A shadow in the light

It was a couple of hours before Shadow arrived in Ponyville. The sun was set and Luna's moon was already quite far into it's journey to chase the sun. Stars were few until Luna could call them out of the darkness where they would dance and show their uniqueness to the world.

They landed just outside of the village as per Shadow's request not to attract any attention by anypony whom may still be awake. Shadow thanked the stallions who took off for their duty back in Canterlot leaving Shadow on his own. Shadow placed his saddle bag on the ground and scrounged through to find the address to his cottage he had written down. Usually any unicorn would have just levitated the address out of the bag but even a small item used a lot of Shadow's effort and concentration, even a simple dark magic spell would be easier to cast for him. After finding the address he had quickly written down he picked up his saddlebags and moved into town.

He walked through an alley into what must have been the town center, there were a few obvious shops and cafe's still hanging their signs overnight for the next days customers. The main feature of the center seemed to be a round town hall which was three stories tall with tall pink stained windows surrounding the second story and a tall hemisphere domed top that had an outlook at the top.  ' it doesn't look as spectacular as the buildings in Canterlot,' Shadow thought. 'but they must be proud of what they have here to keep it in such good condition,'

Shadow walked through the streets, or what seemed to be the streets for there were no paved paths or stoned roads, just a firm dirt surface to comfort his steps. He didn't mind, the feeling of something natural and soft felt good under his hooves. He walked through many streets for many an hour before he admitted to himself he was lost. He felt somewhat embarrassed of himself, the one student of Princess Luna herself couldn't even find his new home in a small village. "Aarrgghhh, what am I doing here?" he began as he vented his frustration, raising a hoof to his forehead. "What am I going to do now? "I still need to sleep during the night if I'm going to fit in with their life style," Shadow knew he wouldn't find his cottage tonight and even though knocking a door and asking for directions was the logical thing to do, he didn't want to meet anypony until tomorrow.

Shadow looked around, 'there has to be somewhere I can stay!" He was beginning to panic, he didn't want to stay up during the night, not because he was scared, he rarely got scared, but he needed to sleep in order to act and look normal while he attempted to greet the other Ponyville goers. Finally he found a large oak tree, sitting near the edge of town, it didn't look like much of a bed but Shadow sleepily saw it as his comfort for tonight. 'Well, I've had worse,' he shrugged before examining his bed for the night. The leaves were plenty, that would provide good cover as well as the branches growing wide and thick enabling him to try and lay down and catch a few hours of sleep before Celestia's sun rose. Shadow jumped his way to the top with little difficulty, that being his saddlebags weighing him down.

As he neared the top he found a sturdy branch that would easily support his weight. He hung his saddlebag on another nearby branch as to make best use of what little room he had on his branch. He walked in circles on the spot, like a dog would, before he finally decided to lie down. Turning up his head to the night sky he allowed the last image to be imprinted on his mind be the wondrous stars, each playing a silent song wishing him a goodnight.

******************************

Shadow awoke to a shifting sound, a soft fabric being grazed by sandpaper, he squinted his eyes as the the sun glared through the cracks the green leaves left as they slowly rode the wind. He had almost forgotten what the early sun felt like, it had been a while since he had slept outdoors to be woken by such a warmth. He rubbed his eyes hoping to shake off his tired feeling, unfortunately his body thought it best to just sit there and sun bake, not letting him feel the numbness of his legs. He tried to hold back a yawn that fortunately broke the gates and let itself loose forcing him to look up. As he did he did time seemed to slow, allowing him to watch a saddlebag escape from the clutches of a bending branch and accelerate towards the ground. It only took a second for Shadow to realize what was happening before he reached out his hoof to collect the falling bag.

Unfortunately for him, the saddlebag wasn't packed lightly and had gained significant momentum during it's short fall, significant enough to drag him over the edge with it and for the both of them to plummet downwards. At this point only two things were going through Shadow's mind at this moment:

Firstly, 'This is not the way one is meant to wake up on such a beautiful morning, I should have just let it drop, why didn't I just let it fall?'

