Nightshadow sighed as he thought back to that day. It took him years, but he finally learned the truth of the situation. It really wasn't Celestia's fault. But it didn't matter at the time. Neither of them could have known.

A month after the twin’s escape:

Celestia sighed as she looked over the majestic city. Things had gone well for the nation since Luna's imprisonment, but the same could not be said for Celestia's demeanor. Every time she gazed upon her majestic sun or her sister’s ominous moon, her feelings would resurface. She now felt twice as guilty, and had no way to avoid these feelings outside of her work.

"Your Majesty? I bring news from the search teams!" Wind Strider sounded excited, but Celestia remained solemn. They had been chasing the two foals for so long now, and her earlier predictions had turned out to be true. They would not be found as long as-

"A guard detachment sent word that they are in the process of detaining them." Celestia's eyes shot open. Pupils the size of pinpricks.

‘No… they can’t!’ Celestia trotted near Wind Strider and grabbed his head with her forehooves. "What do you mean, 'in the process of’?" Her panicked voice elicited a bit of fear from her bodyguard.

"W- Well, t- they've run into... c- complications...” He didn’t even have to finish his sentence...

Celestia knew.

"Go away!" Shade shouted as the guards broke through another of her magic barriers. She promptly cast another one surrounding herself and her brother.

One of the guards broke away from the formation currently attacking the magical barrier. He screamed to the foals as he ran: "Nightshade, please listen to us! We're only trying to-" A large stone, surrounded in a black aura, smacked the guard in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious over the dirt ground.

"Shadow, do something!" The panicked filly turned to her brother, who struggled with his magic.

"I'm… trying!" Nightshadow said as he tried to cast the spell his sister showed him prior. The guards pounded outside the barrier, the last one Shade had managed to maintain. A small black spark came to life at the tip of his horn, summoning forth a thin, black wall appeared between the guards and the two foals. Nightshadow grunted as the wall blinked in and out of existence before finally disappearing.

"I… can't... Shade, I can't!" Shadow panted, exhausted from the strain his magic put on him. Shade might have said something if it wasn't taking all of her concentration to keep the guard's from breaking through the last barrier. She staggered for a moment and it was all it took. A unicorn clad in golden armor stepped towards the weakened barrier and smiled. With a wave of his hoof, the barrier shattered like a frail glass window.

"No!" Shade was tapped out. She couldn't fight them all. She grasped her head in her forehooves. ‘If only I had more time…’

The night sky seemed to darken itself. The small breeze that ruffled through the meadow slowed down until it came to a sudden stop. Every sound seemed thicker and lower in pitch. Shade saw the guard ponies advancing in slower steps until they came to a full halt. ‘But they don’t seem… still.’ Shade moved around though the frozen guards. Some of them bore weary expression on their faces, but every single one of them stood paralyzed in mid-step.

Her eyes widened when she realized what had happened. “Shadow, come on! We’ve got to…” The words rot and fell away. There in the meadow, surrounded by frozen attacking guards stood Nightshadow… and herself. She looked down, towards her own hooves and gasped when nothing stood before her eyes. A thick, dark cloud moved unnaturally through the live statues, coming to a halt before her.

'Have you forgotten the spell already, little one?' A familiar voice rang directly inside her head, but Nightshade knew that the voice somehow came from the eerie cloud.

'But... I don't want to hurt anypony!' Shade tried to argue with it.

'You have no choice.'

'No! I can't...' She knew that it was right.

'You will. You must.'

'But...' She knew what she must do.

'Do it!' The voice snapped as the little filly felt herself being pulled back into her body.

Celestia and Wind Strider were both startled as a Pegasus burst into the room. Wind Strider unfurled his wings and tensed his muscles, but he relaxed when he saw the royal emblem that the Pegasus bore.

"Your Highness! Please come with me! There is something you need to see..." Puzzled, the Princess motioned for Wind Strider to follow her as she trotted down the hall into one of the many empty rooms of the castle.

On the floor of the room lay one of the guards. His wings were missing many feathers, but his torso is what sustained the most damage. Deep wounds oozed, staining his white coat a ruby tone. Celestia saw bone fragments sticking out of one of his hind legs. His armor was a charred mess, save for her symbol, the shining sun, which still remained somehow.

"We found him among the search party after they failed to report in... your majesty, everpony else that was part of that group was found dead." Celestia's eyes widened.

"How?" She simply asked

"We... are not sure your majesty. Some appeared to have had their flesh rended, as if they were torn apart from the inside. Others appear to have been burned, and one seemed to have been... beaten to death." Celestia visibly cringed from the guard pony’s description of the scene.

