Chapter 1: The Foal Of Darkness
Equestria… Land of the great pony race, and all things magical and wild. Many in the present knew it to be a land of harmony and peace among all four pony races. For the Pegasus, unicorns, Earth ponies, and the might Alicorn race, Equestria was a land of peace loving wonders. However, Equestria wasn't always the peaceful and loving land many knew and loved. Two thousand years ago however, peace and harmony was all but dead in the world, violence and evil was in it's place.
Since the beginning of time, evil and all matters of darkness were all but unknown. For that same reason, it was feared and impossible to control for the sake of a thriving world. Evil, hatred, darkness, all of it was able to thrive freely and pillage the land of Equestria. Ponies constantly lived in fear and hid away like roaches and even lived as such, except the most fortunate. The only sort of protection they had from the darkness, was the great kind and queen Alicorn of Equestria.
King Cosmos, the honorable, stern and mighty king over saw the darkness and night that he himself created. While his wife, Queen Galaxia brought the pleasant light of the day and hope for the ponies they ruled over. While they themselves oversaw the world itself, they left the the more physical protection of the world of their most trusted defenders. The very last two and original warriors, known as the Equestrian Warriors. Beings that many knew that demanded respect for their protection.
These two final warriors were two great stallions, said to be as old as the king himself. Crystar The Great Crystal Barer, and the Great Necromancer, Necrid Ghoul. Together these warriors protected their people against the great evils that aggressively gripped at Equestria. Their efforts were valiant and helpful to the world, but darkness came back as fast as they could push it away. The king knew this, and with time his warriors would grow weary and weak from battle.
When that happens, his people would be in the unmerciful grasp of evil. With his second born child on the way, and his first born barely able to walk. He needed to find a way to tame and control what many believed was uncontrollable to this day. For many days the Alicorn of the night gazed to his night sky, begging and praying for an answer to controlling the darkness he himself shamefully created. Then one faithful night, his prayers were answered in the most unlikely of ways.
For evil itself would cause one of it's greatest foes to grow to the pony known as Shadow Swirl. The great Pony Of Darkness, the mare that tames all shadows and darkness. This is her story… The story of a time before she became the fearsome warrior that all things evil feared.
It all began at a great stone kingdom, an old white castle laid against the base of a great mountain. It over looked a many stone houses of all shapes sizes, a whole small city was built from these homes. The conditions were less than sanitary, and the ponies were sick or vile. Thievery was at an all time high, death was common among the ponies that could not survive. For those who did survive, evil deeds, and even darker deeds were necessary to prosper when the royal family's daily supplies were not enough.
That was the case for a purple unicorn mare and a pitch black stallion wrapped in rags. They walked under the cover of night and the shadows of the dense city walls made of stone. Everything was quiet, just as they had hoped for things to be, for they had a mission. It required stealth and complete dead silence until they met up with a most foreboding only problem, was the child that the unicorn held in her arms, as it whimpered and wriggled.
She tried her best to rock the baby unicorn filly back to sleep before they met with the employer. However, this purple foal was feisty and kicking after not being fed since the day she was born. Irritation was mounting as the mare turned to the stallion and showed her impatience.
"How much further must we go? We've been walking since we finally got out of the doctors shop,"The mare ranted as she tried rocking the filly a bit more,"And I'm not sure how much longer I can bare this child's feisty behavior, and I birthed the darn thing!"
"It's not too far now… It's just at the edge of the south district…! Now quiet,"The stallion demanded as they stepped through the gates to the southern area of the city,"The guards are plentiful in this district…! And we can't be seen…!"
"Well hurry up…! I can't stand this thing much longer, it keeps whining…!"The mare complained before the stallion pushed her into the corner of a large house.
They went silent instantly the moment they heard the heavy hooves of large guards. The stallion looked forward and saw two large unicorn stallions garbed in leather armor and holding stone spears. They were slow moving and held lanterns up by their horns to see through the dark. They gently huffed as they took a good look around the area, one of which almost came within touching distance of the mysterious couple. Finally the guards began to march on nice and slow to remain watchful.
"Come…! It's just over there in the ally way across the street. Then we can trade the child for gold…!"The stallion walked out of the darkness and pointed across the path that the guards had walked.
"We better…!"The mare groaned before she was following the stallion once again across the path.
