Chapters Another night as a shadow
Shadow Stalk lingered from a rooftop watching his prey walk through the street ally with his deep ocean blue eyes. His long black main sat still on his neck as he peered over the edge or the rooftop. His dark navy blue horn, following the colour of his coat, hid himself from any prying pony who may happen to look up for no apparent reason. His short cape was a the colour of a dark red. Shadow had very little sense of fashion in every way possible. He was more of a practical pony, only using the cape on his assignments to hide his daggers from the general public. To everypony else he looked like a guy that you may read in the newspaper who has mugged some helpless mare during the night. He wasn't strongly built, in fact he was small almost the same size as a mare, but this didn't faze him one bit, this made his body quick, agile and most importantly light hoofed.
It was another night on the job for him, following strange ponies down streets and watch them from afar to see if any suspicious activity were to occur. Although his 'assignments' were different than most. Shadow was specially trained for his missions and even though he took little pleasure of it, he knew how necessary it was for him not to fail or budge with his resolve. His Job? Simple, eliminate his target. Yes, his name probably gave it away but Shadow Stalk was indeed an assassin of sorts. Although his job was simple, he didn't just stay up all night accusing everypony he saw. He was associated with a special team devised to monitor activity within the city and to deal with it. Shadow's 'assignments' only included one type of problem. Changelings.
Shadow works within the bounds of Canterlot to help his society against any kind of invasion or threat they may face from changelings. Tonight he followed a grey Pegasus down the streets through back alleys. Although it was dark, Luna's moon brought a small ray of light to the city. Shadow had worked at night for a year now and was quite capable of adapting to seeing just as well at night as anypony would during the day.
His target moved his way through the dark blue stoned alley only to stop right in between the two main streets. Shadow was unable to do anything until he was sure his target was guilty. He had made the mistake of threatening an innocent pony before he had the hard evidence to back it up and it almost cost him everything he had. He sure in Tartarus wasn't going to make the same mistake again.
Just as Shadow was doubting his thoughts the ground around the Pegasus began to flare up in green flames. It consumed his body for a moment only to die down to reveal the true creature hidden under it. From experience Shadow knew that most changelings couldn't perform any magic while in a transformed state and therefor must let go of their mask before hoof.
The changeling brought out a scroll and quill writing some points down that seemed to be information of some sort. Perhaps it was a letter to his queen to tell her of weaknesses in Canterlots defenses, or perhaps it was a grocery list. It didn't really matter what was written there for changelings have been banned from all cities and small towns. Just being here was a crime that sadly was punishable by death. Even if he didn't want to Shadow knew his duty and where his loyalty lied. Having doubts about the parchment and what it could contain, Shadow had to act quickly before the scroll was magically sent off in a poof of smoke.
As the letter was rolled up using changeling magic it was caught out of the air in front of him and attached itself to the ground along with a small knife that stabbed itself through the center of it. The last thing the changeling would remember was looking up to see the silhouette of what seemed to be a mare without a cutie mark before a glint of steel met his forehead.
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Shadow reported to the night crew and told them where the body lay. He later returned home walking through the long hallway towards his room. The Canterlot Castle always seemed to make him feel comfortable no matter what the events of the day had laid upon him. The long halls allowed him to think before he reached his door, the royal red carpet felt like a massage to his hooves, the night guards were trustworthy and always had time to give him a nod as he passed. Home is where the heart is, and Shadow Stalk knew where his heart lay.
Before he greeted his bed, he stopped a few doors down from his room. He turned and looked up at the arch of the door. Upon the arch was a crescent moon, half way between a full moon and a Luna eclipse. He knocked the door as he did almost every night as was relieved to hear a familiar voice usher him in.
"I hope your assignment was successful," Luna began. "That or I hope it was a false alarm, you know I don't like you being out so late it feels as if you like doing this kind of thing,"
"I promise you Luna that I take little happiness from taking a life whether it be from evil or good," Shadow continued. "Once again the only reason I do this is because I know that I am the only one In Canterlot that is willing to take a life. That and the satisfaction of keeping everyone safe is nice to know,"
"I understand, I just wish there was more to your routine than sleep and work. Ever since I hired you, you have been almost like a son, I just want you to live like everypony else,"
"Don't worry about me I love the position I am in and couldn't for anymore than I have got. You have given me everything and I will do everything I can to make you proud. Now it is only a couple of hours before the sun rises, you should get some sleep the ponies won't be dreaming during this stage,"
"You're right, thank you Shade I will get what rest I can before I must lower the moon."
Luna lay on her side in her bed, she closed her tired eyes and within a few moments was asleep. Shadow on the other hoof walked to the balcony and just watched the nights stars twinkle like he did when he was little.
Shadow also had a second task he had to fulfill before he could rest.
Every night around this time was the most dangerous for the princesses for Luna had to sleep to have enough magic to move the moon and Princess Celestia obviously slept through night time. Due to Luna's recent arrival from being turned back from Nightmare Moon, there were still ponies with unknown reasons and whereabouts that wanted Luna dispatched of in case she were to turn again. One incident long ago proved that fact. It was Shadow's job to keep her safe during these hours. Celestia didn't need protection because she was seen as a great leader that everyone respected. Not once was she targeted by anypony.
Shadow used his Magic to cast a detection spell around the area enabling him to sense most ponies presence nearby. It was a simple and weak spell but it did the job.
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He was never any good at certain types of magic including force fields, because of this he trained his body to compensate for lack magical talent. He didn't lift weights or buck trees, his body wouldn't allow him to make great use of strength for he grew only the the size of a mare, whereas other stallion grew at least half a head taller. His legs were much smaller than most stallions in which were muscular although he was still recognizable as a male but not at a first glance. Instead of training his undermined strength he ran, and ran, and ran some more only stopping for quick rests before he began a new exercise. His light body was adept in speed, stamina and agility. After a few hours of training his body he would begin with skills. Using both his fore hooves he picked up two of his four blades, each had been hidden in a sheath under his cape and strapped to his body. He would slice at a tree stump time and time again, making sure he was quick with each dagger and leave a smooth slit in the bark every strike making sure he kept moving unpredictably around his target.