"What of him? Will he live?" She asked, still hopeful that at least one pony could be saved from the carnage.

The Pegasus slowly shook his head. "No, your Majesty. His injuries are too severe. He will pass soon. He was speaking nonsensically when they found him, but he requested to see you specifically." Celestia nodded and slowly trotted over to the dying unicorn, kneeling by his side. She recognized him from his uniform. He was an Eclipse, one of her honor guard.

The pony was shaking. Celestia didn’t know if it was fear or pain that compelled him to do so. "Darkness... horrid darkness... she is watching now... never blinking... eyes of a dragon... staring from the shadows...”

Wind Strider voiced himself, trying to grasp the dying pony’s attention: "Guardsman?"  The Eclipse centurion froze. He slowly turned around and looked towards Celestia. She gasped as she stared into his eyes, they had become empty, red, pools.

"You!" His voice was laced rage. "This is your fault! Your actions have irrevocably exposed a pure heart to darkness!" The pony quickly forced himself off the floor, grabbing her and pulling her closer, the other guards drew their weapons and began to trot towards them when Celestia raised a hoof, signaling them to stay back and sway their weapons.

"Listen closely to my  words, sun princess, for they shall be my last. Do not try to save her. She cannot be redeemed. You must cease your search or you will doom yourself and all those around you!"

He let go, repeating those words over and over again. Each repetition on a slightly lower volume until the rambling became unintelligible and ceased forever. Celestia stared off into space, her mind lost in a mist of confusion. She remembered this pony; she had been at his induction, just like she was at all of the Eclipse inductions.

He was loyal, strong, brave.

‘What could drive a pony like that to madness?’

Nightshadow grunted as he opened his eyes. He looked around himself, only to find a rocky crater over what once was a peaceful and isolated meadow. "Sh- Shade?" The black Alicorn filly stood alone among the fallen guardsmen. She seemed fine to him, but the guards unusually still. "Shade? Are you OK?" Her mane was... different. It had become as pitch black as their coats.

She slowly turned to her brother and smiled. Shadow couldn’t put his hoof on it, but something about that smile made the fur in his coat stand on its end. "Of course I am, Shadow. Why wouldn't I be?" Something was wrong with her eyes. It was like she was staring right through him.

"Shade? What happened to the guards?" He looked around, visibly concerned.

"Oh… Them. I killed them." Nightshadow cringed.

"Wh- What?" Nightshade simply giggled in response.

"I killed them. Every single one of them." A pained groan was heard behind her. Nightshade frowned and turned around. "Excuse me, almost every single one of them." She walked over towards the source of the noise. The groan came from a gold-clad unicorn that Shade recognized belonging to one particular group of Celestia’s centurions. The Eclipses. He looked up at the filly standing above him, who stared at him coldly. Their eyes locked and the guard shifted uneasily under the filly. Nightshadow could hear her whisper something, never taking her gaze out of him.

The guard pony used to seem terrifying to Nightshadow. Now that very pony was curled in a ball, crying heavily. "W- What did you do, Shade?" He asked, trotting next to her. She simply looked at him and smiled.

"Oh, nothing. He's just passing a message along to the princess for me." Raindrops began to lazily fall from the skies. A distant lightning bolt illuminated Nightshade’s face, making her both eyes glimmer in a sudden frightening flash.

"Why are you so... happy about this, Shade? You killed five ponies! You don't even look-"

"Sad? Guilty? Nope!" She cut him short. Nightshadow stared at his sister in complete disbelief. Nightshade frowned a bit and spat at her brother: "What!? You know what they were going to do! I had no choice! No sense in feeling guilty over something you couldn't avoid."

Nightshadow opened his mouth to say something, but instead turned from his sister and ran into the forest. Nightshade stood still as her brother galloped away from her. She felt something strange. Her head felt light, as if waking up from a long nights sleep. She saw Shadow running and felt her heart sink, she couldn't even remember why he was running.

The rain picked up; Nightshade could feel the cold drops splattering against her body as the strong wind mercilessly flung them at her. "Shadow! Wait!" She chased after her brother. She was able to keep him in her line of sight for a few good minutes, but unfortunately for her, Nightshadow was always the better athlete. The cold rain mixed with the burning muscles made Nightshade’s bones ache.

She didn't stop though. She didn’t stop until she couldn't run anymore.

And when she couldn’t, she fell to the ground and began to cry.

Shade couldn’t tell tears from rain.

Nightshadow ran. When he couldn't run anymore he simply collapsed onto the ground, in the middle of a long stretch of road. He was convinced that the creature he saw killing the guards wasn’t Nightshade. It couldn’t be her!