They looked to their left, watching the guards disappear into the darkness. The mare swallowed and growled the moment she felt the foal kicking her once again. The stress was getting to the stallion as well, the moment he heard the filly cooing at them. They came to a steady halt in the ally way between the large house and a small business building. It was then a waiting game that lasted for only a couple minutes before an old looking mare in a cloak emerged from the shadows.
"Were you two followed?"The mare asked in a very frail voice before a chuckle ensued.
"No… The doctor was a fool… We just played it civilized and he let us go,"The stallion replied and gestured to the complete seclusion they all had for this deal,"Do you have the money we agreed on? This job wasn't exactly easy."
"Of course…! So long as you two have the child of Tartarus's prophecy."The old one responded while breathing out a black smoke to form a large bag of golden bits.
"Of course we have it…! And it hasn't stopped it's squirming since we left the hospital,"The mare complained and showed the filly to the old mare,"Here, take the wretched thing already!"
"Awe… What a sweet and strong dear… You should know that this one is special,"The mare kicked the bag to the couple before taking the up the foal,"This is her…! The one that shall guide my dying clan through all things dark, and magical…! She will be… Our queen…!"
"Whatever you say… Can we leave now? And leave you to your business?"The stallion questioned with fading patience for the babbling old one.
"What's the rush? Do you not want to see the marvelous queen your child will become,"The couple was ready to just leave, only to see the mare suddenly bite her right arm to draw blood,"I must perform a ritual right away before the child grows any sort of personality…!"
"We don't want any part of whatever dark ritual you witches do in your spare time…!"The mare spat before she suddenly felt herself unable to move.
She looked down to see her body wrapped in dark tendrils that rose from her shadow. She tried to scream, but the tendrils constricted her neck to the point that she could not speak. She looked to her husband, only to see him in the same situation as herself. They were forced to watch as a square symbol with wind like squiggly lines were being drawn in the old mare's blood. She chuckled, as the foal was unwrapped and placed upon the center of the symbol of blood.
"Now now…! You can't just leave your child without saying good bye,"the witch like mare chuckled a bit louder before her language suddenly changed after some parting words,"After all… She'll need your flesh and blood for the great shadow to be embedded within the child…!"
Her words turned to unknown chants as she pulled out a ceremonial dagger. She then bowed and stuck her dagger into the ground before the square before complete blackness filled the square. The foal rest in the dark ground around her before tentacles raised from the ground. The filly slowly began to cry and twiddle her tiny purple legs, feeling a touch of fear. The tentacles were enthralled by the child's cries, as they suddenly plunged into her chest, and went down her throat.
Her cries were silenced as purple light glowed like blood vessels through the tendrils. The old one didn't miss a beat before the tendrils that held the couple hostage entered their chests and mouths. However, they were the victims of a more sinister fate, for they felt the tendrils feeding off them. They could feel their insides being torn, melted and drained away by the tentacles. Blood was pouring from their eyes as they screamed in pain and begged for mercy.
But their screams were muffled and almost silent, as their bodies slowly began to shrink. Their flesh was melting away as if it was infected by the venom of a spider. Their skin wrinkled and their flesh disappeared as they grew skinny and skeletal. Their skulls were ready to burst out of their faces before they fell forward and disappeared into their own garments. Their bodies soon turned to dust, and only their clothes remained as their remains flowed through the tendrils to feed the filly.
The child was resisting, but her lack of food forced her to simply take in the sustenance she was given. The witch laughed loudly, her excitement for the ritual's success was mounting. It was only several more moments before the tendrils were done feeding the child's soul full of it's essence straight from the parents themselves. With the essence fed to the foal, the Blackness that formed from underneath arose. Only to descend and borrow its way into the child's very body.
Slowly, the old mare began to stand up and watch the filly absorb all the dark magic that surrounded her. The circles of her eyes turned pitch black as she manage to start crying. The abominable ritual began to conclude as the darkness finally disappeared into the baby. All had then went silent, it was as if nothing had ever happened, not even the death of the child's parents. The witch sighed with relief, knowing that the ritual was in fact a success.
