Night's Returnby Sin KurtizChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 1The sunlight was shining through the window as the college professor was getting ready for his new students.His dark brown fur was taking in the light and making it hot for the teacher. His grey hair was proof of the years of his experience teaching. He made sure all the seats were in the right spots. He approached his wooden desk at the head of the room. He stood behind it and looked around the empty classroom. He sighed as he remembered all the years he had taught at the Ponyville University. So many students had came and gone making their careers. His horn started to glow as he opened a drawer on his desk. He pulled out a small pile of papers. The papers held the students he would teach for each class. He skimmed over the paper and saw 2 names that stuck out from the rest. The last names of the ponies were from long lines of talented unicorns. One was ScrollStar, a descendant of StarSwirl the Bearded."It must be hard to do your best when your compared to your ancestor..." The professor thought to himself. The other's last name was Shine, a family that was the only known competition for StarSwirl the Bearded. "This one's got to have a grudge against StarSwirl, it's passed down through the family..." the professor said out loud. He hoped that these two, at the very least, did not hate each other. He even prayed that they were friends, but didn't get his hopes up. He placed the papers down. But, as soon as the papers touched the desk, the bell had rung stating it was time for the first class. The professor sighed and picked up the top paper and read over it one last time. "This is the last year that you'll be teaching." he said to himself. He looked out the window. Something was telling him that something big was about to happen this year, but he wouldn't be involved. He glanced at the door and saw a white unicorn at the door. She had short blue hair with light blue hair in the middle of her head. He cutie mark seemed to be a pink butterfly surrounded by 5 stars of different colors. Her eyes were green and showed she was nervous. She spoke nervously as well, she said, "Excuse me, is this the History class? My name is Mystic ScrollStar and I think this is where I'm supposed to be right now" The professor said to her, "Ah, yes this is! Welcome Mystic, I am Mr. Antique. I'm glad to have you in my class. Please, take a seat." She walks towards an empty seat in the middle row and said to the teacher, "Please, just call me Mist. And I'm glad to be here" As Mist took a seat many other ponies flooded the classroom and took their seats, a pink pegasus with blue eyes and long blue hair sat down next to Mist. The pink pony's cutie mark was a brown leaf above a breeze. Mr. Antique rised and told the class to be quiet. He glanced back over to Mist. She is the ScrollStar that was on the list, but where is the Shine? There was an empty seat right next to Mist and it seemed like she was saving it for somepony. Mr. Antique took that thought out of his mind and faced the class and said "Welcome class, I am Mr. Antique and I will be your History teacher." He surveyed the classroom looking for troublemakers. None could be found. "I'm going to take attendance, when you hear your name, you are to say 'Here'. Understood?" Mr. Antique said. The class had mixed reactions to that. Some ponies sighed, others replied saying they understand, and others didn't replay at all. Mist was talking to her good friend Autumn about how nervous she was. "I am actually nervous about this. College is a whole level above high school, it's only meant for the ponies that are the smartest. Especially this college..." she said quietly. "Autumn Blossom" Mr. Antique said aloud. Autumn turned towards the teacher and says "Here!" She then turns back towards Mist and says to her "You don't need to be scared. You were the first one out our friends to be accepted here! You're probably gonna be the best student here too." Mist turned red at her cheeks. Her friend had always said things like that to her, but every time they do, she can't help but blush. "I don't think I'm going to be the best out of the class but I will try my hardest." She looked at the door, hoping to see her other friend come through it. She turned back towards Autumn and asked, "Do you know where Shade is? He isn't going to be late on the first day is he?" Autumn chuckled and said to her friend, "I'm not too sure about that, he was late for the whole first week of sophomore year at the high school. I hope doesn't make the same mistake as last time." She had known Shade the longest, since they had been friends since kindergarten. Mist trusted her friend. But still feared that Shade would be late. Mr. Antique called Mist's name and she replied, "Here!" Then realized that Shade would be called soon, and if he wasn't here when his name was called he would be late. Mr. Antique continued to call names on the list until he said, "Shade Shine..." The door slammed open as a tan-furred pegasus flew through the door. His shaggy dark brown mane was covering his eyes, so ponies were wondering how he could see. Mist looked quickly at the cutie mark to make sure it was her friend. The mark was a black circle that slowly faded as it spread from the center. It was him. The pegasus yelled out "Here!" responding to the professor saying his name. He continued flying until he hit the wall behind the teacher's desk. The ponies in the class busted out in laughter. The pegasus, Shade, landed on the floor and held his hoof up to his head. He stood up and faced the class. He saw ponies laughing and they were staring at him with shock. The professor glared at him angrily. Shade said to him "Present!" thinking that the teacher didn't hear what he said before. He looked around and saw his friend Mist and Autumn waving their hooves. He waved back then the saw the teacher roll his eyes then mark Shade present for the class. Shade walked over to his friends and took the seat Mist saved for him. "Hey there! How are you two?" Autumn was laughing and Mist looked at Shade and said, "We're fine, but are you okay? That looked like it hurt" She then nudges Autumn telling her to stop laughing. Autumn stops laughing, but starts chuckling when she thought of her friend crashing into the wall. Shade answered Mist, "Yeah, I'm fine. I took plenty of hits worse than that. So what's this teacher's name? I wasn't in the class when he said it was I?" Mist explained everything to her friend and he thanked her. Mr. Antique had just finished taking attendance when he looked over at Mist's group of friends. "So her and Shade are friends?" he thought "Well at least I don't have to deal with them fighting. Their friend Autumn must not know their family history, and better she doesn't. That Shade though... He's a pegasus from the Shine family? But they're all unicorns... How can that be?" He put the thought aside and tended to the class. This was the first day of the last school year he would teach, why not get it over with without trouble? Chapter 2Mr. Antique had started to tell the students about how Equestria was made, but they had heard this story every year of their lives so most ponies sighed, including Shade and Autumn. Mist was excited to hear this story, it had fascinated her that the ponies came together in order to survive from the windigo's spell. She had grabbed a history book out of her bag and opened it. She skimmed through the pages to find where she had left off in her studies last night. She had ended where the book had just stated the the pony races had named their land Equestria. Shade looked at his friend's opened book and realized something important, he had forgotten his... "Buck!" he said loudly. The class had turned to look at what had caused him to yell. Shade glanced around and all the ponies staring at him confused. Mr. Antique looked at him and asked as if already knowing the answer, "Did you happen to forget your book, Mr. Shine?" Shade was panicking, but he stayed calm, he was put under situations like this before. He calmly said "No, I just happened to remember that I didn't save my progress on a resume I'm writing up." Mr. Antique was staring at Shade. Shade felt like his eyes were like knives. Mr. Antique had stopped and said, "Anyhow... Does anyone know who the unicorn that had pointed the royal leaders in the direction of the new land?" All of the ponies had started discussing it with their friends nearby. But only one pony knew the answer and she had her hoof raised, Mystic ScrollStar. "StarSwirl the Bearded had showed the unicorns the way to the land that was the founding point of Equestria using a spell he had created weeks before." Mist said answering the question. The class turned and stared at her in amazement. Nopony else knew the answer except her. Some ponies were angry and jealous while others looked at her with a bit of respect. "That's correct Mist. But I would like you to wait until I call on you to answer the question." Mr. Antique said to her. Mist blushed, embarrassed because she had forgotten something every teacher has said to her. She apologizes then Mr. Antique continues with the lesson. The class continues on for an hour then the bell rings. All the ponies grab their bags