"Shadow and Sunlight forever entwined, for each can Save, and each can Blind." - Gentle Buck, Earth Pony Philosopher

Canterlot Library, The Sealed Archive - Six months after the Tantalus Incident

Deep within the Canterlot Library, a set of massive solid iron doors are set into a forbidding stone wall. These doors are guarded day and night by four royal guard ponies and one member of the Equestrian Battlemage division. Set into this door are six locks, each of which requires a magically enhanced key.

Each of these keys are in the possession of the six most powerful individuals within the Equestrian government. Because this was the door to the Sealed Archive, the collection of the most dangerous volumes of lore and ancient artifacts in all of Equestria - and some believed, the world.

Princess Celestia was not used to the act of pleading to others, yet here she had no choice. So she had begged of the keepers of the keys to open the Archive for the first time since the Lunar Rebellion. Each of the keepers had heard her arguments - That Twilight Sparkle, one of Equestria's most powerful unicorns needed to be cured of this affliction. That no other pony Magic in the archives had even so much at hinted on how to deal with this power of 'Shadow'.

They had taken three weeks to deliberate. This morning, they had unlocked the doors.

The sealed Archive was not a large room. It contained only four book cases and two large sets of display cases, along with four chests neatly stacked beneath them. The entire room was contained within a single magical circle, one of the biggest that had ever been created.

Its wards and protections had had power poured into them by Celestia and many others down through the centuries. No malignant spirit or dark god could escape that room. Even Celestia could not breach these wards. The Archive had always been held as the one place an Alicorn could be safely imprisoned.

The door had been tightly shut behind her - there would be no removing any of these materials from this room unless the need was dire in the extreme. Before today, Celestia would never have considered even reading the titles of these books. Too many of them were possessed with a potent intelligence all their own.

The secrets they kept had been hidden away for a reason, hidden from the prying eyes and lustful gazes of those who did not care about the consequences. Princess Platinum's personal spell journal was in here, containing the last known copy of the Navis Celestian spell, the means by which Unicornia had controlled the sun and moon. The writings of King Sombra and unicorns even worse than he were stored here as well. And some tomes whose writers had long been forgotten by history, with good reason..

No, before today Princess Celestia would not have contemplated the use of these tomes or the dark knowledge they contained. Yet she intended to read through every last bucking one of them if necessary. For in these books was recorded every dark power or hoary god that had ever cursed her beloved land. There could be information in here which would lead her to Twilight Sparkle's salvation from this accursed 'Shadow'.

The past six months had not been kind to the ego of the Sun Princess. She had been convinced that the answer lie in her extensive personal libraries, or if not there within the Canterlot Library proper. Yet three solid months of research provided reams and reams of paper, filled with stone cold speculation about the nature of their foe and precious few facts.

Celestia had called upon every adviser and every magician loyal to her throne. She had offered bounties of vast wealth and power to any soul who could educate her sufficiently about her foe. Many had come to her call, none had known what she needed. For months, she had searched desperately for any other way and had found none.

She was at the very end of her rope. But within this room she believed, was her salvation. Ten neat tomes, with grey cloth covers and a simple symbol upon them. The personal research of Star Swirl the bearded. Within their pages was a lifetime of work by the most brilliant Unicorn in all of history. Celestia extracted the tome she sought, the very first one. Within the pages was the work Star Swirl had done during his time traveling amongst the earth pony tribes. Sure enough, she quickly found the passages she needed.

Winter's Heart, 15th day.

At last, I have found the legendary Dark Book. A tome of magic from the days of the Alicorn Dominion, long since lost to ponykind. I must be cautious in my research, yet I must admit my hooves are trembling in anticipation. Within these pages may lie the secret to the salvation of my people, and all of our brothers and sisters in the other tribes.

Winter's Heart, 22nd day.

The Dark Book is even more treacherous than I originally assumed. Had my containment ritual not been flawless, I might have been consumed by its power. There is some dark being trapped within the pages of the tome, which calls itself 'Umbra'. We spoke briefly the previous evening, and it told me something of itself. It is apparently quite wary of me continuing to read the pages of its home, yet I must press forward. Time runs short.

Winter's Waning, 3rd day

I have finally tamed the Dark Book to my hoof. I have convinced Umbra to allow me to plumb the secrets of the book, in return for which I have promised him to work to see him freed. I have no objections to this course of events. As such creatures go, Umbra is at the least polite enough to understand that I would sign no pact with him. That he might be dangerous is obvious. That I have no choice is even more obvious.