"Yes…! Now our queen can be on the road towards becoming this world's new ruler,"The witch chuckled before wielding her ceremonial dagger to the foal's chest,"All that's left… Is to carve out her heart… Only her mind must exist to be corrupted under Tartarus's influence. Or else her heart may lead her astray from the path… There is no room for feelings deary…"
With that, she raised her knife and directed her withered baggy eyes to the child's chest. She needed to make the cut just right to take the heart out without the magic being disrupted. Disrupted magic would lead to the death of the child, and her chosen queen. She released a deep breath, and was about to bring the knife down hard, only to be blinded by candle light. That light shook off her aim and made the old one break her dagger against the stone ground.
"Get away from that child you crazy witch!"The voice of another mare yelled before purple magic was shot into the old ones back.
She groaned and fell to her side, her hoof lifted up to cover her eyes from the candle light. She growled and tried to stand back up, but her age made the wicked one fragile and weak. She was struggling just to stand up before she was shot in the side by the same magic. This knocked the old one away from the child and back into the large path way, where the guards were just returning to. The witch could barely get up before she saw the guards coming, she looked back to the child of her prophecy.
"You! Stop right there!"The guards finally saw the old one in the distance before a young light purple mare walked out of her home with the candle light.
"Guards! Guards! That mare just tried to sacrifice a child!"The mare pointed to the old one before the guards were charging towards her.
"Nooo nooo nooo! I have yet to take the child heart…! Curses,"The old one wanted to stay and take the child, but she was already out of time,"I'll return for you in time… Young Shadow Swirl…!"
The mare made her promise before taking off with the guards right on her tail. Leaving the foal to remain on her back, crying from the night's chilly air and the hunger that still lingered. She kicked and whined as her main filled with dirt from the ground she laid on. It seemed like she was now destined to stay there and slowly die, a cruel fate that had befallen many orphans. However, her fate was suddenly changed, the moment she felt the gentle hooves of her savior picking her up.
The young unicorn mare sat down to get the child into her forearms. She took down the hood of an old cloak she wore, letting her pink mane with a dark purple streak flow freely. She sighed and gave a gentle shush before putting her hoof on the foals chest to let her grip it. The filly then slowly began to cease her tears, taking interest in the brand new gentle touch against her body. She sniffled the mare's hoof and rubbed her nose against it, slowly she began to look to their mare that started to smile.
"Hi… Are you ok little one…? I hope that witch didn't hurt you,"The mare slowly stood up while continuing to let the foal play with her hoof,"You may have witnessed the most horrendous of things at the hooves of the witch… Yet you're still playful, and able to be playful."
The mare looked around, only to see what remained of the child's parents. She looked away, and back to the foal as she slowly nuzzled the filly's forehead to show her some love. She sighed, keeping her smile on before hearing the rumbles that sounded off in the foal's belly.
"Oh dear…! You haven't even been fed your first bit of milk…! You must be starving,"The mare worried and looked down to herself to reveal that she was pregnant,"Well… You won't have to worry about that any more… Because I'm not gonna let you suffer out here."
She did something that was greatly rare for the world that they lived in. Seeing as the child was alone and had survived the dark magic of a witch, she knew that this kid couldn't be left for dead. As a young mare that was soon going to be a mother, she could not ignore the abandoned filly. She got her candle back into her magical grip and placed it on a window sill. While she began to carry the filly into her house full of medical books, and an in home doctor's office.
"I'll take good care of you child… Just because the world is cruel, doesn't mean that I have to be,"The mare stated as she went into her home and was quick to pull out some milk from her cold storage box,"I would ask your name… But that old mare already spoke it before she fled… Shadow Swirl…"
The mare sat down in her office and laid the baby on her lap. She then got her personally prepared baby bottle out and filled it with the milk that the child grew desperate for. She did not need to wait a single second before the baby latched her tiny muzzle onto the bottle and began to suckle. For many moments, the mare sat there and watched the child drink without restraint. She brushed a hoof through the filly's growing dark purple mane as a smile began to form on the child's face.
"Tomorrow I'm going to do some analysis on you to check for any sort of damage the witch may have caused,"The mare said quietly as her dark blue eyes met with the fillies purple eyes,"But I can tell already, you are going to grow up to be something very special… Shadow Swirl…"
And so begins the origin of Shadow Swirl, a warrior of the Equestria's Warrior Returns story that I can't help but take pride and interest in myself. So before I continue with that story, I'd like you all to just kick back, relax, get to really know this character, have lots of fun with it. Till next time, stay pony every one.