Secondly, 'That looks like a very solid tree!'

Shadow, to his surprise, crashed through the tree with such a force as to drag most of the surrounding bark with him. Shadow was in a daze, his head spinning not letting his eyes focus on anything and he was twisting in the air at a disastrous rate. He was sure he would have, at the very least, be sent to the nearest hospital if there hadn't been an unusually soft ground to cushion his fall. He landed on this surface with a bounce lifting him up into the air again, letting all the wood and bark to scrape at his face as it flew past him towards the earth. Shadow was about to open his eyes trying to get a grasp of where he had landed before a high pitched scream caused his ears to tear themselves apart. After the short outburst of a deafening scream had rung out of his ears, he opened his eyes to compile the sights and asses his situation. However how his body instinctively reacted was to jump up and ready himself for a fight. A long history of letting his guard down had taught him never to sit still.

Shadow threw his bag away from himself in any random direction that would release the weight from his chest, he used the soft bouncy surface to propel himself up twisting his body towards the ear slayer, only to face an awoken mare standing in near the head of her bed. It took a second for each of them to truly understand what had just happened. Assessing the situation was critical at this moment for Shadow, he had just woken up and then fallen to what he thought could have been his death to find himself in what seemed to be, a bedroom? Books lay everywhere from the floor to a large desk all the way up to the shelves where they supposedly belonged. Quills and ink containers were scattered across all flat surfaces from the desk to the window sill, only leaving the floor as the safe zone.

The pony standing on her simple wooden bed was who worried him the most, she was the first pony he had seen since arriving in Ponyville and he didn't think his entrance was exactly how he was meant to greet the townsfolk. The pony stood only a fraction shorter than him not including her horn, she had a light purple coat that suited her dark indigo mane, that was lined with a purple and pink stripe. What truly caught Shadow's eye about her was that through her purple eyes she looked both terrified and enraged at the time.

'It's probably best if I don't stay here,' was his only thought as he ran to pick up his saddle bag, turning to make a dash for his newly made entrance, only to face plant straight into a purple wall that had emerged out of nowhere. He sat where he was and rubbed his snout, his rump suddenly felt a cooling sensation as if he were to sit in a small puddle of water. He stretched his neck around himself to observe the pink glittered force field that he was now a prisoner of. He would have marveled at such a spell if he wasn't on the inside. He quickly turned to the pony standing next to her bed who now possessed a magenta glowing horn.

"Who are you? Why did you just fall into my room! Answer me!" The purple pony demanded. This was beginning to make Shadow nervous, it was not the way he had intended to meet ponies. He wanted to try and explain what had just happened, but it was such an unusual case he wasn't sure how to put it into words.

"I'm sorry! Please just let me out!" His nervousness was working it's way into his voice, making him stutter every few words.

"Please I-I c-can explain!" The pink pony just stared at him with determined eyes.

"Okay then," she began, relieving his emotions for an instant. "but first explain this!" She levitated a dagger up to the shield right in front of Shadow's face, he immediately recognized it as one of his own. He assumed it must have fallen out of his saddlebag as he landed in the room.

"Oh, umm, that's mine but ummm..." Shadow knew he was in trouble now, there was no way he could explain the dagger without revealing too much of his identity and he didn't think she would take it well knowing that he was an assassin whom had just 'fallen into her room'. The pony gave him an almost hateful look, screwing up her face in disgust.

"I get it now," she walked up to the shield staring into Shadow's eyes. "Who sent you? Why are you targeting me? Answer me NOW!" That was the last straw for Shadow, there was no way any explanation was going to satisfy her. He didn't want to tell her about Luna sending him to the town for there could be a great misunderstanding through his words. He had to run.