Winters Waning, 30th day

Princess Platinum has informed me that Pegasopolis is becoming increasingly unable to control the weather. There is some kind of magical force inhibiting their natural abilities. Though she does not know it, I have long known this course of events would take place. My studies with the book continue apace, though I am becoming increasingly worried of what the cost of our salvation might be.

Spring's Foalhood, 18th day

At last, I know the truth. And it places a terrible burden upon me. Yet I have no more time to seek a second answer. I shall have to manipulate fate itself to save Ponykind. The winter storms continue to rage, and the tribes are beginning to move to the west. I am almost out of time.

Spring's Foalhood, 23rd day

I have no choice. The young prodigy I have been meeting amongst the earth ponies is my only hope. Only he may be strong enough to withstand the corruption of Umbra. I will be giving him the dark book, and in so doing I cast my soul into the stygian pits. What I do now, I do not for myself, but for all ponykind. May the goddess have mercy upon me.

Winter's Heart, 25th Day

It is done. The young boy freed Umbra, and in the dark creatures haste to make his new pawn suffer he has unwittingly saved us all. The Fire of Friendship has been lit, and the threat to all ponykind has been slain. We have wielded darkness against darkness, and found a ray of hope.

I met the poor child above the plains, changed by the power. It was horrifying and beautiful to behold. I cannot abandon this child now. I owe him, we all owe him far too much. I know not even where to begin in the defeat of this dark beast, but I shall find a way if one exists.

Celestia stared for a time at the book, feeling her hopes sink slowly into the floor. But what followed raised them up again if slowly. Page upon page of research followed, and Celestia set her mind to the task. Hours passed, and she did not notice. Food was irrelevant, the only duty she'd need to perform was the sun lowering. That was not for some time to come, so she worked.

One by one, she searched through the tomes for even the merest hint of progress, for every possible scrap of information. The search for a cure had frustrated even Star Swirl, but he had not been thwarted completely. Any other unicorn might have given up, yet the difficulty of the task had simply driven him to try harder.

Finally, Celestia stared at the twenty pages of notes stacked neatly before her. The summary was easy enough. A cure was possible. There was hope for Twilight. Star Swirl had not had the answer, but he had given Celestia the knowledge that an answer existed. Celestia lifted the pages up with a touch of golden magic and carefully placed them in a file.

She now had a place to start.

~~~~The Twilight City, The Everfree Forest~~~~

Deep in the heart of the Everfree Forest, a new city was being born before the eyes of countless creatures. They came from every corner of the world it seemed, speaking in strange accents and bearing strange customs. Yet each and every one of them were brothers or sisters in shadow. They might not have known each other’s names, or really anything about each other. Yet as each new group walked amongst the stone shells of a once mighty city, they began to work together.

At the center of the controlled chaos, Captain Winterlight of the Shadowbolts directed the newcomers to the city to the tasks that needed completion. Lumber crews were constantly in and out of the city, ponies who knew how to work with wood or metal were working all hours of the day. Many of those who came had brought all sorts of tools and personal effects. The shells of houses were sold on a case by case basis, with all of the proceeds going to the crown.

Most of those proceeds were being fed right back into the city, of course. Captain Winterlight had to admit her new liege was determined to make her city as glorious as it could be as quickly as possible. The better to attract more wealthy families to move to her city. So the funds flowing into the government did not go to the glory of her new Queen, but rather to the glory of her city.

Winterlight was no administrator, but by virtue of being the only pony here that had any idea of what to do with disorganized civilians, she was in charge. So she had laid into the task with brash courage and stubborn determination, and so far she thought she was doing alright. Another shipment of foodstuffs from Ponyville rumbled through the square, followed by yet another cartload of Shadow touched looking for salvation. A moment of yelling had them setting to the main work of the rest of the city, which meant making the damn place livable.

That meant cutting down trees, making planks and building barracks. Temporary barracks of course, just a place for the workers and working class to live while they built better housing. Her Queen had been insistent that the working class of Twilight City would be treated with respect. It made sense long term of course, but it did mean the town had turned into a massive work camp. Of course, that was quickly coming to an end.

Six months of hard work had transformed the entire city. Where once only stone shells and ghosts seemed to dwell, the town bustled with life. The ancient marketplace had been mostly torn down and turned into the heart of the city, where everything from wax candles to rope was sold nearly as fast as it went on sale. All around the market square, buildings were going up as trading families vied to be the first to build a headquarters in the new Everfree trading hub.

Elsewhere in the city, shops and homes were springing up side by side in haphazard fashion. Sawdust seemed to be getting everywhere and nopony really seemed to mind. Of course, it wasn't just ponies moving into the town. And incredibly enough that had not been nearly the problem Winterlight had originally predicted it would be.

Even the changelings had begun to integrate into the city with a fair amount of ease. Winterlight intended to conscript a few of them to serve as a secret police later, but that could wait. Every conceivable race was showing up in town, from every corner of the world. Saddle Arabians, Ki-Lin, Griffons, Vamponies, Thestrals, Donkeys, Buffalo, and much more.

Winterlight finally managed to get the last group of the morning sorted out, and collapsed into a chair. She blinked. There had not been a chair there earlier. She looked up to see the slender form of her monarch looming quietly over her, with a slight smile on that mysterious face.

