perhaps in some vague hope that she was mistaken.

“But we have news most grievous,” the other guard finished. Celestia nodded, ushering him to continue. The guard gulped nervously and looked to his comrade, who looked back in the same frazzled manner.

“Well, um, Your Highness, we…we found…there’s been a…a,” the first guard stammered. Celestia closed her eyes, bowed her head, and sighed somberly. There was little doubt of it now.

“A murder?” Celestia finished quietly. The other guards started at her casual use of the word, but quickly regained a semblance of composure, if only for her sake.

“…Yes,” the second guard finally admitted. “At approximately eighteen hundred hours, a unicorn living in Trottingham by the name of Rose Garden was beaten, then tackled through a second story window. He…he didn’t survive.”

“By whose hooves?” Celestia asked.

“Shady Meadows,” The first guard stated briefly "An earth pony residing in Trottingham." Celestia shook her head and looked back up.

“And how did Shady Meadows die?” Celestia asked. The guards looked at each other, then back to their superior.

“He…he didn’t.”

Celestia’s eyes widened, and her pupils dilated. This couldn’t be. It had to be false. He had to be dead.

In all of the history of Equestria, as far back as three millennium, Celestia could only recount three murders that had occurred, all separated my hundreds of years, all in different locations. Each time, two graves were dug.

Each time, the murderer had taken his own life. Each time, within three hours of the murder.

Celestia had never once dealt with a murderer, was never once forced to punish somepony disgraceful and vile enough to commit such a sin. To hear that the sinful pony lived on gave her mixed emotions. She was, of course, happy that another one of her precious ponies were safe from the clutches of death, yet furious that a pony could live with themselves after enacting such atrocities.

“What?” she asked, unbelieving that such a development existed.

“Shadow Meadows did not commit…suicide,” the second guard informed, looking extremely uncomfortable with the word. “He was discovered unconscious on top of the victim. Several lacerations covered him from head to hoof, and pieces of glass were found embedded in his flesh.”

“How did you know of the murder?” Celestia asked.

“His betrothed informed the Trottingham guard,” the first guard explained. “They transported him to the castle via chariot. He’s in the castle infirmary.”

Celestia groaned internally.

“…Allow us some time to think,” Celestia said finally. The guards bowed their heads once more and left the throne room, shutting the doors behind them.

Celestia had to hold back from cursing or lashing out from her conflicting emotions. It wouldn’t be fit for her stature, even when alone.

Celestia looked up through the hole in the roof, eying the moon, and the familiar shadow that covered its surface.

“Well…” Celestia whispered aloud with a sad smile, “I suppose I’m never really alone…”

Celestia rubbed a hoof to her temple. There was no real time limit to when she could find a punishment fit for a murderer; really, she could put this off for as long as she wanted. Even so, she’d like to go through the emotional pain of punishing one of her little ponies as soon as possible, so as to avoid drawing it out. Like ripping off a dried bandage.

Celestia didn’t enjoy being the one who passed down punishment to her little ponies, but it was an unavoidable task. She always enjoyed giving correctional punishments, such as forcing community work upon a pony. But this was far too harsh a crime for such a simple punishment.  

Execution never crossed her mind. One does not solve murder with murder.

Time in the dungeon was certainly an idea, but Celestia quickly discarded it. Something this drastic does not get corrected by simply putting the offending party in time-out, even if it is indefinite. Especially if it’s indefinite.

Her third idea, however…her third idea came in a speck, a fleck of dust, barley a concept. But as she focused on it, it snowballed in her mind, accumulating more and more worth and merit in her eyes, until finally…Celestia had a plan.

A fantastic, terrible plan.

Shady Meadow’s eyes creaked open slowly, flinching back at the harsh torchlight of the castle infirmary. He quickly took in his surroundings: he was laid up on an uncomfortable straw mattress sitting in a metal bed frame. Along the wall, several similar beds were vacant. Several lit torches brought light into the room, all of them hung up on racks against the stone walls. No medical staff, or anypony for that matter, were present among him.

He shook his head lightly to clear it, but recoiled in pain at the action. Holding a hoof to his head, he felt the bandaging that was wrapped around his head, and noted that sections of his legs as well as his midsection were bandaged. Looking off to the side, he saw a small wooden table sitting next to his bed. Sitting upon it was a small pair of metal tweezers, and a wooden bowl filled with shards of glass and bloody water.

It wasn’t long before the memories of what had occurred only hours ago hit Shady Meadows like a freight train; mere moments after which sweeter memories lifted from the depths of his mind.

Meeting Rose in Trottingham Elementary.

Cowering as Rose defended him from bullies who looked down on his race.

Being introduced to Sunny through Rose.

Becoming Sunny’s husband as Rose stood by him as his best stallion.

All of the memories cracked and shattered in Shady's head, their fragments meaningless, only serving as a cruel reminder to what Shady had done.