and walk out the door. Autumn, Mist, and Shade were about to walk through the doorway when Mr. Antique said, "Mr. Shine... A word, please?" Shade stops right as he is about to leave the class room and he tell his friends to wait out in front of the door for when he gets out. They both nod and he turns to face his teacher. He walks up to the professor's desk and says, "You wanted to see me?" Mr. Antique glares at him and answers, "Yes, I did. For a few reasons in fact..." Shade wondered what he did wrong. He did forget his book but that couldn't be too much of a problem right? "You forgot you book today, I'm letting it slide this time, but if you forget it again, you're staying after-school." "Okay, I won't forget it tomorrow" Shade answers. "And something else I'm wondering..." Mr.Antique states "What is it?" "Your last name is Shine. And as you probably know, the Shine family is a line of very talented unicorns, so talented that they were the only rivals for StarSwirl the Bearded. They had a very large hate towards him and his entire family and his friends. Your friend Mist is a descendant of StarSwirl the Bearded. Yet, you both are close friends. I will not question that as to not start any fires I won't be able to put out. But something really bugging me is the fact that you are a pegasus from a long line of unicorns... How is that?" "Uh... You kinda lost me there." Shade said "But, I can answer that last part. It's because my dad is a pegasus. His name is Hurricane." Shade surprised himself. He managed to remember his dad's name? He hadn't seen him since he was 5, how can he remember his father's name? "Alright then, you're free to go." Mr.Antique tells him. Shade then turns and walks out the door. His friends are nowhere to be found. He sighs then checks his schedule. "Let's see..." He says to himself " I'm supposed to be going to... Geology? Why am I even taking this class? I sold jewels with my parents when I was little! They were jewel merchants and I had to learn all of the jewels for Celestia's sake!" Autumn and Mist were waiting outside their History class waiting for Shade to leave. "What is taking him so long?!" Mist exclaims "We're going to be late for our next class waiting for him!" Autumn calmed her friend down. "No we won't be late. Shade is probably in trouble for forgetting his book. Besides, why are we waiting for him? We obviously won't have the same class!" Autumn had made a clear point with that statement. They won't have the same class. Mist wavered on if she should wait for Shade to keep her promise or leaving for her class. She had decided on what was more important at the moment. "Alright, let's just get to our next class" Mist said "I knew you would see what was more important. Though I will kinda feel bad leaving Shade when we promised to stay... But, we cannot be late on the first day!" Autumn replied. The tow ponies agreed and walked over to their next class. They arrived at their next class and sat next to each other. The teacher had introduced herself and had started a lesson without taking attendance. "That's a big mistake... Somepony will get here late and not get detention." Mist thought to herself. She looked at her friend Autumn who was writing something down. "What are you writing?" Mist asked her friend. Autumn looked up from the paper and answered her friend, "It's just a little project I'm working on. I'm writing a romantic story about a mare and stallion who meet in college and fall in love with each other but can't find the strength to tell one another." She pauses for a second then looks at her friend curiously "You know. We are in college and this is where most ponies find their special somepony. Is there anyone you have your eyes on?" Mist's cheeks had turned red and were burning. She did have a crush on somepony. Did Autumn already know or was she just simply asking from wondering? She knew she couldn't avoid answering Autumn's question or else Autumn would persistently ask her who it is. She sighed and said quietly to Autumn. "I really like Shade..." Chapter 3Autumn stared at her friend in pure shock. Her best friend had a crush on her childhood friend. Maybe Shade feels the same way? Autumn focused on what Mist had said and decided to think of that later. "How long have you liked him? Does he know? Did you even tell him?" Autumn rapidly asked her friend. Mist shakes her head and says, "No, I haven't. I just never got the strength to say anything." She shyly looked away from Autumn embarrassed that the fact that she likes Shade is known. Autumn could tell that she was sad. Sad that she hasn't told Shade and that Autumn knows her secret now. But, Autumn had so many questions that they couldn't wait at all. "When did you start liking him?" she questions "Near the Autumn Dance last year. The season, not you "But you said you had a crush on Tech. You lied about that?" "Yes. I didn't want you to know that I liked Shade." "You should have said something. Why do you even like him?" "Where do I begin? He's smart, he's kind, he is helpful, he's handsome. For Celestia's sake, there's only oneword that describes him perfect..." Autumn sat there quiet for a minute. She had never thought of Shade the way Mist did, but now that she did look at him that way, she realized that there are no other stallions like him. Especially not ones with his talent. But she would never try to even get with Shade romantically and she didn't want to steal him from Mist. "You have to tell him how you feel!" Autumn stated, "He might feel the same way! "He might not though, but I will try to" Mist said. The months traveled on. And Mist never told Shade how she felt throughout the whole college year. Fall had passed by in the blink of an eye. Then winter lingered with it's chilled air and all of its heartwarming holidays. And spring had come and gone just as fast. It was the last week of the school year and most ponies were deciding on what they were going to do. Mist and Autumn were preparing for another day of school when Mist said to Autumn, "It's a school day after a long weekend. You know what that means..." Autumn sighed and dryly answered, "Shade didn't set his alarm." The two ponies walked out of their room and proceeded to the main lobby. The lobby was full of many ponies and all were hanging around with their friends before the first class started. They continued on their path down to where Shade's room was. They had reached the door and heard snoring from inside. Mist reaches for the handle when Mist stops her and says, "Shhh... You hear that?" Both ponies pressed one ear up against the door and listened. shade was mumbling in his sleep. It was quiet at first then quickly escalated into him screaming in rage. He even yelled out "You won't take them from me! Especially not her!" Mist wanted to listen to hear who he was talking about but Autumn had burst open the door and yelled at Shade to wake up. Shade yelled as he woke up and fell off the bed. He groaned as his alarm clock which had broken had fallen on his head. He got up and saw his friends in his room. "School's about to start isn't it?" His to friends nod stating it is. He sighs then tells them to leave. And the rest of the day and the school year had gone normally. The friends had stood together at the edge of the college grounds to discuss their plans for the summer. Shade and Autumn had decided to go back to Manehatten and stay there for a while in their homes. Mist had no plans at all. Shade says to Mist, "Hey why don't you come with us to Manehatten? Maybe we can all plan a trip from their?" His friends agreed and the set off towards Manehatten. They had reached a train station where an alicorn mare was waiting for somepony. She had a golden coat and her hair was like watching a sunset. Which is what her cutie mark was. The alicorn looked towards Shade, Autumn and Mis5 and her expression turned to joy. She an towards happily. Shade ran towards the alicorn as well. She can't be Shade's marefriend can she? Autmn and Mist both thought. Shade and the alicorn hugged. The alicorn said to him, "I missed you so much Shade!" Shade says to the alicorn, "I missed you, too, Sunny!" "Sunny" Looks over at Autumn and Mist as he releases Shade from the hug. "I didn't know you brought friends. You going to introduce me?" Autumn and Mist looked at each other curiously. Then Shade introduces them. "Sunny, these are my friend Autumn and Mist. Autumn, Mist, this is my older sister Sun Shine" "Oh so this is your sister!" Autumn says. "It's very nice to meet you." the three mares said in unison. They then realized it and laughed about it. The conductor called all passengers to the train. All of the friends had ran towards the train , Sunshine included. And they all took seats. Mist and Sunshine sat in the very back car becuase their where no other seats available and Shade and Autumn were in the next car. Shade and Autumn talked and laughed during the train ride discussing past events in their lives. "Hey, remember in kindergarten when you yelled at that colt we hated and kicked him from behind?" Shade asks Autumn "Oh yeah! That was hilarious!" Autumn replies. They both laugh but then it is cut short. They hear a bang outside and they look outside the window. there where pegasi wearing dark robes. They were