Even though he was a master in the eyes of all the guards from both Luna's and Celestia's quarters, Luna had never let him forget his magic training. He began his training with levitation. A simple spell in which even filly's and young colts could do with ease, yet he struggled to more a quill. After hours of reading he decided to try something a little rebellious. Dark magic. All the spells in those books looked so cool to him even if they were complex and had a high risk of ruining his body. He shrugged off the fact that he could have ended up losing a leg and the fact that it was forbidden magic. As he tried his first spell (which turned out to make the entire room as dark as the night without a moon), Luna walked in to check on her star student. For a few moments she stunned at the fact that there seemed to be no window in this room, but she soon realized what had happened. Luna, being the princess of the night immediately countered the spell and returned the room to it's original light to find a colt standing in the middle of the room in shame. She slowly walked her way towards him making sure that every step could be heard throughout the silent room. She then noticed the book and read the cover. 'Daring Darkness'.
"Tell me, did you use a spell from THIS book?" Luna demanded an answer. After a short sigh Shadow replied.
"Yes, I'm sorry, I just wanted to try something new out, something different, I didn't expect to be able to do it, I know it's forbidden it's just so frustrating not being able to do any other kind of magic. I'm really sorry!" Shadow was ranting he was scared of the punishment just as much as the disappointment. Suddenly a response came from above him.
"Well, I do think that you should be punished," Luna exclaimed. "this magic is not a joke to be meddled with" Shadow's heart lurched forward begging for forgiveness. He just wanted be good at some magic, he had seen how amazing it was in talent shows. "But I can't deny that you have successfully cast an advanced spell, even for me this would have taken a while to do correctly," Shadow didn't know what to think at this point. He should have been chained up and put in a dungeon for a week, he wasn't sure what do to and just waited for a response. "I suppose if i talk to my sister about your... ability, she would be content with me training you in this art, as long as I supervise you when you train that is!"
Shadow raised his head and placed an innocent smile on his face. Months later only then did he realize, that was the day he got his cutie mark. His cutie mark consisted of one colour, black. To represent his skill in the dark magic. It was almost impossible to see the difference between his cutie mark and his dark coat, only in the light of the bright sun could one see a slither of difference.
Weeks later, Shadow was glad to have such a long break between his assignments. His sleeping habits even began to pull him out of a nocturnal lifestyle as he began to see the glistening sun more often. He usually woke in the morning just before lunch, this was considered quite late for the rest of Canterlot had already awoken and were busy with each of their chores for the day. Every time he rose from his bed he took not at how spectacularly the sun shone and reflected off every surface, however the moon in it's pool of darkness would always fascinate, how it glowed and produced a calmness no other being could replicate. Although on occasion he would stare up to the sky, his time on assignments was limiting itself to once a week and in some cases he could go a week without having to take another life.
His time during the day was spent either reading his magic books or training his body to be sure not to slacken off. He was looked up to by many and he wouldn't let them down by taking in their glory. In fact he almost despised ponies that looked up to him, sure he had great physical strength and hadn't lost a fight for months, but what he saw in them scared him. In some he saw hope that they may be able to be the student of Luna herself, others he saw that they wanted his job, the exhilaration and blood lust called to them like a fledgling does to it's parents. It sickened him to no end that somepony not only wanted his job, but saw it as a justification for killing.
He brushed these thoughts from his mind as he headed down to the food court that all the guards would use during their double shifts. The room was long and the ceiling tall, there were many tables organized around the room each able to seat around 8 ponies. The food wasn't jaw dropping but it wasn't slush that would make you puke everything in your stomach out onto the table in front of you. He collected a tray and picked whatever took his fancy from the display like shelves. A few apples and cereal would suffice his hunger, he didn't need to eat as much anymore, his missions were fast and few. Shadow sat away from the other guards who were on their break, he wasn't one for socializing with others mainly due to his busy lifestyle, he couldn't hold down a friendship. He would meet them one day and then then not see them for a few weeks only to give them an awkward nod down the hallway. He finished breakfast quickly wanting to leave and meet Luna for his magic lessons.
His skills with dark magic had improved substantially since he was young but Luna always had worries about him casting spells while she wasn't around to help him in case something went unpredictably wrong. He was fine with that, after his first incident which happened to be his cutie mark story, the guilt that built up inside him was too much, it ripped at his heart that he had disappointed somepony that meant so much to him. He vowed not to use the dark magic unless it was a necessary within the circumstance. Most dark magic was banned mainly because it could pollute minds and make them have a lust for power, to rule and not BE ruled. Shadow on the other hoof never gave in to these desires, since he was young the thought of power, responsibility and being unjustifiably narcissistic as the most cruel and evil intents in Equestria. The only other pony that he knew of that could retaliate against such thoughts was his teacher, Luna, whom used this magic on a nightly basis to help little foals within the dream world.
He knocked upon Luna's door and, after a reply, entered to greet Luna during one of their rarer day lessons. Luna was wearing her bright golden necklace along with her crown and hoof gauntlets. She stood up from her writing desk (which had piles of contracts and paper work) and motioned Shadow in, shutting the doors behind him.
"Good morning Shade!" Luna said with a bright and excited smile as she see seemed to have a 'spring' in her step today. "I hope you're ready for something special today!"
Shadow looked at here with a puzzled look. "Are we trying a new spell today? And why are you so energetic?"
Luna calmed herself before moving closer her bright blue eyes never leaving him. She sat next to him wrapping one foreleg around his neck before she told him the 'special' news. "Today I will be sending you on a mission out of the city, to Ponyville to be exact,"
It took Shadow a few moments to realize what she said before a light illuminated in his head. "Your sending me out of Canterlot!? On my own!? But don't you need me here? Couldn't you send another guard to take care of a changeling!? I don't want to leave!" He began to panic as thoughts arose, almost consuming him in fear of what may lay beyond the City walls.
"Calm down silly, I think you misunderstand me Shade, I am not sending you for another one of your 'assignments'," She irked. "I am sending you to socialize with the rest of the world. You spend too much time reading books, training or completing a job; that you never seem to talk to anyone other than me! I just want you to be happy and to get out of this routine of staying in the castle,"
Shadow looked up to Luna, not with tears but with pleading eyes trying to find a hole in her logic. "I am happy right here in the castle, with you! Don't you need me to protect you at night? What will you do?"
"I understand that you don't want to leave and that you feel content being here," Luna replied with a stern voice. "but you don't realize how great it is to get out until you actually get out there to experience it. I remember my first night out in a strange town, nopony seemed to warm up to me and it was difficult becoming a part of the world again, but there was one pony who saw beyond my past and looked at me as I was," She turned to him as she continued to speak. "You need to be a part of the world once more, you travel at night through the streets but nopony ever sees you. As for my protection I will be hiring two guards to make up for your absence, no single pony could live up to your expertise." He snickered at the last comment which had brought a smile to both their faces. They sat there for a moment, just contemplating, only letting the cool day breeze interrupt the silence.