~~~~~~

Twilight Sparkle had to chuckle at the sudden poleaxed look on Winterlight's face. The poor pegasus pony had been working herself to death trying to keep everything under control. Not that any of us have had much of a choice. Twilight thought with another wry chuckle. "Don't look so stunned Captain. I would hardly be worth my horn if I couldn't be there for the ponies I care about."

Despite all that had happened six months ago, Twilight had come to truly value the Captain. Certainly, there was a darkness in her - a powerful one at that. Yet Twilight had precious few ponies she could truly rely upon these days. Even with all of the help from her closest friends, the stigma of her transformation and the mystery behind it had been problematic. What could I do? At least most of Ponyville hasn't abandoned me.

That had been what had kept her going, truth be told. It had only taken one passionate speech by Rarity and one dressing-down condemnation from Applejack to shame pretty much everyone in ponyville into accepting the new her. The fact that she was now technically some kind of nobility was probably helping things too.

Ponyville in the meantime had become a boom town overnight as massive amounts of gold began flooding into the local economy from the rebuilding efforts here. Twilight had to smile a little at the vision of Granny Smith cavorting around her trees like a lunatic while Apple Family business shot through the roof. They were even calling in other members of the clan to help out with the extra workload.

Winterlight had finally recovered from her moment of stunned, before swallowing a little and nodding. Twilight knew she was not the vision of the 'Queen' Winterlight had come to serve, but she had been toeing the line ever since that night a few weeks ago. Twilight shook her head in bemusement before speaking. "Go get yourself something to eat, Captain. Anypony else can wait." She injected just enough stern expression into her voice that Winterlight nodded enthusiastically, and quickly flew off to goodness-knows-where.

Twilight laughed a little to herself, one of the few laughs she could indulge in these days. Everypony was so busy these days. Even her mentor, Princess Celestia had grown increasingly quiet and distant. In spite of the near constant letters they now exchanged following what happened six months ago, Twilight could swear Celestia was afraid for her. Or perhaps, of her.

Twilight found her hooves taking her through the town, many of the workers and citizens bowing to her as she passed. She granted them a smile, as was proper of a Lady and continued onwards. Perhaps she is right to be afraid of me now. Twilight knew that with but a thought, she could take any single one of these creatures away. Within hours, she knew that her Maidens would be at her side to teach her whatever she so demanded about how to use her power to corrupt others.

Shadow Dancer had been teaching her nonstop as it was. Mostly in how to utilize the subtler applications of the Shadow power. Moving from one shadow to another like teleportation, manipulating shadows present on the ground, using a shadowed area to make herself invisible. That last power had proven very useful lately, as Twilight had moved in silence and invisibly about her city. Watching her new citizens slowly settle into a day-to-day routine.

Yet the one thing she had refused training on was how to use her Shadow to manipulate other ponies. Shadow Dancer had described the process very vaguely, but Twilight knew what it meant. It means using my power to... make them like me. That was the sticking point. She had taken this power into herself so that she could protect the ponies she loved from destruction. Not so she could lead them into the same madness!

Yet day after day passed, and the temptation grew stronger and stronger. Shadow Dancer insisted it was not an evil to do it, but a blessing. Like Celestia had been known to grant some of her power to her most legendary champions, Twilight could do the same. And of course, so many other benefits. the little shadow whispered in her mind. After all, once they are obedient to you, they'll be so much fun to play with.

Twilight stopped in a shadowed corner, willing herself invisible with a burst of violet magic. That had been the other thing she'd noticed over the past six months. Her desire to rule had only grown, not diminished with every new soul who came under her power. Twilight had thought she was imagining things at first, but now she could practically feel it. Every time a new family came to stay, Twilight could feel a shiver of desire run down her spine. It had been incredibly distracting.

