It began less than two years ago, though it seems like another era, in the process of cleaning out the family castle—more of a manor, but Mother’s influence again—left to me by my parents after they retired to Somnambula. When I finally reached the attic, I stumbled upon records of an ancient evil lurking a millennium deep in my family tree. After that first horrific revelation, the Pony of Shadows seemed to look back at me wherever I turned: Histories of the Pre-Celestial Era, earth pony folklore, even comic books. The leering visage of my twisted ancestor, the threat of that same corruption coming for me in turn, it nearly drove me to madness.