Shadow walked up to the balcony doors, letting the sun light warm his body and clear his head as he stared up to the sky. Without turning around he gave her a final answer. "You know this isn't easy for me, but I know that you understand me better than anypony else, I thank you for noticing that much about me at least," Shadow turned around, eyes closed. "If it makes you feel better I will give this mission a go,"
"Thank you" She walked over and gave Shadow a Motherly hug. They stood there in an embrace that felt like hours and seemed to lift all the despair the world contained.
"Umm.... What is this mission anyway?" Asked Shadow. Luna left the hug and looked at him with a smile.
"It's something my sister had done with her student, I am sending you to Ponyville to make some friends and to be more social around ponies in general. Don't worry about it too much, the smaller towns that can be seen from the towers are much friendlier than ponies in Canterlot so you shouldn't have much of a problem meeting them. I have already taken the liberty of renting out a small cottage during your stay."
"When will I be leaving?" Shadow questioned with less worry now that he thought he was in good hooves.
"Later today"
"Well this was unexpected, may I arrive at night Luna? I don't really want to be noticed immediately as i arrive, I hope to blend in a little more before i meet and greet,"
"If that is how you want to to present yourself then I have no right to stop you, you live your own lifestyle from now on. As long as you make friends along the way" She added.
Shadow left Luna and moved to his room to begin packing. He looked at his simple room containing only a desk, a large cupboard for fashion, a single sized bed, and a large carpet that hid most of the plain grey floor underneath. The carpet was the only item in the room that he had chosen for himself, the rest was there before he moved in. The carpet was a simple design. It was a large black square with the moon centered as the main feature, stars around the moon seemed to glisten. He had added some glitter to the stars to make it look more realistic.
'Only the simple life essentials' he thought as he began to pack his saddlebags: toothbrush, mane brush, money, books, cape.... He glanced over to his cupboard where he kept his equipment. He contemplated whether it was a good idea or even if he would need such an item upon his trip. 'I'll take my daggers just in case, no need to be under prepared,' he thought to himself.
As the sun fell he arrived at the front of the castle to be greeted with two of Luna's personal carriage stallions. He boarded and they flew off into the lands below. Towards Ponyville.
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.
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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.
The door to the cottage flung open with a thump as Shadow and Twilight strolled through the entrance. They arrived in a small living room with a bright red couch hugging right wall of the room sitting behind a small brown table which was used for drinks and snacks if guests were to arrive. The living room floor was covered in a dull grey carpet stopping it's advance at the stairs and at the kitchen entrance. Looking to the left was the entrance to the kitchen which was relatively spacious, enough room for at least two ponies to maneuver around each other while cooking. The kitchen was sparkling white with pans, cutlery and dishes all placed neatly in the cupboards above. Opposite to the front door, at the end of the room was also the stairs to the upper floor which held only one amazingly large bedroom furnished only with a single relatively simple bed, large study desk, empty bookshelf that reached the ceiling and a cupboard that also held drawers within to hold both clothes (if any) or any other items the owner may have.
After adventuring through the house Shadow dropped his saddlebag at the foot of his bed and crept his way downstairs to see what Twilight was up to. As he had suspected, Twilight was prodding every nook and cranny of his home, supposedly looking for death traps or secret levers. She obviously didn't trust him fully yet, however she did trust him enough to be with him alone which was a good sign, he concluded that the more comfortable other ponies were around him, the more likely he is to make friends. 'Still, when am I able to go back to Canterlot? I miss my room and Luna already,' he silently moaned.
"Looking for something?" Shadow said interrupting her search and startling her slightly.
"Oh, umm nothing!" Twilight ended her raid with a sheepish smile. "I'll just let you settle in," She spoke before heading for the door at a quick trot.
"Wait, where are you off to?" Shadow called after her. She stopped and turned her head to reply.
"Oh not much, since you woke me up so early I thought I'd just get an early start on my schedule today," She informed him sounding slightly displeased about bringing up this mornings events.
"So you're meeting other ponies?" Shadow asked almost as if it were a new concept and technically it was for Shadow, his somewhat sheltered life having abandoned nearly all social interaction.
"Well, yes," Twilight turned to move on, until a question brought her to a stand still.
"I know this may sound silly but may I come with you?" Shadow pleaded. "I kinda need to get out to meet the town and it would help me a lot if I could follow somepony I already knew!" Twilight and hung her head slightly thinking up excuses about why he shouldn't follow her. Unable to think of anything she gave into his request.
"Fine, just come with me," She replied with an exasperated sigh. She was obviously not please about having somepony besides Spike tagging along with her all day, not to mention a pony she just met and had also woken her, scaring her half to death. "Firstly I need to go and pick up a saddlebag from my house, I'll be buying up a few things from the market," She lead the way as Shadow followed, locking up before he ran after her.
When in town Shadow saw everything in a whole new light, the busy noise and the bustling ponies all created a professional atmosphere. Stalls were posted up along the side of the road, each selling different day to day items from kitchenware to fruit and vegetables and even house decorations. As Shadow examined his surroundings he noticed he was receiving a few questionable glances from some of the stall owners which made him uneasy.
"Twilight, why are they staring at me? Do I stand out for some reason?" Twilight just turned her head slightly taking no notice of his concern.
"There aren't too many ponies in Ponyville, so every newcomer is recognized pretty easily," She snickered. "When I first arrived nopony knew me, but soon enough they'll have to meet you, for better or worse," she whispered to herself. "Hey, there's Applejack," She gestured towards an Apple stall. "She works on Sweet apple acres which farm responsible for producing apples for our entire town!" She exclaimed while proceeding to force Shadow to follow suit. "I'll introduce you to her, don't worry she won't bite,"
Shadow's ears perked up as he had never heard that expression before, Canterlot neither guards nor Luna used commercial expressions to introduce him to others. That and he had never been introduced to anyone before. He hid himself behind Twilight as they approached the orange mare.
"Oh hey Twilight!" Applejack waved to her not noticing her shadow in pursuit. "What can I do fer ya?"
"Morning! Can I have 5 golden delicious please?"
No worries Twilight!"
"Also I would like you to meet a new pony in town, his name is Shadow, he arrived yesterday as far as I know," Twilight looked around for a second before finding him hiding behind her letting herself cut any eye contact between him and Applejack. "Really?" she rhetorically questioned before levitating him past the apple stand and plonking him down in front of Applejack.
Shadow raised his head as he inspected Applejack. Nothing seemed particularly intimidating about this orange earth pony. She had a blonde mane that was bunched up numerous times down her neck and wore a noticeable brown stetson hat. Her cutie mark consisted of three red apples each with a green leaf and stem.