Shady's mouth hung slightly open and his eyes grew wide as he attempted to comprehend his actions. He had attacked his best friend.

Probably put him in a hospital, given how much of a beating was laid upon him. Hell, Shady had tackled him through a second story window. He’d be lucky to be ali…

Shady froze.

No... he thought. No, that…nononono…

He sat up quickly in bed, wincing from the pain of his injuries but uncaring of the agony.

“Nurse!” he screamed. “Doctor! Anypony, please!”

The door burst open, and a white mare wearing a medical cap burst into the room. Shady made to get up and approach her, but was unable. For the first time, he noticed four pairs of metal cuffs attaching him to the bed: two at the top of his back legs and two near his fetlocks.

…Odd.

Shady shook the observation out of his mind, deeming it unimportant to the situation at hand. He had to be sure that his friend was okay.

That his wife was okay. That he hadn’t made the greatest mistake of his life.

“What!?” the nurse barked, looking furious. Shady was taken aback. Was it really that out of the question for him to call for a nurse? Perhaps it was the middle of the night, and he had awoken her. Can’t tell the time in a room with no windows.

“Where’s Rose?” Shady demanded desperately. “Rose Garden, h-he’s a unicorn, pink coat red mane, cutie mark of a-“

The nurse’s face contorted into one of unbelieving fury, and she spat right between Shady’s eyes. The stallion blinked, not entirely sure of what just happened.

“How dare you?” the nurse asked harshly. “How dare you ask that, after what you’ve done?”

Shady felt his heart sink.

“How badly is he hurt?” Shady pressed on, trying to ignore the nurse’s abhorrent behavior. “Where is he? Oh Goddess, what…”

Shady trailed off as the nurse suddenly rose her hoof into the air, as if the strike him. The hoof shook violently in the air for a few moments before returning of the ground, the action accentuated with a frustrated sigh.

“…There is little mercy for fiends like you,” the nurse said angrily. “I’m legally exempt from harming you…but Celestia isn’t.”

“C-Celestia?” Shady said hollowly. “What does the princess have to do with this? What is going on?!”

“I don’t feel obligated to answer the questions of a m-murderer.”

There was a palpable silence between them, the only sound being the faint crackling of the torches. The nurse began to feel her anger wane into discomfort as her patient stared at her, unblinking, unmoving.  

“…Was there anything else?” the nurse finally hissed. Shady didn’t move a muscle. The nursed eyed him one last time before storming out of the room, shutting the doors behind her.

Shady’s eyes eventually moved down to his bandaged fore hooves, held directly in front of his face. He shook his head, his eyes never leaving the bloody cloth.

Celestia clicked her tongue as she made a final flick of her quill, marking the end of the notes she had taken from the books of the Everfree Archives. The strictly forbidden books, to be precise. She was no stranger to dark magic. Her and her sister had learned much when they confiscated some of the more…interesting books in King Sombra’s library, directly after his imprisonment.

She was also no stranger to spell creation. Granted, it was ridiculously challenging, but nothing that a mare with thousands of years of experience in magical study couldn’t handle. Creating the transformation spell was quite difficult, and adding the parameters of the subject’s abilities was even more so, but she found that if it at all solved the issue at hand, then it was worth her efforts tenfold.

She was about to commend herself for a job well done when a bloodcurdling scream rang through the castle, bouncing off of the stone walls every which way, permeating the eardrums of all those within a half a mile radius.

Quickly charging up her horn, Celestia teleported to the only logical source of the sound: the infirmary. She took in the scene before her.

Several of the staff were holding a hysteric green earth pony to his bed. His fore hooves flailed, bloody bandages barely hanging on as he fought off the nurses. His eyes were bloodshot, his pupils pinpricks, and tears were freely flowing down his face. His heartrending wail escaped his open mouth, the noise never ceasing.

“Your Highness!” one of the nurses cried out. “The patients gone into hysterics! We can’t calm him down!”

“Let go of him,” Celestia stated briefly. The nurse looked at her superior incredulously, almost taking a hoof to the face from the crazed stallion.  

“B-But your highness-“

“We do not wish to repeat ourselves.”

The nurse held her gaze for a moment before hanging her head in defeat. She and the other nurses backed up, leaving the wild earth pony to continue his behavior. But, surprisingly, he ceased flailing, instead burying his head in his hooves and continuing to wail. Celestia looked sadly upon the pony, hurting inside for her little one, and dreading the price he must pay for his horrid discourse.

“Leave him be.” Celestia turned around, leisurely trotting out of the room. “Do not attempt to interact with him until morning. At midday tomorrow, we will come for him.”

Half a day isn’t enough to grieve for your best friend. It isn’t even enough time to grieve for a beloved pet. But Celestia only wanted peace and resolutions, and the sooner she could get them, the better. Shady Meadows would just have to make due.

The doors shut behind her, barely quelling the screams. Celestia made her way back to her chambers, resigning herself to a night free of slumber.