banging on the back car, like they were trying to knock it loose... They had knocked it loose. And they had lifted it up off the tracks by pure strength. Autumn and Shade yelled for their friends to get out of the car. ut were only answered with screams of fear from the others. The robed pegasi flew awa with the train car . Shade went to open the door that now lead to open tracks behind them. Autumn halted his effort to save his friend and his sister. She pointed out the window and said it was no use trying to rescue them now. Because the robed pegasi had flown through a black portal and disappeared. And soon after the portal closed, trapping Mist and Sunshine inside. Chapter 4The train ride to Manehatten had taken forever according to Shade. He never felt so useless as he did. He couldn't do anything going after his friends. And Autumn had pointed out that if he flew off now, he would be in the middle of nowhere,so he had no choice but to wait. When the train had come to stop at the station Shade ran out the door. But not actually, he was so impatient, he had resorted to the power his grandfather gave him when he was a child. He had set his hind leg into a shadow then completely disappeared, fading into the very shadow and becoming a part of it. Autumn looked around for her friend and saw the he was out side and popped out of a wall with a tiny bit of shadows on it. He then ran off towards the city. Autumn rolled her eyes. She had known Shade had that power for a long time so it did not surprise her. And she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. As she walked off the train she had realized something. All good things come with a consequence, what was Shade's power's downside? She walked in the direction that Shade ran off and saw him pacing back and forth, he cared enough to wait for her. He saw she was there at last and ran to her. "I have an idea of how we can find the others!" he said quickly to his friend. "All we have to do i-" Autumn held up her hoof telling Shade to stop. shade silences himself and lets Autumn speak. "You need to slow down... And yes, we do need to find them, but just relax. We don't even have a clue where they could be at all." She said to her friend. Shade had agreed then slowed down how fast he was talking. he took a deep breath and said his plane. "Okay, I was asking around if there was anypony that we could go to in order to report the strange and they all said there's somepony in that house way over there." he pointed to a tall white house off in the distance. The house was on a ledge of a mountain. shade continued, "And we should go see him to tell about what happened to Sunny and Mist. Autumn had looked at the house. The travel would take a long time. From her guess, they would get there by tomorrow night. She had stated this to Shade and he chuckled and answered, "I actually know a shortcut. I know that house, though the memories are a bit clouded. But, I know I've been there." Autumn agreed then they headed off for the house. They had managed to reach the house before sunset. Shade had jumped over a stone fence that surrounded the backyard. "Why would anypony need a fence when they live on a mountain?" Autumn said while climbing the fence. She had slipped while climbing and landed right on her stomach. she was dizzy for a second and when she looked up she saw Shade holding his hoof out offering to help her out. Autumn was surprised on how Shade looked. His blue eyes were shing in the light and his hair was to his left. Autumn was thinking he looked handsome... Autumn then shook her head and thought to herself "What the buck am I saying?! He's my friend. And besides Mist likes him and I would never try to steal any stallion from Mist. Especially not if it's Shade... But, somehow she felt like it was natural for her to have those feelings for him. She put the topic off of her mind and grabbed Shade's hoof and stood up. "Thanks..." she said to Shade. "But don't expect me to ask for your help often" She then proceeded to walk towards the house. The backyard of the house had large pool with 3 diving boards, almost like community pools around the city. It also had a large area with a grill, lawn chairs, and a shed full of pool toys. Autumn sighed, as this brought back memories. Her family was the richest ponies in all of Equestria. And strangely, they were only bakers. They had owned several houses all at the same time. This reminded her of one of the houses she lived in. It was very similar. And she thought of the little filly that was left behind when the house was burnt down. She began to sob as she remembered coming home from her regular day at school to hear that her house was burned down... And her sister was left inside. Shade called for Autumn to come inside and look around. She had thanked Celestia that he was there, because if he wasn't she would have started bawling. She had walked inside the house and noticed that she was in the living room. The room was very large, with much expensive and decorative furniture around the room. Shade had walked up to a wall and was tapping at it. Autumn walked over and asked him sarcastically, "You looking for a secret passage?" Shade quickly looks back and answers, "Yes I am. I know the passage had to do with this wall, do you mind helping?" Autumn sighed and looked around. She looked for anything out of place or that might be a switch. She had noticed a strange picture. It was a family portrait of possibly the family that owned the building. The portrait had shown a purple unicorn with a bright yellow mane standing next to a dark grey pegasus. They had two children standing next to them. One was an alicorn with a golden coat and her mane was in a ponytail. And the other was a tan pegasus with a shaggy dark brown mane with blue eyes that looked very familiar. There was no cutie mark on the child pegasus... Autumn was reaching towards the picture when Shade covered it with his hoof. Autumn looked at her friend with shock. "Why did you do that?" Autumn asked angrily. Shade did not answer. He put more force on the picture and Autumn heard a snap. Autumn opened her mouth in surprise. "You shouldn't do that! That is somepony's property!" Shade replied, "Yeah, I know, but look!" He took his hoof off the picture and pointed towards the wall he was at a moment ago. Half of the wall was moved and covered the other half. Autumn and Shade walked over to the opened wall and saw stairs leading downstairs. Autumn hesitated to go down the stairs, but Shade had started walking down with out any hesitation. Autumn ran after her friend and when they reached the bottom of the stairs Autumn realized that they were in a hallway that seemed like a regular house. She expected it to be like a basement down at the bottom of the stairs. Only two doors could be seen but there must be more around the corner. Shade had walked right into one room. Autumn had yelped realizing that he was invading the owner's privacy. Autumn had followed once again and saw Shade going through a dresser in the room. She decided to look around the room. Around the room was many posters on the walls. There were ones of Wonderbolts, ones with Unicorn history on them, and others were maps of Equestria. Autumn was about to sit when Shade suddenly yelled out , "Here it is! Still in good condition!" Autumn walked over and saw what he was holding in his hooves. It was a gem about the size of one of his hooves. It was transparent and dark blue. Inside of the gem was a pure black cloud swirling around. Autumn was wondering exactly what this gem was. She asked, "What in Equestria is that?" Shade looked at his friend and answered, "It's a gem called a 'Shadow Sapphire'. It can only be found once every 5 years and enforces powers of darkness. Anyone who can control the darkness in their heart can find a great use for this." Autumn was confused about that last statement. "When the what in their heart is controlled?" Shade had facehoofed, from what, Autumn had no idea. He explained, "Everypony is born with light and darkness in their heart. For most ponies, nothing special will happen. But the more darkness in their heart, the more evil they will be. That ranges from being a kind prankster to and evil overlord tyrant. And in a few cases, when the darkness is more than the light in somepony's heart, it corrupts them and takes over. And in a few extremely rare cases, ponies have only light or only darkness in their heart. As expected the ones with light are the kindest people you ever know. And the ones with only darkness in their heart are typically very evil since there is no light to combat the darkness. But, there are 3 ponies I know personally that have pure hearts. One with pure darkness and the others with pure light." He pauses for a second then continues, "You and Sunny are pure light and I have pure darkness in my heart. You have pure light inside of your heart and that's why you're naturally kind and care about others more than yourself. And I have pure darkness in me." "But, you aren't evil at all! You're one of the nicest stallions I know!" Autumn said. Shade had turned red at his cheeks. Apparently most mares never said that about him. He explained the reason for him not being evil, "When I was born, my grandparents had found out that me and my sister had pure hearts, but I was the biggest focus. My grandfather, Dusk Shine, had thought that he could give me powers to use the darkness in my heart in order to prove our family is better than StarSwirl's family. My grandmother, Dawn Shine, had seen things differently. She had used a spell that had made the darkness in my heart harder to corrupt me. That's all she could do. And my grandfather had used a spell that gave me control of the powers the darkness in my heart would allow. Which ended up being able to control shadows in way most ponies would never expect. I and use shadows to kill anypony that doesn't see it coming, teleport, and even make shadows cover a source of light. But I was limited because pegasi can't use magic. So when I actually use the shadows, if I use it too much I will be exhausted. And how much I could do depends on how hard it is to use. It's easier to teleport than it is to make a shadow fatal. And making a shadow fatal is much easier than forcing a shadow to cover light." Autumn stood confused for a second then said, "That explains how you use your powers, but what about why you're not corrupted by the darkness?" Shade facehoofed yet again. "Sorry, sometimes I get off topic when I talk... But anyway. I can control the darkness in my heart for one reason. I found a source of light that makes the darkness in my heart impossible to corrupt me. And that is actually something ponies find beautiful. I found somepony that I'm in love with..." Autumn had realized what he just said. Shade was in love! But with who? Could it be Mist and he just won't tell her? Or is it somepony else that she doesn't know? She goes to ask but she then hears a voice from outside the room. "Who's in my house?!" a voice yelled from the living room. Chapter 5Shade and Autumn were panicking . Shade expected to be out of there before anypony got home. Autumn knew that this would happen, but didn't think of how to react when it did. They heard hoofsteps coming down the stairs and the voice from before spoke very deeply. "I'll ask again... Who is in my house?!" it yelled. Shade had gestured to Autumn to come over to the corner and she ran over quietly. He told her to keep her head down. He then disappeared into shadows. Autumn did as she was told and stayed in the corner quietly. "I am going to ask one last time... Who is in my house?!" the voice boomed again, "I promise that if you tell me who and where you are right now I will not hurt you." Autumn saw this as a way to get out of this trouble easier. But, she didn't think if it was a trap or not. And she didn't care if it was. "We're sorry we barged in! We're in here!" she yelled to the voice. Shade appeared out of the shadows next to her and had a shocked look on his face. He then facehoofed at her stupidity at that moment. The voice had sighed and calmed down. It replied to what Autumn said, but strangely it became higher as it spoke."Thank you for being honest. I thank Celestia for ponies like you who will accept their punishment when they do something wrong. But, like I promised I won't punish you. But, favor I want you to do. Would you mind showing me where you are?" Shade shook his head telling her to stay down. Autumn grabbed him by the ear and stood up revealing their location. "We're right here." she said, "And again we are really sorry for barging into your hou-" She was cut short of her sentence from shock. Shade looked at the being that the voice came from and he was shocked too. In the doorway the voice that had been loud and very deep, came from a little bear... A very tiny bear with blue fur and a tinfoil hat shaded like a wizard's hat. "There you are!" the bear said to them. "Now do you mind explaining why you're here?" he then asked them. Shade had started laughing quietly and Autumn explained their business for intruding in this bear's house. "Our friends were kidnapped and we needed to find a way to rescue them." she said, "And coming to this house was all my friends idea..." She kicked Shade in the stomach to stop him from laughing. Shade realized he needed to explain as well. "Well," he started "This Shadow Sapphire can be sold for high prices and using the bits from the jewel we could have gone to Canterlot and reported it to Celestia who would take action." Autumn and the bear looked at him questioning his logic. "That was your plan? Report our friends being kidnapped and hope for the best?" The bear stepped more into the room and interupted. "Your friends were kidnapped? What are their names?" he asked. Shade and Autumn replied in unison, "Sun Shine and Mystic ScrollStar" "Why are you looking for them? They weren't even born in this century! They lived back when Canterlot was a new city to live in." the bear stated Shade and Autumn yelled at the bear saying that they did live in this century they were our friends/sister. The bear held up one paw. "Okay so apparently somepony used time travel to take your friend and sister. So we need to reach them. And I could help. I just finished a time machine I was building in the last week." Autumn excitedly asked, "Really? Where is it?" The bear stated, "It's outside. But I need to find some precious gems that can power it." Shade said to the bear, "Listen, bear, when you say you finished something. You have to mean you finished something. Not that you're close." He jabbed his hoof at the tiny blue bear's stomach. The bear had moved Shade's hoof away from him. "I have a name. It's Stubbles. And I am done but I'm looking for a few pieces of amethyst in order to power the machine." "Stubbles?" Autumn questioned, "That is an adorable name for a tiny little bear like you" Stubbles pointed at her angrily and said, "Watch it,sister. I may be cute but that doesn't mean I'm not deadly." Shade had walked out of the room as Autumn was going on that Stubbles was an adorable little bear and Stubbles arguing that he wasn't. Shade had walked across the the hallway and entered the room on the other side. Inside was a large white room with a soft, light pink rug covering the whole floor. The bed was in the room had yellow and gold and orange blankets and sheets and the pillows were shaped like clouds. The bedspread had resembled a sunset at its maximum beauty. He had walked over to the dresser near the bed and opened it. Inside was a jewelry box. Shade opened the box and found that there was no jewelry, but raw minerals of all types of jewels. Rubies, diamonds, emeralds, and most importantly, amethyst. He had closed the box and carried it along with him out of the room. At the doorway he turned and looked into the room once more. He sighed as all the memories he had in this room flashed before his eyes. He remembered the day that his family had gotten this house and him and his sister were arguing of who had which room. His parent had come between it and decided for their children. That first night when he was so scared of the dark that he went into his sister's room and asked to sleep in there with her. She laughed as he explained that he heard voice talking to him and the bed was shaking. She allowed him to sleep in her room on the floor for that one night. He fast forwarded his memories to when his family had decided it was time to move from this house. A year after they had moved in. Shade had argued with his parents to stay in the house but to no avail. He decided to run away in order to stay and live in Manehatten. His sister caught onto his plan, but instead of telling their parents, she had helped Shade. She had set up a telepathic link between the siblings and they could talk to each other wherever they are. After his family had move away, he continued to live in the house until somepony had purchased it. From there on he lived in the streets of Manehatten. He lived in poverty until he remembered the jewel hunting tactics that his parents taught him. He found many jewels in the caves underneath Manehatten and had managed to live a prosperous life for someone his age. Shade walked out of the room and closed the door. Stubble and Autumn were walking up the stairs and heading outside. They were still going back and forth.Shade only heard two lines from them. "Why are you wearing a tinfoil hat?" Autumn asked. "It's called style! Look it up..." Stubbles responded. Shade had ran and caught up to them outside. And out side was a large pod hooked up to a complicated looking machine. Stubbles was on the machine typing and Autumn was standing in the pod inspecting it. Shade walked up to Stubbles and tapped his shoulder. Stubbles turned around and Shade opened the jewel box to show Stubbles what was inside. "Here's all the amethyst you'll need. Now send us to where they took Mist and Sunny." Stubbles nodded and shoved all the amethyst into a large hole in the machine. Which it then sucked up and grinded into little pieces. Shade walked over and joined Autumn in the pod. "You ready?" Autumn asked. Shade nodded his head. "Ready as I'll ever be..." Stubbles had turned and looked at Autumn and Shade. "Oh, I will be joining you two after I send you. I need to go get the return method ready." He then looked back at the machine and yelled, "So are you ready?" Before Shade and Autumn could say "Yes". They were covered in a bright light and throw up into the air. They were then hurled forward into the past.
Chapter 1The sunlight was shining through the window as the college professor was getting ready for his new students.His dark brown fur was taking in the light and making it hot for the teacher. His grey hair was proof of the years of his experience teaching. He made sure all the seats were in the right spots. He approached his wooden desk at the head of the room. He stood behind it and looked around the empty classroom. He sighed as he remembered all the years he had taught at the Ponyville University. So many students had came and gone making their careers. His horn started to glow as he opened a drawer on his desk. He pulled out a small pile of papers. The papers held the students he would teach for each class. He skimmed over the paper and saw 2 names that stuck out from the rest. The last names of the ponies were from long lines of talented unicorns. One was ScrollStar, a descendant of StarSwirl the Bearded."It must be hard to do your best when your compared to your ancestor..." The professor thought to himself. The other's last name was Shine, a family that was the only known competition for StarSwirl the Bearded. "This one's got to have a grudge against StarSwirl, it's passed down through the family..." the professor said out loud. He hoped that these two, at the very least, did not hate each other. He even prayed that they were friends, but didn't get his hopes up. He placed the papers down. But, as soon as the papers touched the desk, the bell had rung stating it was time for the first class. The professor sighed and picked up the top paper and read over it one last time. "This is the last year that you'll be teaching." he said to himself. He looked out the window. Something was telling him that something big was about to happen this year, but he wouldn't be involved. He glanced at the door and saw a white unicorn at the door. She had short blue hair with light blue hair in the middle of her head. He cutie mark seemed to be a pink butterfly surrounded by 5 stars of different colors. Her eyes were green and showed she was nervous. She spoke nervously as well, she said, "Excuse me, is this the History class? My name is Mystic ScrollStar and I think this is where I'm supposed to be right now" The professor said to her, "Ah, yes this is! Welcome Mystic, I am Mr. Antique. I'm glad to have you in my class. Please, take a seat." She walks towards an empty seat in the middle row and said to the teacher, "Please, just call me Mist. And I'm glad to be here" As Mist took a seat many other ponies flooded the classroom and took their seats, a pink pegasus with blue eyes and long blue hair sat down next to Mist. The pink pony's cutie mark was a brown leaf above a breeze. Mr. Antique rised and told the class to be quiet. He glanced back over to Mist. She is the ScrollStar that was on the list, but where is the Shine? There was an empty seat right next to Mist and it seemed like she was saving it for somepony. Mr. Antique took that thought out of his mind and faced the class and said "Welcome class, I am Mr. Antique and I will be your History teacher." He surveyed the classroom looking for troublemakers. None could be found. "I'm going to take attendance, when you hear your name, you are to say 'Here'. Understood?" Mr. Antique said. The class had mixed reactions to that. Some ponies sighed, others replied saying they understand, and others didn't replay at all. Mist was talking to her good friend Autumn about how nervous she was. "I am actually nervous about this. College is a whole level above high school, it's only meant for the ponies that are the smartest. Especially this college..." she said quietly. "Autumn Blossom" Mr. Antique said aloud. Autumn turned towards the teacher and says "Here!" She then turns back towards Mist and says to her "You don't need to be scared. You were the first one out our friends to be accepted here! You're probably gonna be the best student here too." Mist turned red at her cheeks. Her friend had always said things like that to her, but every time they do, she can't help but blush. "I don't think I'm going to be the best out of the class but I will try my hardest." She looked at the door, hoping to see her other friend come through it. She turned back towards Autumn and asked, "Do you know where Shade is? He isn't going to be late on the first day is he?" Autumn chuckled and said to her friend, "I'm not too sure about that, he was late for the whole first week of sophomore year at the high school. I hope doesn't make the same mistake as last time." She had known Shade the longest, since they had been friends since kindergarten. Mist trusted her friend. But still feared that Shade would be late. Mr. Antique called Mist's name and she replied, "Here!" Then realized that Shade would be called soon, and if he wasn't here when his name was called he would be late. Mr. Antique continued to call names on the list until he said, "Shade Shine..." The door slammed open as a tan-furred pegasus flew through the door. His shaggy dark brown mane was covering his eyes, so ponies were wondering how he could see. Mist looked quickly at the cutie mark to make sure it was her friend. The mark was a black circle that slowly faded as it spread from the center. It was him. The pegasus yelled out "Here!" responding to the professor saying his name. He continued flying until he hit the wall behind the teacher's desk. The ponies in the class busted out in laughter. The pegasus, Shade, landed on the floor and held his hoof up to his head. He stood up and faced the class. He saw ponies laughing and they were staring at him with shock. The professor glared at him angrily. Shade said to him "Present!" thinking that the teacher didn't hear what he said before. He looked around and saw his friend Mist and Autumn waving their hooves. He waved back then the saw the teacher roll his eyes then mark Shade present for the class. Shade walked over to his friends and took the seat Mist saved for him. "Hey there! How are you two?" Autumn was laughing and Mist looked at Shade and said, "We're fine, but are you okay? That looked like it hurt" She then nudges Autumn telling her to stop laughing. Autumn stops laughing, but starts chuckling when she thought of her friend crashing into the wall. Shade answered Mist, "Yeah, I'm fine. I took plenty of hits worse than that. So what's this teacher's name? I wasn't in the class when he said it was I?" Mist explained everything to her friend and he thanked her. Mr. Antique had just finished taking attendance when he looked over at Mist's group of friends. "So her and Shade are friends?" he thought "Well at least I don't have to deal with them fighting. Their friend Autumn must not know their family history, and better she doesn't. That Shade though... He's a pegasus from the Shine family? But they're all unicorns... How can that be?" He put the thought aside and tended to the class. This was the first day of the last school year he would teach, why not get it over with without trouble?
Chapter 2Mr. Antique had started to tell the students about how Equestria was made, but they had heard this story every year of their lives so most ponies sighed, including Shade and Autumn. Mist was excited to hear this story, it had fascinated her that the ponies came together in order to survive from the windigo's spell. She had grabbed a history book out of her bag and opened it. She skimmed through the pages to find where she had left off in her studies last night. She had ended where the book had just stated the the pony races had named their land Equestria. Shade looked at his friend's opened book and realized something important, he had forgotten his... "Buck!" he said loudly. The class had turned to look at what had caused him to yell. Shade glanced around and all the ponies staring at him confused. Mr. Antique looked at him and asked as if already knowing the answer, "Did you happen to forget your book, Mr. Shine?" Shade was panicking, but he stayed calm, he was put under situations like this before. He calmly said "No, I just happened to remember that I didn't save my progress on a resume I'm writing up." Mr. Antique was staring at Shade. Shade felt like his eyes were like knives. Mr. Antique had stopped and said, "Anyhow... Does anyone know who the unicorn that had pointed the royal leaders in the direction of the new land?" All of the ponies had started discussing it with their friends nearby. But only one pony knew the answer and she had her hoof raised, Mystic ScrollStar. "StarSwirl the Bearded had showed the unicorns the way to the land that was the founding point of Equestria using a spell he had created weeks before." Mist said answering the question. The class turned and stared at her in amazement. Nopony else knew the answer except her. Some ponies were angry and jealous while others looked at her with a bit of respect. "That's correct Mist. But I would like you to wait until I call on you to answer the question." Mr. Antique said to her. Mist blushed, embarrassed because she had forgotten something every teacher has said to her. She apologizes then Mr. Antique continues with the lesson. The class continues on for an hour then the bell rings. All the ponies grab their bags and walk out the door. Autumn, Mist, and Shade were about to walk through the doorway when Mr. Antique said, "Mr. Shine... A word, please?" Shade stops right as he is about to leave the class room and he tell his friends to wait out in front of the door for when he gets out. They both nod and he turns to face his teacher. He walks up to the professor's desk and says, "You wanted to see me?" Mr. Antique glares at him and answers, "Yes, I did. For a few reasons in fact..." Shade wondered what he did wrong. He did forget his book but that couldn't be too much of a problem right? "You forgot you book today, I'm letting it slide this time, but if you forget it again, you're staying after-school." "Okay, I won't forget it tomorrow" Shade answers. "And something else I'm wondering..." Mr.Antique states "What is it?" "Your last name is Shine. And as you probably know, the Shine family is a line of very talented unicorns, so talented that they were the only rivals for StarSwirl the Bearded. They had a very large hate towards him and his entire family and his friends. Your friend Mist is a descendant of StarSwirl the Bearded. Yet, you both are close friends. I will not question that as to not start any fires I won't be able to put out. But something really bugging me is the fact that you are a pegasus from a long line of unicorns... How is that?" "Uh... You kinda lost me there." Shade said "But, I can answer that last part. It's because my dad is a pegasus. His name is Hurricane." Shade surprised himself. He managed to remember his dad's name? He hadn't seen him since he was 5, how can he remember his father's name? "Alright then, you're free to go." Mr.Antique tells him. Shade then turns and walks out the door. His friends are nowhere to be found. He sighs then checks his schedule. "Let's see..." He says to himself " I'm supposed to be going to... Geology? Why am I even taking this class? I sold jewels with my parents when I was little! They were jewel merchants and I had to learn all of the jewels for Celestia's sake!" Autumn and Mist were waiting outside their History class waiting for Shade to leave. "What is taking him so long?!" Mist exclaims "We're going to be late for our next class waiting for him!" Autumn calmed her friend down. "No we won't be late. Shade is probably in trouble for forgetting his book. Besides, why are we waiting for him? We obviously won't have the same class!" Autumn had made a clear point with that statement. They won't have the same class. Mist wavered on if she should wait for Shade to keep her promise or leaving for her class. She had decided on what was more important at the moment. "Alright, let's just get to our next class" Mist said "I knew you would see what was more important. Though I will kinda feel bad leaving Shade when we promised to stay... But, we cannot be late on the first day!" Autumn replied. The tow ponies agreed and walked over to their next class. They arrived at their next class and sat next to each other. The teacher had introduced herself and had started a lesson without taking attendance. "That's a big mistake... Somepony will get here late and not get detention." Mist thought to herself. She looked at her friend Autumn who was writing something down. "What are you writing?" Mist asked her friend. Autumn looked up from the paper and answered her friend, "It's just a little project I'm working on. I'm writing a romantic story about a mare and stallion who meet in college and fall in love with each other but can't find the strength to tell one another." She pauses for a second then looks at her friend curiously "You know. We are in college and this is where most ponies find their special somepony. Is there anyone you have your eyes on?" Mist's cheeks had turned red and were burning. She did have a crush on somepony. Did Autumn already know or was she just simply asking from wondering? She knew she couldn't avoid answering Autumn's question or else Autumn would persistently ask her who it is. She sighed and said quietly to Autumn. "I really like Shade..."
Chapter 3Autumn stared at her friend in pure shock. Her best friend had a crush on her childhood friend. Maybe Shade feels the same way? Autumn focused on what Mist had said and decided to think of that later. "How long have you liked him? Does he know? Did you even tell him?" Autumn rapidly asked her friend. Mist shakes her head and says, "No, I haven't. I just never got the strength to say anything." She shyly looked away from Autumn embarrassed that the fact that she likes Shade is known. Autumn could tell that she was sad. Sad that she hasn't told Shade and that Autumn knows her secret now. But, Autumn had so many questions that they couldn't wait at all. "When did you start liking him?" she questions "Near the Autumn Dance last year. The season, not you "But you said you had a crush on Tech. You lied about that?" "Yes. I didn't want you to know that I liked Shade." "You should have said something. Why do you even like him?" "Where do I begin? He's smart, he's kind, he is helpful, he's handsome. For Celestia's sake, there's only oneword that describes him perfect..." Autumn sat there quiet for a minute. She had never thought of Shade the way Mist did, but now that she did look at him that way, she realized that there are no other stallions like him. Especially not ones with his talent. But she would never try to even get with Shade romantically and she didn't want to steal him from Mist. "You have to tell him how you feel!" Autumn stated, "He might feel the same way! "He might not though, but I will try to" Mist said. The months traveled on. And Mist never told Shade how she felt throughout the whole college year. Fall had passed by in the blink of an eye. Then winter lingered with it's chilled air and all of its heartwarming holidays. And spring had come and gone just as fast. It was the last week of the school year and most ponies were deciding on what they were going to do. Mist and Autumn were preparing for another day of school when Mist said to Autumn, "It's a school day after a long weekend. You know what that means..." Autumn sighed and dryly answered, "Shade didn't set his alarm." The two ponies walked out of their room and proceeded to the main lobby. The lobby was full of many ponies and all were hanging around with their friends before the first class started. They continued on their path down to where Shade's room was. They had reached the door and heard snoring from inside. Mist reaches for the handle when Mist stops her and says, "Shhh... You hear that?" Both ponies pressed one ear up against the door and listened. shade was mumbling in his sleep. It was quiet at first then quickly escalated into him screaming in rage. He even yelled out "You won't take them from me! Especially not her!" Mist wanted to listen to hear who he was talking about but Autumn had burst open the door and yelled at Shade to wake up. Shade yelled as he woke up and fell off the bed. He groaned as his alarm clock which had broken had fallen on his head. He got up and saw his friends in his room. "School's about to start isn't it?" His to friends nod stating it is. He sighs then tells them to leave. And the rest of the day and the school year had gone normally. The friends had stood together at the edge of the college grounds to discuss their plans for the summer. Shade and Autumn had decided to go back to Manehatten and stay there for a while in their homes. Mist had no plans at all. Shade says to Mist, "Hey why don't you come with us to Manehatten? Maybe we can all plan a trip from their?" His friends agreed and the set off towards Manehatten. They had reached a train station where an alicorn mare was waiting for somepony. She had a golden coat and her hair was like watching a sunset. Which is what her cutie mark was. The alicorn looked towards Shade, Autumn and Mis5 and her expression turned to joy. She an towards happily. Shade ran towards the alicorn as well. She can't be Shade's marefriend can she? Autmn and Mist both thought. Shade and the alicorn hugged. The alicorn said to him, "I missed you so much Shade!" Shade says to the alicorn, "I missed you, too, Sunny!" "Sunny" Looks over at Autumn and Mist as he releases Shade from the hug. "I didn't know you brought friends. You going to introduce me?" Autumn and Mist looked at each other curiously. Then Shade introduces them. "Sunny, these are my friend Autumn and Mist. Autumn, Mist, this is my older sister Sun Shine" "Oh so this is your sister!" Autumn says. "It's very nice to meet you." the three mares said in unison. They then realized it and laughed about it. The conductor called all passengers to the train. All of the friends had ran towards the train , Sunshine included. And they all took seats. Mist and Sunshine sat in the very back car becuase their where no other seats available and Shade and Autumn were in the next car. Shade and Autumn talked and laughed during the train ride discussing past events in their lives. "Hey, remember in kindergarten when you yelled at that colt we hated and kicked him from behind?" Shade asks Autumn "Oh yeah! That was hilarious!" Autumn replies. They both laugh but then it is cut short. They hear a bang outside and they look outside the window. there where pegasi wearing dark robes. They were banging on the back car, like they were trying to knock it loose... They had knocked it loose. And they had lifted it up off the tracks by pure strength. Autumn and Shade yelled for their friends to get out of the car. ut were only answered with screams of fear from the others. The robed pegasi flew awa with the train car . Shade went to open the door that now lead to open tracks behind them. Autumn halted his effort to save his friend and his sister. She pointed out the window and said it was no use trying to rescue them now. Because the robed pegasi had flown through a black portal and disappeared. And soon after the portal closed, trapping Mist and Sunshine inside.
Chapter 4The train ride to Manehatten had taken forever according to Shade. He never felt so useless as he did. He couldn't do anything going after his friends. And Autumn had pointed out that if he flew off now, he would be in the middle of nowhere,so he had no choice but to wait. When the train had come to stop at the station Shade ran out the door. But not actually, he was so impatient, he had resorted to the power his grandfather gave him when he was a child. He had set his hind leg into a shadow then completely disappeared, fading into the very shadow and becoming a part of it. Autumn looked around for her friend and saw the he was out side and popped out of a wall with a tiny bit of shadows on it. He then ran off towards the city. Autumn rolled her eyes. She had known Shade had that power for a long time so it did not surprise her. And she couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. As she walked off the train she had realized something. All good things come with a consequence, what was Shade's power's downside? She walked in the direction that Shade ran off and saw him pacing back and forth, he cared enough to wait for her. He saw she was there at last and ran to her. "I have an idea of how we can find the others!" he said quickly to his friend. "All we have to do i-" Autumn held up her hoof telling Shade to stop. shade silences himself and lets Autumn speak. "You need to slow down... And yes, we do need to find them, but just relax. We don't even have a clue where they could be at all." She said to her friend. Shade had agreed then slowed down how fast he was talking. he took a deep breath and said his plane. "Okay, I was asking around if there was anypony that we could go to in order to report the strange and they all said there's somepony in that house way over there." he pointed to a tall white house off in the distance. The house was on a ledge of a mountain. shade continued, "And we should go see him to tell about what happened to Sunny and Mist. Autumn had looked at the house. The travel would take a long time. From her guess, they would get there by tomorrow night. She had stated this to Shade and he chuckled and answered, "I actually know a shortcut. I know that house, though the memories are a bit clouded. But, I know I've been there." Autumn agreed then they headed off for the house. They had managed to reach the house before sunset. Shade had jumped over a stone fence that surrounded the backyard. "Why would anypony need a fence when they live on a mountain?" Autumn said while climbing the fence. She had slipped while climbing and landed right on her stomach. she was dizzy for a second and when she looked up she saw Shade holding his hoof out offering to help her out. Autumn was surprised on how Shade looked. His blue eyes were shing in the light and his hair was to his left. Autumn was thinking he looked handsome... Autumn then shook her head and thought to herself "What the buck am I saying?! He's my friend. And besides Mist likes him and I would never try to steal any stallion from Mist. Especially not if it's Shade... But, somehow she felt like it was natural for her to have those feelings for him. She put the topic off of her mind and grabbed Shade's hoof and stood up. "Thanks..." she said to Shade. "But don't expect me to ask for your help often" She then proceeded to walk towards the house. The backyard of the house had large pool with 3 diving boards, almost like community pools around the city. It also had a large area with a grill, lawn chairs, and a shed full of pool toys. Autumn sighed, as this brought back memories. Her family was the richest ponies in all of Equestria. And strangely, they were only bakers. They had owned several houses all at the same time. This reminded her of one of the houses she lived in. It was very similar. And she thought of the little filly that was left behind when the house was burnt down. She began to sob as she remembered coming home from her regular day at school to hear that her house was burned down... And her sister was left inside. Shade called for Autumn to come inside and look around. She had thanked Celestia that he was there, because if he wasn't she would have started bawling. She had walked inside the house and noticed that she was in the living room. The room was very large, with much expensive and decorative furniture around the room. Shade had walked up to a wall and was tapping at it. Autumn walked over and asked him sarcastically, "You looking for a secret passage?" Shade quickly looks back and answers, "Yes I am. I know the passage had to do with this wall, do you mind helping?" Autumn sighed and looked around. She looked for anything out of place or that might be a switch. She had noticed a strange picture. It was a family portrait of possibly the family that owned the building. The portrait had shown a purple unicorn with a bright yellow mane standing next to a dark grey pegasus. They had two children standing next to them. One was an alicorn with a golden coat and her mane was in a ponytail. And the other was a tan pegasus with a shaggy dark brown mane with blue eyes that looked very familiar. There was no cutie mark on the child pegasus... Autumn was reaching towards the picture when Shade covered it with his hoof. Autumn looked at her friend with shock. "Why did you do that?" Autumn asked angrily. Shade did not answer. He put more force on the picture and Autumn heard a snap. Autumn opened her mouth in surprise. "You shouldn't do that! That is somepony's property!" Shade replied, "Yeah, I know, but look!" He took his hoof off the picture and pointed towards the wall he was at a moment ago. Half of the wall was moved and covered the other half. Autumn and Shade walked over to the opened wall and saw stairs leading downstairs. Autumn hesitated to go down the stairs, but Shade had started walking down with out any hesitation. Autumn ran after her friend and when they reached the bottom of the stairs Autumn realized that they were in a hallway that seemed like a regular house. She expected it to be like a basement down at the bottom of the stairs. Only two doors could be seen but there must be more around the corner. Shade had walked right into one room. Autumn had yelped realizing that he was invading the owner's privacy. Autumn had followed once again and saw Shade going through a dresser in the room. She decided to look around the room. Around the room was many posters on the walls. There were ones of Wonderbolts, ones with Unicorn history on them, and others were maps of Equestria. Autumn was about to sit when Shade suddenly yelled out , "Here it is! Still in good condition!" Autumn walked over and saw what he was holding in his hooves. It was a gem about the size of one of his hooves. It was transparent and dark blue. Inside of the gem was a pure black cloud swirling around. Autumn was wondering exactly what this gem was. She asked, "What in Equestria is that?" Shade looked at his friend and answered, "It's a gem called a 'Shadow Sapphire'. It can only be found once every 5 years and enforces powers of darkness. Anyone who can control the darkness in their heart can find a great use for this." Autumn was confused about that last statement. "When the what in their heart is controlled?" Shade had facehoofed, from what, Autumn had no idea. He explained, "Everypony is born with light and darkness in their heart. For most ponies, nothing special will happen. But the more darkness in their heart, the more evil they will be. That ranges from being a kind prankster to and evil overlord tyrant. And in a few cases, when the darkness is more than the light in somepony's heart, it corrupts them and takes over. And in a few extremely rare cases, ponies have only light or only darkness in their heart. As expected the ones with light are the kindest people you ever know. And the ones with only darkness in their heart are typically very evil since there is no light to combat the darkness. But, there are 3 ponies I know personally that have pure hearts. One with pure darkness and the others with pure light." He pauses for a second then continues, "You and Sunny are pure light and I have pure darkness in my heart. You have pure light inside of your heart and that's why you're naturally kind and care about others more than yourself. And I have pure darkness in me." "But, you aren't evil at all! You're one of the nicest stallions I know!" Autumn said. Shade had turned red at his cheeks. Apparently most mares never said that about him. He explained the reason for him not being evil, "When I was born, my grandparents had found out that me and my sister had pure hearts, but I was the biggest focus. My grandfather, Dusk Shine, had thought that he could give me powers to use the darkness in my heart in order to prove our family is better than StarSwirl's family. My grandmother, Dawn Shine, had seen things differently. She had used a spell that had made the darkness in my heart harder to corrupt me. That's all she could do. And my grandfather had used a spell that gave me control of the powers the darkness in my heart would allow. Which ended up being able to control shadows in way most ponies would never expect. I and use shadows to kill anypony that doesn't see it coming, teleport, and even make shadows cover a source of light. But I was limited because pegasi can't use magic. So when I actually use the shadows, if I use it too much I will be exhausted. And how much I could do depends on how hard it is to use. It's easier to teleport than it is to make a shadow fatal. And making a shadow fatal is much easier than forcing a shadow to cover light." Autumn stood confused for a second then said, "That explains how you use your powers, but what about why you're not corrupted by the darkness?" Shade facehoofed yet again. "Sorry, sometimes I get off topic when I talk... But anyway. I can control the darkness in my heart for one reason. I found a source of light that makes the darkness in my heart impossible to corrupt me. And that is actually something ponies find beautiful. I found somepony that I'm in love with..." Autumn had realized what he just said. Shade was in love! But with who? Could it be Mist and he just won't tell her? Or is it somepony else that she doesn't know? She goes to ask but she then hears a voice from outside the room. "Who's in my house?!" a voice yelled from the living room.
Chapter 5Shade and Autumn were panicking . Shade expected to be out of there before anypony got home. Autumn knew that this would happen, but didn't think of how to react when it did. They heard hoofsteps coming down the stairs and the voice from before spoke very deeply. "I'll ask again... Who is in my house?!" it yelled. Shade had gestured to Autumn to come over to the corner and she ran over quietly. He told her to keep her head down. He then disappeared into shadows. Autumn did as she was told and stayed in the corner quietly. "I am going to ask one last time... Who is in my house?!" the voice boomed again, "I promise that if you tell me who and where you are right now I will not hurt you." Autumn saw this as a way to get out of this trouble easier. But, she didn't think if it was a trap or not. And she didn't care if it was. "We're sorry we barged in! We're in here!" she yelled to the voice. Shade appeared out of the shadows next to her and had a shocked look on his face. He then facehoofed at her stupidity at that moment. The voice had sighed and calmed down. It replied to what Autumn said, but strangely it became higher as it spoke."Thank you for being honest. I thank Celestia for ponies like you who will accept their punishment when they do something wrong. But, like I promised I won't punish you. But, favor I want you to do. Would you mind showing me where you are?" Shade shook his head telling her to stay down. Autumn grabbed him by the ear and stood up revealing their location. "We're right here." she said, "And again we are really sorry for barging into your hou-" She was cut short of her sentence from shock. Shade looked at the being that the voice came from and he was shocked too. In the doorway the voice that had been loud and very deep, came from a little bear... A very tiny bear with blue fur and a tinfoil hat shaded like a wizard's hat. "There you are!" the bear said to them. "Now do you mind explaining why you're here?" he then asked them. Shade had started laughing quietly and Autumn explained their business for intruding in this bear's house. "Our friends were kidnapped and we needed to find a way to rescue them." she said, "And coming to this house was all my friends idea..." She kicked Shade in the stomach to stop him from laughing. Shade realized he needed to explain as well. "Well," he started "This Shadow Sapphire can be sold for high prices and using the bits from the jewel we could have gone to Canterlot and reported it to Celestia who would take action." Autumn and the bear looked at him questioning his logic. "That was your plan? Report our friends being kidnapped and hope for the best?" The bear stepped more into the room and interupted. "Your friends were kidnapped? What are their names?" he asked. Shade and Autumn replied in unison, "Sun Shine and Mystic ScrollStar" "Why are you looking for them? They weren't even born in this century! They lived back when Canterlot was a new city to live in." the bear stated Shade and Autumn yelled at the bear saying that they did live in this century they were our friends/sister. The bear held up one paw. "Okay so apparently somepony used time travel to take your friend and sister. So we need to reach them. And I could help. I just finished a time machine I was building in the last week." Autumn excitedly asked, "Really? Where is it?" The bear stated, "It's outside. But I need to find some precious gems that can power it." Shade said to the bear, "Listen, bear, when you say you finished something. You have to mean you finished something. Not that you're close." He jabbed his hoof at the tiny blue bear's stomach. The bear had moved Shade's hoof away from him. "I have a name. It's Stubbles. And I am done but I'm looking for a few pieces of amethyst in order to power the machine." "Stubbles?" Autumn questioned, "That is an adorable name for a tiny little bear like you" Stubbles pointed at her angrily and said, "Watch it,sister. I may be cute but that doesn't mean I'm not deadly." Shade had walked out of the room as Autumn was going on that Stubbles was an adorable little bear and Stubbles arguing that he wasn't. Shade had walked across the the hallway and entered the room on the other side. Inside was a large white room with a soft, light pink rug covering the whole floor. The bed was in the room had yellow and gold and orange blankets and sheets and the pillows were shaped like clouds. The bedspread had resembled a sunset at its maximum beauty. He had walked over to the dresser near the bed and opened it. Inside was a jewelry box. Shade opened the box and found that there was no jewelry, but raw minerals of all types of jewels. Rubies, diamonds, emeralds, and most importantly, amethyst. He had closed the box and carried it along with him out of the room. At the doorway he turned and looked into the room once more. He sighed as all the memories he had in this room flashed before his eyes. He remembered the day that his family had gotten this house and him and his sister were arguing of who had which room. His parent had come between it and decided for their children. That first night when he was so scared of the dark that he went into his sister's room and asked to sleep in there with her. She laughed as he explained that he heard voice talking to him and the bed was shaking. She allowed him to sleep in her room on the floor for that one night. He fast forwarded his memories to when his family had decided it was time to move from this house. A year after they had moved in. Shade had argued with his parents to stay in the house but to no avail. He decided to run away in order to stay and live in Manehatten. His sister caught onto his plan, but instead of telling their parents, she had helped Shade. She had set up a telepathic link between the siblings and they could talk to each other wherever they are. After his family had move away, he continued to live in the house until somepony had purchased it. From there on he lived in the streets of Manehatten. He lived in poverty until he remembered the jewel hunting tactics that his parents taught him. He found many jewels in the caves underneath Manehatten and had managed to live a prosperous life for someone his age. Shade walked out of the room and closed the door. Stubble and Autumn were walking up the stairs and heading outside. They were still going back and forth.Shade only heard two lines from them. "Why are you wearing a tinfoil hat?" Autumn asked. "It's called style! Look it up..." Stubbles responded. Shade had ran and caught up to them outside. And out side was a large pod hooked up to a complicated looking machine. Stubbles was on the machine typing and Autumn was standing in the pod inspecting it. Shade walked up to Stubbles and tapped his shoulder. Stubbles turned around and Shade opened the jewel box to show Stubbles what was inside. "Here's all the amethyst you'll need. Now send us to where they took Mist and Sunny." Stubbles nodded and shoved all the amethyst into a large hole in the machine. Which it then sucked up and grinded into little pieces. Shade walked over and joined Autumn in the pod. "You ready?" Autumn asked. Shade nodded his head. "Ready as I'll ever be..." Stubbles had turned and looked at Autumn and Shade. "Oh, I will be joining you two after I send you. I need to go get the return method ready." He then looked back at the machine and yelled, "So are you ready?" Before Shade and Autumn could say "Yes". They were covered in a bright light and throw up into the air. They were then hurled forward into the past.