"Well howda do mister Shadow! Name's Applejack, I sure do like making new friends!" She stated all the while vigorously shaking his hoof vibrating his entire body in the process.
"It's~nice~to~meet~you~miss~Applejack, could~you~please~let~go~of~my~hoof~now?" He pleaded. Apple jack released her hold looking at Twilight who seemed to be failing at holding back a hysterical laugh.
"So where ya from?"
Shadow cleared his throat before replying. "I've lived most of my life in Canterlot, this is my first time out of the city so It's a bit nerve racking," Both Twilight and Applejack looked at him in bemusement as if he had just told them he was a Pegasus pony.
"Really, WOW?!" Applejack started before Twilight could. "Why didn't ya ever leave? I know I couldn't stand it there with all those posh, stuck up fru fru ponies, not even fer a week!"
"Well I never really wanted to leave, I was happy just where I was!" Shadow expressed with a little more confidence than he had in the past. "I never conversed with the stuck up rich ponies, I had some great friends and mentors with me to make sure I wouldn't become like them!"
"Well it seemed like it worked, ya don't seem too bad, we might get along just fine!" Applejack put a big honest smile in which Shadow took comfort in.
"Thank you, It's nice to know that I can be welcomed here, even on my first day," Shadow felt a wave of relief fall over him as the pressure of meeting somepony new past and the comforting feeling of a new friend warmed his gut. He looked Applejack in the eye noticing that her eyes had wandered off to his flank.
"Umm, ah don't mean to be rude and ah would understand completely if ya didn't wanna talk about it," Shadow was sure he knew where this was headed. "but why don't ya have a cutie mark?" For the first time since arriving in Ponyville somepony actually asked why it seemed like he didn't have a cutie mark. He looked over to Twilight who seemed just as surprised as Applejack at the lack of a mark, the wide eyes and agape mouth told all to him. He decided to brush it off with a joke.
"Would you believe me if I told you that it was stolen by an angry spirit bent on destroying all cutie marks in the world?" Shadow whispered while at the same time, having trouble keeping a straight face. He looked over to Applejack who seemed to be a little frightened, on the other hand Twilight just stared at him unamused by the joke. "Haha.. didn't think so," he continued letting on to Applejack that it was all in good fun. "The truth is, I have my cutie mark it just happens to blend in with my coat, it's a black blot that looks like somepony spilled ink on me,"
Applejack calmed herself and took a closer glance at the cutie mark before she acceptingly nodded in approval, allowing Twilight to get a word in. "Okay, well? Aren't you going to tell HER what is signifies?"
"You already know?" Shadow sounded astounded with a slight gasp.
"Well I can make a possible guess from what you've told me but you're going to need to be honest with us if you're going to make friends,"
"Is that how friendship is usually made? By being honest with ponies?" His eyes wandered over to Applejack for a moment. "Even if you don't want to tell them?"
"Now ya catchin' on!" Applejack interrupted. "So you gonna tell us or what?"
Shadow shot a worried look over to Twilight hoping for some comfort, however it seemed that Twilight wanted him to be open so that she would be able to find out more about him. She still didn't trust him enough to allow him to mask his identity from the rest of society, placing him in a tough spot.
"Please don't judge me because of this," He began. "but my cutie mark represents my skill in dark and forbidden magic which I am currently studying," Shadow scrunched his eyes and lowered his ears, waiting for a hoof to come reigning down on him or for Applejack to tell him to leave town, but none of these came to pass.
"Well i'll be, that certainly is a special talent!"
Shadow's ears raised, twisting and turning. Opening his eyes he held an expression somewhere between confusion and relief, a disturbing look but Applejack could tell it was a better response than he was expecting. "Your not mad or angry that I study dark magic?"
"Hey, I just met ya and you don't seem evil or dangerous, sure it's not a talent ya'll see everyday but I'm sure we can trust ya to be honest, and not mess around with that stuff. I don't read much but I do know it's dangerous voodoo, so as long as ya'll be responsible I'm sure we ain't got anythin' to worry about! Right, Twilight?"
"Of course Applejack. And just so you know, he has permission from Princess Celestia herself to do so!" Bringing up the fact that Shadow had permission from Celestia made Twilight rethink her motives for suspecting him in the first place. Sure he didn't exactly make the best first impression, nor did he seem to like confessing information about himself, but Princess Celestia herself, the over ruling and most wise pony, had given his teacher special permission to teach him. "Well if it's alright with you I still need to meet Rarity so we'll be going now, coming Shadow?"
Shadow was still bewildered by Applejack's understanding of his skill. Dark magic was usually no laughing matter in terms of it's potential disastrous affects and how in the past, evil ponies had risen using by harnessing it's power. How she had just brushed it off saying 'as long as your responsible' astonished him, practically imploding his mind, she was beyond trust worthy. All of that or she just didn't know much history before making her comment. None the less it wasn't the reply he had expected. Shadow said nothing as he trailed off towards Twilight direction only waving goodbye to the farmer. He could only hope that the other ponies in town would be just as kind.
The edge of the market district was significantly quieter with more open areas, less shops and more houses than before. Shadow noticed that the houses weren't as sophisticated as they were in Canterlot, the most noticeably difference being the hay rooftops, sturdy and water proof but not completely solid. It was fortunate that so much room was available, In Canterlot, if a house were to be renovated they would need the approval of every single neighbor as well as a professionals opinion on the matter just because a nice view could be in jeopardy. Even the castle needed a majority vote from the city if they were to extend a wing. Here in the small town though, it seemed as if every single direction ended in a beautiful horizon or forest that it didn't matter if one direction was cut off.
Twilight lead Shadow over a river cutting it's way through the edge of town, the water glimmered as it reflected Celestia's sunlight giving the water a beautiful shine while still retaining it's clear blue glow. Fish leaped from the liquid to snatch small insects only to fall back down with a splash.
Twilight stopped on the other side of the bridge lifting her hoof up in front of shadow implying for him to come to a stop next to her.
"Okay, now do you see the round building over there?" Twilight gestured up the road towards a circular building. "My friend Rarity lives there and I want you to go in and introduce yourself,"
Shadow shot her a worried look. "Wait, aren't you coming with me?"
"If you're going to stay in Ponyville I won't always be around to help you out whenever you need to meet somepony new," Twilight rested a hoof on his shoulder along with a heart warming smile. "You'll do just fine, Rarity is the most understanding and generous pony out there, give her a chance and you may just find out that meeting new ponies isn't as bad as you might think,"
Shadow's heart stopped trying to leap from his chest long enough for him to return a weak smile. He looked at the shop, then back to Twilight. "What will you be doing?" Twilight's smile quickly turned from comforting to one of mischief.
"Oh I just need to talk to a friend that you will DEFINITELY be meeting later, I'll be at in the shop in no time flat," She had emphasized the 'definitely' making it clear that whomever it would be, that pony would make quite an impression on him when the time came. letting go of his shoulder she turned around to leave, however Shadow wasn't done preparing himself for his mission that he was mentally unprepared for.
"What do I talk to her about? So far I know nothing about her!" Twilight turned slightly to allow her next few words be as clear as possible.
"She's a fashion designer, good luck!" She trotted away not giving Shadow a chance to interrogate her further.
Shadow slowly faced the shop at the end of the road and commenced his seemingly long journey to the front door. As the shop came into detailed view, only then did he notice the extravagant design and effort that was put into making this shop... no, boutique really special.
The tiny palace was two stories tall with patterns aligning the blue and white walls as well as the purple checkered roof tops. At the very top was an outlook somewhat similar to the town hall that held a noticeably bright red flag. Looking through both the windows and the bright yellow curtains that lined it, one could see fantastic and extravagant dresses each being worn by a ponyquinn (mannequin) standing side by side, however Shadow didn't see any suits for stallions. He came to the conclusion that this 'Rarity' didn't like the same old style and like to express herself through her work as could be seen through each front window.
Shadow was reaching the end of his journey to the front door. Before reaching for the handle he observed the substantial, as well as eye catching design of the front sign. There stood a ponyquinn wearing a beautiful pink dress, even Shadow, with no eye for fashion could tell she was marvelous when it came to designing clothes, as well as causing it to be regrettably expensive.
The front door of the boutique opened with a chime as a brass bell rang through the boutique.
"Just a moment! Welcome to the Carousel Boutique where every garment is chic, unique, and magnifique!" The white unicorn pony trotted towards Shadow, her purple main bouncing with rhythm as she did so. "Hello there, what can I do for such a gentlecolt today?"
Shadow had thought of only one topic he could talk to the designer about, one which he wasn't quite confident about but he had nothing else in mind so he went along with it. "I was hoping you could design a cape for me, my old one is tattered and didn't match my coat very well," Shadow was sweating furiously, not knowing how to act, how she would react or what would come next. It wasn't the price itself he was worried about, (although looking at the tags on the nearby items brought unease) it was the fact that she designed wondrous ensembles but all he had asked for was a boring old cape.
"Hmmm, that isn't a request I get very often, but it's nothing too complex that I shouldn't be able to do within a few days!" She gestured him into another adjacent room, filled with materials and sketches all over the floor and desk. "Sorry about the mess, I've been a bit busy with Canterlot customer requests. Now," She turned to him while levitating a sketching pencil behind her. "What will you be using this cape for?"
Shadow was taken back from this, he wasn't sure why she had asked such a thing, why would it have anything to do with his cape? "Umm, why do you need to know?"
"Well if you're going to be a stuntpony then I would need to bring out whatever colour I could get from your coat. On the other hoof if you were to use it for warmth I would need to put more effort into the art and materials rather than the colour," She explained as she stared at his flank with a puzzled expression. "Is that your cutie mark, a black splodge?"
"You can see that?" Shadow rotated to advertise his flank. "Most ponies don't realise that I even have a cutie mark because it blends in with my coat, how did you see it?"
Rarity stood tall and proud as if she were being presented with an award. "A designer must have a good eye to distinguish even the smallest of details,"
Shadow waited for a moment expectantly before questioning her further. "Aren't you going to ask what it signifies?"
"It's not my business to pry into your life darling, I'm here to make you look fabulous and that's just what I'll do to you, even if your main and coat don't exactly allow much room for expressive craft," The fact that Shadow didn't need to diverge from the topic himself somewhat cheered him. "Now back to the issue at hoof what will you be using this cape for?"
Shadow's expression changed from one of relief to utter panic. What was he meant to say? What job would one expect to stay up at night so that he didn't have to lie completely about himself? Sweat poured down his forehead and into his mouth imprinting a salty tinge to his tongue. He said the first thing that came into his mind, the first aspect of Canterlot that he didn't resent, and instantly regretted his decision. "I-I work the night shift at ummm, the Canterlot castle," Shadow's heart retched itself out of his body and stuck right in his big fat mouth. He choked on it and spat it back out with disgust before fumbling with it to put it back where it belonged. It wan't a lie, just not the complete truth. He did work the night shift and it was at the castle. He just didn't tell her what the job included, and since the only job known to keep ponies working late was guard duty, he thought Rarity would probably assume. Although Shadow didn't count on Rarity's reaction being, well, astonishing to say the least.
Imagine a young filli had just been asked to spend the entire day with a famous star she had admired for years. Jumping up and down without a care in the world, eyes gleaming as if one thousand wishes had just come true and best of all, it wasn't even her birthday. "CANTERLOT! I've always dreamed of living there! The glamor, the style, the sophistication, It's all a pony like me could want!
Shadow was almost terrified at Rarity's reaction, the pony started pacing around him ranting on about glamour, sophistication, her future prospects. He wasn't sure how to respond, stop her rant and you could be in a lot of trouble, let her go on and you could just lose your mind. Her constant unbearable chatter was broken with a single chime of the boutique's front door. Talk about saved by the bell.
"Just stay right here darling, I'll be right back and when I am you will tell me all about your job at the castle," she trotted through the doorway, happy to think she just found another posh dream Canterlot stallion. All Shadow could think was 'what in the world am i going to do now?' Despite her not wanting to 'pry' into his life she seemed quite intent on finding all about his affiliation and the royal castle.
Shadow contemplated jumping through the nearest window to escape his investigator until he heard a revealing voice come from the entrance of the shop! He made his way out of the fitting room and headed in the direction of the display room where the voices became clearer.
"... careful around him," Shadow halted around the corner as Twilight's words rooted him. "I'll tell you later what happened with him and I, but you should know that he apparently practices dark magic,"
"Oh my word, how did you find out, or better yet what are we going to do? You do remember what happened last time you dabbled in that icky art, right, Twilight?"
Twilight gave a small yet distinguished gasp. "Don't remind me, I'll never forget it, but right now we need to be careful around him, we don't know how powerful he is and I don't want anypony to get hurt!" Twilight drew closer to Rarity, the words barely audible to Shadow. "I have the elements in my library if anything happens,"
Elements? Shadow had heard of something similar long ago. Luna had told him that it was the "Elements of harmony" that had banished Nightmare Moon to the moon as well as dim the dark flames that had grown inside her (during her absence) when she returned. Was it these elements Twilight ushered? Maybe they were the other elements, such as the "Elements of nature" or "Elements of life". Surely this was just a coincidence.
"He's in the fitting room right now, did you want me to get him for you?"
"That would be good, thank you Rarity. The day's nearly over so I'll just make sure he gets home without causing trouble. I was also going to send a letter to Celestia asking about her approval of somepony teaching dark magic but since Spike is in Canterlot I'm going to have to wait,"
Rarity walked towards the Shadow's hiding spot. Shadow darted quietly to the fitting room without a single sound, all his training and skill was still hardwired into his steps. "Darling, Twilight is here!" Rarity announced entering the room, noticing the dark pony staring out the window, his chest noticeably rising and falling for some odd reason.
"Oh, thank you miss Rarity!" Shadow slowly walked towards the entrance of the shop before looking at the fake, calm expression upon Rarity's face. "About the cape, could I ask you about it later?" Shadow didn't entirely want a new cap but he didn't want her to feel as if he didn't like her and that her business was unwelcome.
"Of course deary," Rarity waved a dismissive hoof letting Shadow show his own way to the exit. He walked around the corner into the front room where Twilight sat impatiently waiting.
"Hurry up will you? You were an unexpected diversion from my schedule today and i'm running late for my study time!"
"Sorry about that" Shadow lowered his head in guilt as he approached. "If you don't mind me asking," he looked up at her whilst Twilight turned her head puzzled. "Why did you need to come to this 'Carousel Boutique'?
Twilight spread a small grin across her face as the question arose. She turned to leave expecting Shadow to follow her. As he trotted to catch up and walk beside her, he wasn't sure if she was going to answer or not so he raised an eyebrow expectantly. "Well?"
"I came here for some gems," Twilight answered.
"What in the world would you need gems for?"
"It's not for me, it's for my friend Spike, he loves gems and Rarity has a large supply that she is generous enough to share every now and then,"
"Ok, that's nice I guess, Spike must have quite the collection since he keeps getting spoiled with gems! Does he sell them? He wouldn't just keep them locked up in a drawer would he?"
Twilight looked at him first with confusion which turned to realization and lastly into a burst of laughter. She wobbled from side to side slightly as her body threatened to cause more pain during her fit. Shadow was bemused by this as well as annoyed, not understanding the joke. Twilight regained her posture with tears still swelling at her eyes.
"I'm sorry but i forgot you hadn't met Spike yet,"
"So what did I say that would leave you in hysterics?"
"I just can't see Spike selling his precious gem stones,"
"Why not? I know as a fact that both Princess Luna and Celestia wear jewelry, even they may be interested, who knows?"
"Look, Shadow" Twilight Stopped and turned to him still with a grin imprinted to her face. "Spike likes to eat his gems, he is a dragon after all," She informed him in the most casual voice she could muster in her condition.
"Ooohhhh, he likes to eat them because he's a dragon, now it makes sense," A few moments went by as the two stood there almost motionless, if it weren't for the rise and fall of their chests, you could have thought they were coloured statues. The timer ran to zero in Shadow's mind leaving a high pitched ringing sound in his head as the true meaning of the previous answer brought realization to him.
"WAIT, WHAT, HE'S A DRAGON? YOU HAVE A LIVE DRAGON LIVING HERE IN PONYVILLE?!
Shadow reached home early evening after leaving Twilight to have her 'study' session. Her earlier explanation of her life long friend was brief, but gave him enough information to be able to calm himself and prevent a panic attack if he were to ever meet this dragon.
Shadow reached for his front door and welcomed the brass knob into his grip. The door swung open and he was about to leap towards his bed before he was stopped by something unusual in his home. He couldn't pin point it exactly, it wasn't the furniture, or the kitchen, or any of his belongings for that matter. Entering the living room he noticed a single long red streamer pinned just above the entrance behind him. Immediately he knew the implications of what that meant. Somepony had been in his house. Whether they had stolen something, or just wanted to find out who the new guy in town was, or perhaps it was something worse, something only he should deal with that the public eye shouldn't see, the fact was that they had intruded on his property.
He empowered his horn with magic and cast the spell he was most familiar with, a detection spell, or more specifically a sensory spell, that he used almost every night within Luna's tower back in Canterlot. He could sense that nopony was here at the moment, but they had been; moved around both his living room and kitchen leaving the upstairs bedroom untouched, waiting for some time that he couldn't predict before a second entity entered and then they both left together. Shadow's spell wasn't the most accurate but it gave him valuable information, enough to stop him from making any grand mistakes.
He relaxed himself shutting the door behind him before he climbed the stairs and fell onto his bed. He concluded that whoever had intruded probably had no intentions of violence (even though all his trained instincts told him so), instead of heading up to his room where all his belongings were to be found, they had stayed downstairs. 'At least they didn't go through my stuff' Shadow thanked. Not sure if it were normal in small towns to welcome themselves into random homes or not, Shadow let the past go as he had done many times before.
'What do I do now?' Was all he could think to himself. 'hmmm, maybe i'll write to Luna about my first day, Yeah, she'd like that,' grabbing a quill from him saddlebag and some paper stored in the drawer of the desk, Shadow began his report to Luna about his fortunate and unfortunate events throughout his short time in Ponyville.
Dear Princess Luna,.........
Shadow described his day in detail, including his first contact, what the towns atmosphere was like as well as his greetings with Applejack and Rarity. He only excluded his recent suspicions as it may have looked bad in Luna's eyes. He ended his report with a few questions that lay on his mind for quite some time.
And lastly, Princess, when may I return to Canterlot? I understand that you are funding my 'exchange' here and I won't lie saying that I completely love this trip but nor will i say that I despise it. If I am to stay here for a lengthy period of time without you, may I also have your permission as to practice magic?
Sincerely,
your subject,
Shadow Stalk
It was late by the time his report was finished and his letter would take at least a day to arrive in Luna's hooves, so Shadow decided to doze off early for the first time in many years.
Walking by his saddlebag without worrying about it's belongings, he slowly lifted the blanket and slid lazily onto the mattress. The bed wasn't his royal double bed but it was sufficient for it's purpose and far exceeded last nights branch. Shadows world turned dark as it blurred to black. On most nights he would awake with the feeling that he had slept for only a moment in his bed, allowing time to drift by without disturbing his slumber. However, tonight was going to be different.
**************************************
Shadow awoke, not lying in his bed, or even in his house, he stood in an open field of grass, the night moon and stars alighting the forever growing grass that reached towards a vast nothingness . Looking around Shadow noticed strange things here and there, the grass reached the horizon in every direction, coming to meet the sky on every angle possible. No mountains, lakes, forests or clouds could be seen, the world would have seemed dead if not for the soft blowing breeze that upheld his main and tail to look like a dark stream of smoke riding the winds wherever they lead. All was quiet, not a chirp from a cricket could be heard. Shadow wasn't scared, he had lived in darkness his whole life, just confused thoughts sailed through his mind as to what events had lead him to being in such a desolate country.
Suddenly, a silhouette passed through the moon's light, blocking it from Shadow's world for only a moment before being followed by a familiar and calming voice. He immediately knew where he was.
"It is a pleasure to see you again Shadow!" The voice was soothing and direct. "How has my favorite student been thus far?"
Shadow swung around to rest his eyes on Luna as she gracefully landed, her hooves touching down without a sound. "I have been...." Shadow searched for the best word to describe his situation, only to fall short of impressive, using the next best word. "well. Under the circumstances that is,"
"Please, I would like to hear every detail possible for tonight is you're night and I am going to neglect my royal duties this one time," This brought a smile to Shadow's face. His mentor was overlooking her duties just for him, it reminded him of how much she had done for him, how grateful he was and what his purpose for being in Ponyville was.
"I guess I'll start with my first night in Ponyville," He introduced.
As in his letter, Shadow described his first incident with Twilight, his unfortunate use of dark magic, all the way up to meeting the boutique owner while leaving out the information concerning his letter to her. It would have taken a while to reach her and she had already heard the story from him so the letter was now redundant.
"Well, that does sound like an eventful day!" She chuckled thinking back to his encounter with Twilight, which also brought a concerned expression to her face. "So did you really use the distortion spell? You understand that I never want you to use dark magic when i'm not around?" Luna's voice was raised in irritation. "It could you could have hurt yourself! I have told you many times before that you could end up in a wall or even solidify yourself without a leg!
Shadow forgot all about his previous panicked attempt to escape for a moment, he stared at the ground in shame. His only thoughts dragged along the lines of 'I'm such a stupid stallion, i can't even follow one simple rule!'
Shadow initiated his own mental punishment and with each following word, a hammer swung down upon him breaking every ounce of self confidence and prided he owned.
"Umm, yes," he admitted blatantly. "I'm really sorry, I-I was scared about meeting other ponies and falling into one of their houses wasn't the way I had seen myself greeting them. I just wanted to leave and start over, if there was any chance that she didn't recognized me....." Shadow began to choke with tears building up around the sides of his eyes. "I don't know if i can keep doing this Luna, it's so hard, I've seen so many of them look at me in 'that' way! I don't want to go back it keeps reminding my of the past!" his pride had been hurt and telling Luna about his shameful retreat from a problem had somewhat made him feel guilty and ashamed of himself. Shadow had rarely cried before, his upbringing taught him never to feel regret or to be self conscious, but things were different back then than they were now. He had a name, a home and the closest thing he understood to be a mother.
Luna saw his distress, not wishing the salty sadness leak out of him, she held him in an affectionate embrace. He sobbed, allowing his tears to be removed by Luna's fur. "It's okay, everything's fine," she soothed him with a soft calming voice. "I just want you to understand that I worry about you, the last thing I want is for you to hurt yourself or any new friend that you could make,"
The two sat there, under the moonlight comforting one another. The wind had died down leaving only Shadow's weeping to erase the silence.
What seemed like hours passed before Shadow pulled away from Luna. He raised his head to look at her with sore red eyes, to be met with a tender look. "I-I'm sorry. I just needed to calm down a bit, th-thank you, I'm sure I can stay in Ponyville for a few more weeks,"
They left the comfort of the embrace allowing Luna to instruct him.
"Shadow I want you to promise me something," Luna began sternly. "I want you to promise me that you will be responsible, trustworthy, bold and cautious when ever you practice dark magic!"
Shadow watched her for any signs of laughter or sarcasm. None were present. He wiped away the pride from his eyes noticing that, for some reason Luna's fur wasn't in the least bit soaked, before confirming his thoughts. "Are you saying that I can practice my magic in Ponyville, even when you're not around?" He asked still shaky from his emotional outburst, though a smile had began to creep onto his face without his knowledge.
She returned with one of her own. "As long as you abide by my rules and you keep your promise then I will allow you to train alone. You're not the little filli guard I picked up as my student long ago. You are now old enough to take consequences for your own actions. My only request is that you only practice dark magic and not study it. I do not want you learning knew magic that is unfamiliar and perhaps even more corrupt than spells you already know,"
With each word Shadow's smile grew until it threatened to rip off his face entirely. "oh thank you so much Luna! I won't let you down this time, only the spells I already know will be used and by the time i return back to Canterlot I will have perfected them!"
A cheerful expression and a sense of calm waved over Luna's face."We will see, nevertheless I'm glad to hear that, now I suppose it is time to wake up, My sister will rise the sun soon and you have many Ponies to meet. I will check on you're progress in a month,"
"A whole month?" Surprise took hold of Shadow for a moment. Without contacting Luna for a whole month seemed daunting to him. He thought about it for a moment before he continued. "I understand, you don't have a lot of time with your royal duties calling, I can be patient,"
"Thank you Shadow, I bid you a farewell and good morning"
The world Shadow stood in started to distort itself, each blade of grass merging into a single blur, the moon and stars faded away as if a thousand candles were being blown out one by one. Luna slowly backed away into the distance, not leaving Shadow without a sincere smile to say good bye. Everything around him slowly faded to black leaving him in his own dark dream world. Luna had disappeared along with the world and all was lonely and silent.
****************************************
Shadow opened his eyes to reveal a varnished wooden ceiling. The fur on his face slightly damp. It seemed that his trip wasn't completely disconnected from the real world. Sitting up out of his bed he looked to the nearest light source, which had in fact been the sun outside his window. The contrast between his normal awakening time Canterlot and his new daytime mornings was substantial. The brightness between Celestia's sun to Luna's delicate moon was immense, so the curtains drew to a close the moment Shadow could reach them.
The room was now almost completely black besides the small amount of light that seeped through the fabric of the curtain. Of course this didn't faze him, in fact it came to Shadow's delight, it comforted him. It reminded him of the darkness that he had lived in for so long and was familiar with wasn't all that far away.
