Shadow Flare

By Sanctified Absence

• December 24, 2013




Age: Stallion (In his prime)

Gender: Male

Species: Unicorn

Appearance: Although lacking many physical oddities, his almost pitch black hide can make him stand out in crowds. His horn is long and sharp, too sharp to be entirely of natural design. Never showing a sign of happiness or his cutie mark, Shadow Flare has an almost eerie look about him.

Cutie Mark: Shadow's Cutie mark comes in the form of two sleek vortex like shapes, one dark blue and one light cream, each swirling in the opposite direction to each other and overlapping in turn. His cutie mark is representing spiritual balance.

Personality: Dedicating one's life to balance has a tendency to wipe you of plenty of your emotions, as a result Shadow Flare adopts a very neutral stance on most things. He is cold, but not cruel, not generous but not greedy. As a result he is usually seen as an outsider by most other ponies, secretly though he enjoys the solitude, time with his thoughts and his thoughts alone.<br /><br />The things he does prize are intelligence, logic and quick-thinking, as a result he is highly associated with all three. He may occasionally break his solitude to speak with a pony possessing a particular brilliance, but will just the same attempt to avoid conversation with anyone who will show reckless or particularly rash thought processes.<br /><br />Despite his affliction with intelligence, Shadow has no time for the concepts of wisdom. "Let one chose their own path, not be guided by the whims of those who came before." He particularly despises the praising of the Allicorn princesses and their "infinite wisdom," seeing it as nothing but an excuse form ponies who can't think for themselves.<br /><br />Shadow Flare is obsessed with knowledge in all it's forms. As mentioned earlier he seeks balance between Harmony and Chaos, Darkness and Light, and will not shy away form breaking rules, or perhaps even morality to learn all he can on the matters. He is also particularly bent on learning more of Magic and his uses, so his natural gift may better serve him on his quest to find balance.<br /><br />Despite his seemingly cold composition, Shadow's intentions are that of the good of all Ponykind, and he takes particular enjoyment of seeing the masses happy, he has just decided such happiness requires sacrifice, and he will take that sacrifice for everyone else.

Backstory: Born as a simple Unicorn in Canterlot city, Shadow lived out his childhood in a standard household, his father was a librarian of his own library and his mother was too concerned with his twin sister Light Flash to work. At a young age Shadow was shown to have an inborn gift to learn and memorize, particularly when it came to Magic, which interested him greatly. His sister on the other hand, was more concerned with the practical side of things, creating a petty child rivalry between the two.<br /><br />Shadow was always at the top all through Magic Kindergarten, and showed considerable ability to learn all subjects, maths, pony science and the basics of magic. Perhaps, greatest of all his feats were his abilities to create light from his horn, although a very basic spell the adult Unicorns were astonished by his ability to grasp it so naturally, even before that of Telekinesis.<br /><br />His later education would focus more and more in the field of magic, although that was soon to change. Not too long after visiting Canterlot Castle with his father on business, Shadow came across a statue like he had never seen before, this was the statue of Discord. Entranced, Shadow asked all he could about the strange creature that was carved within stone, but to little avail, apparently no one really knew exactly what it was, despite it represented disharmony.<br /><br />As well as he may have performed earlier, Shadow's education began to falter, he would spend ever moment of his spare time researching into Disharmony, and in turn the Elements of Harmony (although he couldn't find too much.) His teachers were worried but were willing to let it slip, even with these drawbacks Shadow was still performing above standard expectations in his education, that is until he was caught.<br /><br />Shadow's obsession with Chaos had become very unhealthy, up until the point where he would try to force it upon the world, little by little. Although his intentions were purely academic, Shadow would often let loose his inner magic, only would not try to control it and let it wander free. This troubled his teachers greatly and they ordered him to stop, this led to a confrontation before Shadow left in a rage. "You of all people should know the power knowledge holds, whether or not the whims of the "almighty," Alicorn princesses or their lackeys decide to forbid such dark things, it is my duty to break convention and find this forbidden lore for the greater good!"<br /><br />He left without a word to anyone, and no one has seen (or at least known) him since. However, one can be sure that he has been searching for knowledge, both dark and not, ever since he left. Since then, he has convinced himself of the idea of balance between Harmony and Chaos, Light and Dark, and in his journeys he was led to Ponyville, only to find it under Discord's control (even if only for a short while), since then his efforts have doubled in searching for answers.