'Forgive me Luna,' He whispered to himself before accumulating magic into his horn. His horn glowed a pure black colour before his body and his saddle bag began to shiver and become unfocused in the purple ponies eyes, his outline merging into his surroundings. Then all at once Shadow turned a pure black and dissipated like a puff of smoke, leaving only a fine black mist in his abandoned spot. The spell he had used was similar to a teleport spell, however it was dark magic, that he was relatively new to, having only practiced this spell a few times with Luna. The spell turned him into a smoky mist with almost no mass allowing him to travel through most objects. As all dark magic is, it was dangerous for it 'unshaped' his body turning it into a gas leaving only his conscience to control the mist. He had attempted to move outside where he could run off and hide in his cottage (where ever it was), but this was a new spell and he couldn't control it for long. He had only traveled through the force field, as if it weren't even there, before the strain forced him to carefully undo the spell.

"That was dark magic!" Shadow turned to see the pony almost frightened of what she had just witnessed. "Where did you learn that? It's forbidden throughout Equestria! Well it doesn't matter, all I know is that your evil and i'm going to stop you from.... doing what ever you were going to do!" She crouched allowing her glowing horn to be aimed straight at Shadow. All he could think was, 'Welp, that escalated quickly,' before jumping through the doorway running down the stairs into an open library. Without a second thought or glance he found the door and ran full speed towards it, only hearing the words 'Wait! Stop!' following behind him. He didn't want to cause more of a mess than he already had so he halted at the door, stretched out his hoof and turned the cold brass handle, pushing against the door as he did so.

He ran outside full sprint, his only thought was to get away from the purple pony and her deadly magic. What he didn't notice though was the cyan blue Pegasus flying at high speed straight towards him.

"LOOK OUT BELOW!" the Pegasus yelled before rocketing straight into Shadow. They were sent tumbling one over the other, Shadow cushioning most of the impact. Their hooves interlocked for some time before the force withdrew their hold and sent each in a different direction, the cyan pony towards an open field where grass was plenty while Shadow was sent straight into the side of a tree. Unfortunately for him, it was the same oak tree he had just exited from, and the purple pony wasn't far away.

"Rainbow! Are you alright". She asked with a worried look. She trotted over to the cyan Pegasus, all the while levitating Shadow's dazed body with her.

"Yeah, I'll be just fine Twilight, I was trying out a new trick before things got out of control," She sheepishly smiled back. "But thanks to this guy I'll be right as rain." She inspected Shadow before taking flight and hovering in front of the two unicorns. "Who is this guy anyway? Never seen him around before,"

I'm not sure dash but he ended up crashing through my ceiling before he tried to run for it, but thanks to you I now have him safely within my grasp!" Shadow shook his dazed head and tried to get a grasp of what was happening. The purple pony was apparently named Twilight and the cyan mare, Rainbow, which suited her multi coloured mane quite well. Shadow tried to disappear from the scene but knew it would only make things worse. At lease now Twilight would stop trying to kill him. Looking around his surroundings he noticed that the contents of his saddle bag were sprawled out on the ground around them. Unfortunately his books and daggers were as well and they didn't exactly create a good impression for him.

"What's all this stuff?" Rainbow asked. "Is he a chef or something" obviously oblivious to what kinds of knife they were and what the titles of each book was.

"I don't know what he does but it can't be good," Twilight lectured. "Looking at his equipment he could be a dark mage perhaps trying to gain some sort of power through forbidden knowledge. Or maybe he's a murderer who kills for fun!" At this last hypothesis Shadow flinched, he knew his job wasn't exactly clean, but nor did he take satisfaction in it and even if she didn't mean to strike a nerve Twilight had assumed too much already. A thought of running away came across him, but due to his weariness of just waking up as well as how intense the light was around him he knew dark magic would take a heavy toll on his mental state. Even if he could escape he knew that running away would only make his circumstance worse than it already was, so he decided to take the civil approach.

"Excuse me," Shadow interrupted causing both ponies to turn their heads. "I apologies for waking, worrying and causing all this ruckus but may I say a few things before you decide how you're going to judge me?" Shadow grew nervous as he hadn't talked to anypony besides Luna and a few guards for a long time. His glance shifted from side to side not focusing on anything particular until Twilight levitated him closer to her face which held a confident and stern look.

"That depends on what you are going to say!"

"Okay, umm, h-h-hello, my name is Shadow and I was going to move into Ponyville today, I-It's a pleasure to meet you!" Both Rainbow and Twilight looked at him in bewilderment.

"Is this for real?" Rainbow giggled. "Wait, let me get this straight, this guy falls through your ceiling, waking you up and then makes a run for it right out the front door? Were you spying on her?"

"Ok, firstly is wasn't spying on her I was sleeping, secondly, you live in a tree?"

"Yes," Twilight said without a hint of surprise or embarrassment. "but that's not the issue here! What were you doing on my house?!" Twilight's volume was raised with irritation, her eyes interlocked with his trying to wrestle his soul for information.

"I'll start near the beginning, I had just arrived in Ponyville last night and was trying to find the address to my new cottage. After a long hour or so I gave up the search and decided to sleep where ever. I came across an oak tree that looked suitable enough to hide myself in and provide enough room to sleep on. When the morning arose I saw my saddlebag slide off and fall towards the ground, I tried to grab it but it's weight pulled me down with it. I think you know what happened after that!"

Twilight looked at him with a skeptical look. Shadow began to rub his hooves together within the tension 'it's not all the information she probably wants but it should satisfy her, right?' he thought to himself nervously. All was quiet until a voice broke the awkward silence.

"Well you seem cool enough," Rainbow Exclaimed.

"Don't jump to conclusions just yet!" Twilight interrupted. She was still inspecting Shadow looking him over and over like a rubix cube waiting to be solved. "I still want to ask you a few questions before I let you go, like why didn't you just levitate your saddlebag as it fell?"

This had an easy answer and Shadow had no intentions of hiding such facts, even if it was a little embarrassing.

"Well you see, I am not very adept at normal unicorn magic, a foal could lift a book with ease but it would take all my strength and concentration to lift something like that. It doesn't seem plausible but I really suck at magic,"

"Oh, is that why you didn't open the door with levitation magic?" Shadow realized that she was referring to his ordeal with the entrance to her house.

"Yeah, I find it easier just to use my hooves rather than magic, I know it's kinda strange but it's just how I am,"

"What about the 'dark magic' books?" She levitated one over to them and held it in his face. Shadow didn't really want to tell her too much but if it was the only way to get her to understand and put him down then he had no choice.

"Let's just say that i have a teacher that has Celestia's permission to teach me," Shadow didn't really want to tell her that Luna herself was teaching him or she might freak out and treat him differently from other ponies.

"Really? Who might this teacher be then?"

"Okay, now you're just being nosy,"

"It's a force of habit," She grinned as if interrogating him was amusing.

"It's fine, but can you let me down now?" For a moment it looked like Twilight was about to do as he had requested until she looked over his belongings once more.

"Just one more question," She said as she lifted Shadow away from the floor again. "Why are you carrying daggers around? They are definitely not kitchen knives, what are you using them for?" Shadow began to internally punish himself, how could he bring such a dangerous weapon into a town like this.

"W-well they are house ornaments, to be hung on walls to fascinate guests if I should ever have any," He patted him self on the back for thinking of and pulling off such a convincing lie.

"Oh, okay then," Twilight said slowly. She wasn't fooled but she let it go, she would keep a close eye on Shadow for the time being. "So you said you couldn't find your cottage?" She questioned as she let him place his hooves on the solid dirt ground.

"Thank you," Shadow said as he gave a small bow. "And yes I am a little lost in this town, if I gave you the address could you perhaps point me in the right direction?" Shadow asked as he packed his belongings into his bag, picking them up one by one in his mouth. He didn't really care how he organised his saddlebag as long as he could get out of the stressful situation as quickly as possible.

"Well now that you two are getting along I think i'll just meet Applejack," Rainbow spoke. "I'll catch ya later Twilight!"

"Bye!" She replied before turning back to Shadow. "Now what was that address? I'll be happy to accompany you just to make sure you get there without any more hitches!" She exclaimed with a smile. The truth was that she didn't trust Shadow and wanted to see if there was anything more suspicious about him.

"Thanks a bunch!" Shadow said, as they walked down the street off to his new cottage.