But no matter what he wanted to believe, some part of him knew the truth. It was his sister. She had killed five ponies and didn't even feel bad about it. Nightshadow whimpered, lonely and miserable. Bravery is not above sadness.

Guilt began to sour his thoughts: ‘What have I done?! I left Nightshade there… I abandoned her!’ He remembered how she had called out to him, scared for them both.

She was just trying to protect them.

And he paid her back by running away.

"He-… Hello?" A shaky voice asked behind him. Nightshadow turned to look at its owner. She was an orange earth mare with a deep red mane. He raised his gaze to look at her face; small freckles adorned her round cheeks. She gasped at the sight of his crimson eyes. Nightshadow simply turned his back to her and continued to sob.

"H- Hey now... wha's wrong?" Nightshadow looked back to see the mare hadn't backed away, but gotten closer. She still had a bit fear in her eyes, but something else was there as well... almost as if she was worried.

"I... I..." Shadow just broke down again. He wouldn't speak to anypony ever again. That was his punishment for leaving his sister behind.

"Do ya’... Do ya’ need ah place ta’ stay?" A part of Nightshadow wanted to say yes, but every other part of him wanted to stay put and hope his sister would somehow find him. But the fear of loneliness got the best of him. He got up and nodded to the mare without speaking a word.

The mare motioned for him to follow her down a dirt road and so he did. They walked for a long time before they saw anypony else. They gave him the strange look that the castle staff gave him the first day they saw him, but the mare shot them a look of her own that seemed to prevent them from saying anything.

In the distance he could make out a sign that read: 'Welcome to Emberglen'.

'Why did I listen to her...' Nightshade thought while slowly walking through the forest. No direction in particular.

'You listened to me because you knew I was right.' The voice made its way inside her mind once again.

'If I hadn't listened to you, Shadow would still be here!' She mentally berated at it.

'If you hadn't listened to me, you would both be dead.' Nightshade physically froze for a moment.

'You… you don't know that!'

'Yes I do. Because you know that too.' Shade didn’t want to believe it.

“ SHUT UP!" She screamed out into the open forest. Nothing answered her. She picked up her pace, starting to trot; eager to leave the forest. 'I have to find Shadow and explain it was all a mistake...'

'He won't trust you. He can't. Celestia made sure of that. '

'Celestia doesn't have anything to do with this!'

'Celestia has everything to do with this. She sent the guardsponies. She forced you to kill them. What makes you think that she'll stop now?' The voice rose in volume.

'I-' Shadow mentally began, but the shadow cut her short.

'She won’t! She won’t stop until you are dead. And then after she's done with you, your brother will be next. '

"No!" The shadow made sense to her. Shade knew that she could take it if something was brought down upon her… but she wouldn’t allow anything or anypony to harm her brother.

‘She fears us. Fears you. But I know how we can best her. ’ Nightshade was silent. The shadow took this as a cue to continue. 'I can show you how . You just have to get to me first. '

"But... I thought you were here?"

'No little one. I am not. I can teach you certain things from a distance, but you must be patient, do as I say, and above all trust me. When the time comes, you will meet me. And then you will be reunited with your brother over the corpse of the Sun Princess! '

She could no longer find the words to argue. Nothing sounded so bad anymore. Nothing was there to keep her in line. The only thing that was clear, the only thing that stood in between her and her brother, was Celestia.

Nightshade frowned a bit, acknowledging its wisdom: "Just tell me what I need to do."

The present day:

Nightshadow recalled his time spent at Emberglen fondly. He remembered the small town like the back of his hoof. In many ways it was like Ponyville; a self-sufficient town. The mare he met was one Red Apple, who was named due to her hair and the fact that she was part of the Apple family. They had gone back centuries before Nightshadow ever met them, they had always been named after Apples and had always been involved in the farm business in some way or the other. Nightshadow also recalled the enormous guilt he felt. He often wondered what would have happened had he stayed with Nightshade instead of leaving her by herself.

In any case, he enjoyed the time he spent with them. While wary of him at first, they had eventually come to accept him. Even after he told them about his situation, they let him hide there as long as he pleased.

"’Ah respect tha’ princess, but she musta’ been wrong about ya’. Ye've been nuthin’ but good to us here, so it'd be wrong o’ us to not do tha’ same."

Nightshadow found himself chuckling a bit. He could remember the thick, strong accent with clarity. The way they talked always sounded funny to him, and it always would. He would stay with them for thirty years, watching as the generation that took him in 'passed the reigns' to the generation he grew up with.

He frowned and began to push his memories away, he did not want to think about his last day with them, not right now anyway. As he watched the ponies scurry about below, he asked himself what his sister could be up to right now…