Distracting enough to drive her to... interesting methods of stress relief. Her shadows had been good for far more than just bashing in the heads of ne'er-do-wells. Twilight bit her lip and pressed her body back against the cool stone of the building, willing herself back to calm. Her mind once again swam with thoughts of all the things she could do to the ponies of this town. Unchallenged, unopposed. No one could stop her here, in the heart of her power.

Even her friends would fall to her. One by one, she would pluck them like ripe fruits. One by one, she would dig deep into their souls and pull out the parts she wanted, turning them into her obedient minions. They would feel pain of course, but there would be pleasure as well. Such pleasure. Such pain.

Twilight's eyes shot open and she gasped out, clutching the wall behind her as her breathing left her lungs in fast bursts. Celestia, what am I thinking!? she desperately, silently cried out into the daytime. Damnit, I'm not going to let these... thoughts beat me! She had to go somewhere. Somewhere familiar, and friendly and safe. Ponyville. But where in Ponyville? The library! She thought, her mind exulting. There was always an answer in the Library.

Twilight concentrated, and suddenly she began to teleport from shadow to shadow in the town, vanishing and reappearing in rapid succession as she made her way out of the city and into the Everfree Forest.

~~~~~~

Not far from Twilight, a sleek bat-winged pony slipped around the corner with a curvy smile. Her dark blue coat had blended well with the stone, and mantled her wings against her back. "Dearest Queen." She whispered to the empty shadowed corner. "You cannot deny what you are forever." her voice purred with sibilant noise.

Moments later, a stark white pegasus slipped out from seemingly nowhere to stand next to the Thestral, and gave a soft smile. "Go after her, Dancer." she whispered, her broad white wing slowly stroking along the Thestral's back. "Her self-control will falter soon. She will need you to ensure all goes well."

Shadow Dancer laughed joyfully. "Of course, Moony. I'll make sure she's taken care of. Go let the boss know, eh?" Shadow Dancer the bat-winged pony skipped into the shadow, and vanished into it a moment later.

Silent Moon, the white pegasus smiled slightly at the empty shadow, then turned and began to trot merrily down the road. Things were finally settling into their proper place in the world.

~~~~~~

Celestia's hooves quietly tic-tac'd down the corridor, the bundle of notes secured under her wing with a tight red ribbon. Celestia quietly turned down one of the main hallways and through a series of increasingly elaborate short-cuts. Keeping her mind on the act of governance had been especially difficult as of late, given her problems with Twilight. That meant ensuring she was not bothered by random courtiers as she traversed the hallways.

That did not mean she could ignore her duties, much as she wished she could. A stiff looking guard already had the small stack of scrolls waiting for her on a platter beside her bedroom door. She bowed her head in thanks to the stallion, snatching up the platter with her magic as she breezed past them. Normally, she would have stopped to chat. Today, she had no time.

The platter clattered down onto the large table in the center of her sleeping quarters, one of the scrolls neatly tumbling off of it and onto the table. Celestia carefully set down her precious notes by the bed stand, and quietly sighed as she examined her room. The place was clean, of course. Her maids refused to allow her to get the place cluttered up.

A gentle glow of magic snatched up the scrolls on the table and began to open them one by one, each message quickly floating past her gaze. Later. Later. Later. She paused, head tilted as she considered a diplomatic request from one of the Griffon envoys. Stall him. she thought, scribbling the message onto the scroll before continuing. Garbage, Garbage, Ah~! The last scroll was from Twilight, bearing her distinctive royal hoofprint seal.

Celestia quickly tossed the rest of the scrolls onto the table, messily stacking them up into piles. She quickly broke the seal on the scroll, and unrolled the vellum. Her eyes darted across the page quickly, absorbing the words carefully.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

I've been working on those mental exercises you sent me last week. They've been a big help in reducing the stress of this assignment! I've got to admit, I didn't realize just how much work went in to running a city. Let alone trying to rebuild one!

I miss you terribly, but I understand how busy your duties keep you. I hope you can find the time to come and see all of the hard work we've done here soon. The Everfree Forest has remained mysteriously quiet. Fluttershy says that a lot of the 'badness' has gone out of the place, but I really can’t quantify that for you.

I'm continuing to study this 'Shadow' power further, in the hopes that one day we might fully understand where it comes from and why. Although my studies have been slow due to a complete lack of literature on the subject, careful experimentation has already yielded impressive results. I'll be happy to share them with you as soon as I can put them down in a more scientific context.

I wanted you to know that your letters give me constant strength to face the trials every day., and how much I love you my dearest teacher. I hope to hear back from you soon.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle "