Chapter 1
Entrance
By: Shadowpainter
“Storm, get the hell back here.” I said through a pant. I was sprinting after my dog. He was a 6 year-old black and dark grey Australian shepherd. I named him Storm Hide because his fur looked like clouds, and with his eyes being lightning blue, just made the name fit. I myself was a 6’ and 180 lb. Bachelor. I had black hair and matching eyes to my dog. I was wearing a black hoodie with a white under shirt and blue jeans that day.
When I had gotten home, I had opened the gate and he just ran towards the forest. We had entered the forest long ago, and I was totally lost now. One thing I knew was that we should be out of it by now. We had covered about 2 miles, about twice the width the forest should have been. “Storm stop!” I yelled, and too my surprise he did. I came up to a lake, the water was murky and black. I reached for storm only for him to bolt into the water.
“You have to be shittin’ me!” I growled out as I dove after him. That’s where things got weird. As I broke the surface of the lake, I felt a surge of energy flood my body, erasing my aches and tiredness. I then shot out of the water, like literally shot out, and no, I hadn't turned around. I flew out of the lake and hit a tree. As I peeled away I noticed that the tree was a lot smoother than it should have been. It was also brighter, actually now that I looked everything was brighter.
“Well that was an entrance dear friend.” A voice called. I looked around but found no one. “Why don’t you try looking down?” The voice said again, and as I complied, my eyes widened. They did this because my shadow was waving at me. “Name’s Shade, nice ta meet cha.” He stated.
“Uh… Damian, names Damian, now what the fuck is going on?” I asked. For some reason I accepted the talking shadow without question. Looking around I saw Storm sitting by a tree a couple feet away. “And what does my dog have to do with it?” That’s me endlessly curious.
“You have been called to this world to protect six girls.” He started. “You were picked because you have the ability to host me. That is less than a one in a billion chance. I am the scion of shadows. Now you may be thinking ‘with hosting you will I lose free will?’ and the answer is no you won’t. All hosting me does, is make it so you may draw from my power. I also replace your shadow.” He finished.
Well he did a hell of a job of putting my fears down. “If I was anyone else I would be freaking out because you would have yanked me from my family but… I have no family to leave. Ok where are these girls. Now that I have a purpose, it would be bad to fail it.” I admitted. To this he just pointed west.
As I started walking he said. ”What are you doing, it’s a five day hike. Here focus on this image and walk into the shadows.” I saw an image of a back alley in my mind. Doing as he said, I focused and walked through the shadow with my eyes closed. When I opened them I saw the alley ahead of me. Suddenly I was hit with a wave of vertigo. My dog had followed me somehow.
A roar pierced the night along with a crunch of wood. Peeking around the corner I saw a crowd of… colorful ponies. A group of six were ahead of the crowd (You guys already know what the mane 6 look like so I won’t describe them) in front of them was a huge bear with skin that looked like the night sky.
“Those six are who you’re supposed to protect. GO SAVE THEM!” Shade yelled. With that I sprinted forward coming out between the group and the crowd. I heard a scream from the crowd causing the six to turn about. The bear seeing the distraction charged. I vaulted over the group, driving my fist forward to meet the bear, a war cry on my lips. My arm burned as I flew. Risking a glance I saw a gauntlet of shadows form.
The bear and I collided, my gauntleted fist meeting its face. A deafening boom shattered the night. The bear stopped in place, all of its momentum rebounded with a single punch. I fell back a bit sliding a few feet. I immediately sprang up, and rushed forward, throwing another punch. This one, with no opposing momentum, tossed the bear back. The sickening crack caused everyone to cringe. Blood flew out of the bear’s mouth.
“I could do this all day!” I yelled, only to get hit by its paw. It had thrown me into a building, which collapsed. I crawled out of the rubble to find the bear in front of me. He roared an obvious challenge at me.
“Damnit, you have no training. There is one thing to do, allow me into your body and you will have full access to my power, but it will leave you weak.” He called over the roar. I just nodded. Something poked my mind and I just let it in.
My eyes started glowing with a purple energy. Color flaked off my body in chunks. Leaving behind Darkness laced with purple lines. Pain ripped through my back as tendrils of shadow sprung from it. “You will never harm the innocent while I breathe.” I roared back. Six tendrils shot forward colliding into the bear. It shot into another building bringing it down.
As it flew I saw its shadow in front of me and I got an idea. Slamming my hand into the ground calling to its shadow with my mind. It shot towards me, and as it hit my hand, I pulled up, drawing with me a huge sword of shadow. It appeared to be weightless. My tentacles grabbed the bear and dragged the bear forward. It helped by charging. I sprinted as well, and at the last second I drove forward with my sword. It made a nauseating sound as it sliced into the beast’s brain. I had to dig my tentacles into the ground to keep from flying back.
My color came back as shade took his place bellow me, bringing my sword with him. The last thing I saw before I blacked out, was six colorful faces surrounding me.
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I slowly came too. Prying open my eyes, I saw a paneled celing above me. Looking around, I saw a normal looking hospital room. The only thing that was different was a purple mass of fur in a chair beside me. Having nothing better to do, I poked it.
"Ah!" It squeaked out. As it jumped out of the chair, I saw that it was a lavender unicorn with two light purple streaks in her main and tail. "Oh, you're awake, I have so many questions. Are you a monster? Where did you come from? Why can you control shadows? Can you talk?" She ranted on quick as light.
"Uh, yeah I can talk. No, I'm not a monster, I came from Earth, and Shade allows me to use his power to control shadows. Speaking of which, Shade can ya help me up?" I replied growing more confident the longer I spoke.
"Sure man, I'll help ya." Shade replied pelling off the floor and assuming a 3D shape. The unicorn just gaped at the shadow literally standing in front of her. Shade looped an arm under mine, and with us working together, I stood. I still had on my clothes, thank the Gods. I started to walk to the door to leave.
"WAIT!" the unicorn yelled. Shade faded back into the floor as my shadow. " You can't leave, you collapsed. Also, at least allow me to introduce myself, I am Twilight Sparkle." She stated much quieter.
"For one, hi, I am Damian. Two, I can leave whenever I damn well please," I said. Going for dramatics I once again called for the bear's shadow. Tendrils of shadow moved up my body and down my arm. Morphing into the giant sword once it reached my hand.
"No need for that. Fine you can leave. But I just can't let you out in public. Here, let me teleport us to my house." Twilight quickly said, her horn starting to glow. In a sudden flash of light, we were in a library. As my stomach caught up to me, I almost heaved. Looking around, I saw the rest of the group that I was supposed to protect. "Here let me introduce you to my freinds. This is Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy." She said proudly. Suddenly, the pink pony jumped onto me. Thinking quickly, I fell back, focusing on the shadows accross the room.
As I fadded into the shadows I came out, walking calmly behind the group, who were staring at where I was. I just laughed and they spun around, staring at me."I'm going to say only one thing," I said as tiredness overwhelmed me. Passing out does not mean you get good sleep. "Goodnight." With this said, I promptly fell onto the wooden bench, asleep as soon as my shoulders made contact with the wood.
Chapter 2
An awakening
By: Shadowpainter
“DAMIAN!” I shot awake. Searching, I saw something that scared me. The walls were covered in withering shadows. Twilight was pinned to the wall. The shadows covered her from her lower body to her upper body, and were climbing higher. With a massive surge of will, I called the shadows back into me. Twilight fell to the floor panting. “I couldn’t get out... my magic was useless.” She mumbled.
“I should have known there would be a reaction to the dreams. Fuck me!” I yelled. I stood up and checked on Twilight, to see if she was fine. Reassured that she was, I slammed a fist into the wall, causing a small burst of shadow. “Gods damn me. Why can’t I control it?” I said in self-loathing.
“Why did that happen? I have heard of loss of control in sleep, but nothing like that.” Twilight questioned. I wanted to avoid the question, but knew that I would have to answer eventually. I sat in front of Twilight, bowing my head. Bringing the memory to the surface made a tear fall.
“I dreamed, Twilight. Well, more like I had a nightmare. You should know that I no longer have any family. I never knew my dad, he walked when I was born. My mom tried to provide for me and my older brother. We grew up rough, but we survived. When I finished high school I couldn’t leave my mom, so I stayed with her. I went to the local college and got a degree in history. My mom had been a teacher and I wanted to follow in her footsteps.” I started to explain.
“When I turned 24 my life hit the fan. My brother died in a car accident. The other driver was drunk. My mom grieved for months. Finally, she got back to work and we started to move on. A year passed like this, until They came. A group of home robbers kicked in our door. I tried to fight back, but was knocked unconscious. When I came to, I was in a hospital. A cop told me that my mother had been killed and the bastards got away, too. After that, I’ve been wandering and doing odd jobs to stay alive. Never wanting to face my past.” I finished, tears falling freely now. Looking up, I saw that Twilight was crying as well.
She rushed in for a hug. “I’m so sorry. Nobody should have to deal with that.” She whispered in my ear. Standing up she wiped her tears away. “I’m going to Applejack’s farm today to meet with my friends. Would you like to join us?”
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“Why is it so far to this farm of hers?” I said stopping for another break. We had been walking for 15 minutes, and we still weren’t there.
“It’s just a little bit farther, see there’s the gate.” She called out already farther ahead. It was good to say I had a friend after so long without one. We had talked for a bit after my dream. She had told me of the world and her life. How her parents, Night Light and Velvet Sparkle, Pushed her to do her best. How she made it into Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns and became her prized pupil. Apparently she was the element of magic in the elements of harmony. She discovered them when she was fighting Nightmare Moon.
Don’t get me wrong, night time is awesome, but eternal night would fuck a planet up. I was a little eager to meet her friends. If Twilight and I could be friends, why couldn’t I be friends with her friends? We arrived shortly after her life story, much to my enjoyment. Her friends were seated around a red and white checkerboard blanket. A basket sat in the middle. Apple products were strewn around on various plates. Twilight announced our arrival, and as we sat down I was immediately bombarded with questions, none of which I was prepared for.
“What do you eat at your home?” This one from Applejack.
“Why do you wear clothes?” This from Rarity.
“It must suck not being able to fly.” That was more of a statement from Rainbow.
“Whatkindofpartiesdoyouhave?aretheycool?orfun?orridiculous?” I’m not even going to try to decipher that… that nonsense from Pinky Pie.
“Um… if you don’t mind. What animals are in your world?” Fluttershy asked me, her voice barely audible.
I started to answer their questions in order, one by one. “I eat all kinds of things, I wear clothing out of habit really, we actually can fly, but not without the aid of technology. I’m not even going to try to answer you Pinky Pie until I can tell what you are saying. And we have all sorts of animals on Earth.” I finished their questions, electing a satisfied expression from all of them except Pinky Pie, who was slightly disappointed, but not deterred.
“What kind of parties do you have? Are they cool? Or fun? Or ridiculous?”
“Much better, I can finally understand you. Although that is a very difficult question because the variety of parties on Earth. We have parties for literally everything, some of them are cool, and fun, and ridiculous, and others are none of them.” With this, Pinky also seemed satisfied.
Just as I finished answering the questions, something slammed into the ground behind us. Turning quickly, I found a lance point under my chin. Hooked to the lance, was a pony covered in golden armor. I immediately lashed out, knocked the lance away with a flick of my hand, stood, and jumped back. Calling to my sword, it rushed into my hand. More armored ponies started dropping from the sky and surrounded me.
“Oh, if it’s a fight you want, come and get me!” I yelled. Bringing my sword into a guard stance I waited for their attack.
“No stop, He’s a friend!” Twilight yelled but neither I, nor the other ponies acknowledged her. The soldiers rushed forward with their lances. I dodged most of them but took a nasty hit to the side. I sprinted towards the pony in front of me. He lunged, only for me to sidestep and cut his lance in half. I then, with a half spin, dove into his shadow. Appearing in the tree above them. The soldiers looked around in confusion.
Suddenly a new pony landed, she was much larger than normal, with a blinding white coat, and a rainbow like main and tail that floated in a nonexistent breeze. With a start, I realized she had both wings and a horn.
“Where did he go? Twilight are you alright?” She questioned. Twilight ran up and hugged her. This must be Celestia I realized with a start.
“Why did the gaurs attack him, he’s a friend.” Twilight asked almost in tears. “Now you’ve scared him away. He’s gone through so much he doesn’t need this!” She said in an almost yell. She must not want to yell at her mentor and princess.
“Twilight I’ve known two people who can control shadows. Those were Shade and Sombra. One did great good, and the other great evil. I cannot take a 50% chance with the safety of my country. With that I smiled and stepped back into the shadows.
Rising from her own shadow I put an arm over her back and said. “Then we now have problem. Shade allows me to control shadows.” She started visibly and I was once again surrounded by spears. “Oh, come on.” I sank down reappearing back in the tree. “Up here.” I called.
“Come down, we won’t hurt you. If what you say is true then you mean no harm to my little ponies.” Celestia said looking at me with her magenta eyes. I went to swing down only for pain to rush up my side. I toppled out of the tree, blood visible through the gash in my clothes.
“That may be a little late to promise, princess.” I grunted. Attempting to stand a wave of pain and dizziness hit me and I fell beck. Twilight rushed over supporting me with her back. Celestia shot a disapproving look to her guards.
“Let us get you to Pony Ville General. We’ll talk more there.” She lifted me with magic, carrying me towards the hospital. I allowed the darkness to take me, causing the pain to end for a time.