"I'm feeling so good right now!" He announced to nopony in particular after shaking the groggy feeling off. "Let's start training right away, a healthy body brings a healthy mind!" He was about to advance over to his saddle bag when his stomach growled with displeasure of being ignored for so long. "Right after I grab breakfast,"
Shadow clopped down stairs to the kitchen for something to eat, unfortunately for him Luna had rented the cottage and the cottage alone meaning food was nowhere to be found. "Looks like another day in the town then" He sighed discontented.
Shadow had emptied his saddlebags prior to leaving to allow room for his shopping spree that would soon fill his kitchen storage. The daggers and books were placed in his cupboard drawers and his other equipment lay where one would usually find them; toothbrush next to sink and his cape hanging in his cupboard. Only leaving with enough bits in a bag to ensure he would be able to buy what he needed, he left the house not bothering to lock up as yesterday had proven that to be useless.
After Luna's speech having reinforced Shadow's confidence he headed straight into the market district where he had previously found the overly comfortable Applejack, along with her apple stand as well as other stands all smiling and tempting their customers to indulge in what they offered, or in few cases, pouted as yet another pony passed by too presently preoccupied for the daily paper. Shadow didn't really know what he intended to buy, but while his cottage was located closer the the outskirts of town it gave him time to wonder what was suitable for him.
In the mess hall in the Canterlot castle, the food was often prepared for him allowing his choice to be taken and consumed without a thought of how it was prepared. Oats, toast vegetables and fruit was all Shadow knew within his diet. A healthy and strict regime followed him throughout his later life due to his job as well as not ever being offered such pleasantries as cho-co-late and eye's-cream.
Wonder as he did, until he had seen what was for sale Shadow was unsure of what his new diet would consist of and even if he did know what he wanted it wasn't going to help, as he discovered walking through a side street into the market place. At least he thought it was the market place for the entire area was deserted of any stalls or shops. The busy shopkeepers had got up and left for no apparent reason leaving the wide dirt road open with a very confused Stallion standing in the middle of it.
'Where is everypony? Aren't there meant to be shops everywhere?' As relieved as he may have been for not having to converse with more towns folk, he was also extremely hungry for not eating yesterday and would have given up his saddlebag for a meal. Shadow wondered the nearby streets, checking and double checking to make sure he was in the right area. All the dirt roads looked the same so the only way one could tell where they were would be to memorize the streets through a map or by using landmarks. Shadow was using the townhall as his land mark and seemed to be in the correct area.
He stood ridged in the middle of the street wondering what he should do before a voice behind him broke his train of thought.
"Excuse meh laddy, but are you lost?" A rough mares voice questioned him from behind.
Shadow stiffened his body at the surprised voice, a little frightened of a conversation he slowly but surely turned to face his fear which happened to look like an old mare with a white mane and green coat. He looked at her straight into her eyes, there was something different about them from the other eyes he'd seen so far. They all had the same judgmental eyes, looking down upon him from their high perches. It had hurt him to no end, but, this mare was different. She looked at him not with hate or disapproving eyes, but with impartiality and equality.
Not wanting to drag out an awkward scene shadow quickly got to the point.
"I'm not lost ma'am but I was hoping to buy some supplies but all the stalls are missing, do you know why?" Shadow blurted out yet followed up with an awkward smile, for no apparent reason, hoping that it looked genuinely friendly.
"Don't cha know almost everyone takes the day off on'a Sunday? Ya really should keep yer wits about ya," She said in a loud voice which caused Shadow to recoil slightly onto his hind legs.
"Oh, thank you ma'am, but do you know where I could grab a bite since all the stalls are gone?" Shadow gave an almost pleading look hoping she would know this town better than he did.
"Of course there is!" She began abruptly. "If ya really want something that'll kick yer gizzard then Sugar cube corner is always a doozy of a winner. It's just down the street if ya wanted to know,"
"Thank you very much ma'am," Shadow replied slightly confuse at her use of words before heading down the road towards this 'Sugar cube corner.'
******************************
It hadn't taken Shadow long to find this Sugared corner. With a two story house seemingly having partially been made from chocolate and other colourful treats such as cream and candles on top, it was an understatement to say that it stood out from the crowed. Being covered in pink, purple and brown sugary delights the only practically built component were the yellow walls aligned with woodwork.
Shadow entranced through the bright pink front door to be met with an overwhelming sudden wave of voices, each trying to gain a decibel over the other. The intoxicating smell of sugar in the air almost caused him to gag at the unfamiliar smell and almost turn around right then and there. At every table was a group of friends trying to hold a conversation without losing their voice. There was only one big room that contained twelve tables, six on the left and six to the right, each orgnanized neatly close to the walls. The walls were aligned with shelves displaying dozens upon dozens of cupcakes, muffins, cookies, lollies, party bags, chewy treats, doughnuts, candy bars as well as every type of sweet bread you can think of. As the outside of the building had been, the walls were banana yellow with brown floor and woodwork visible, leaving everything else possible to paint, the colour pink. Tables, doors and windows were all visibly pink.
Opening the door to such a large crowd left Shadow paralyzed in the doorway for a second. Only being driven by his hunger alone he stumbled his way to the front counter pushing through every desire to run away from the large crowed to be met with mare. She had a bright blue coat and a pink multi-coloured tail and mane that stuck upwards resembling one of the cakes on display.
"Hello dear, what can I get for you?" She asked.
Shadow had no idea how to respond, it should have been quite straight forward but he hadn't the need of purchasing food in Canterlot for quite some time now and the skill had been lost in the dark corners of his mind. He decided to try and play it as safe as possible letting her do most of the talking while he attempted to formulate how shopping worked.
"What would you recommend ma'am?"
She returned with a small smile. "Just call me Mrs Cake deary, you're not from around here are you?"
Shadow was taken back at the blunt comment. "How did you know? Is it that obvious?"
"Everypony in town has come here at least once before, after some time you get to know each and every one of them. This place is quite famous for winning multiple national dessert competitions," She stated proudly pointing to the wall behind her which was infested with awards stating their winning dish and shop name.
"Err, that's amazing ma'am really, but I am kinda new to the whole dessert thing. I don't know if I've ever had a sweet dish before, so if you could just recommend......."
Mrs Cakes pupils shrunk at his latest statement. She gasped as if in horror, taking in oxygen before reassuring her ears of what they had heard.
"NEVER HAD DESSERT BEFORE?!" She yelled inducing the entire shop to fall silent and turn their heads towards the two at the counter. "Oh, don't worry, it's nothing," She announced to the customers causing them to shrug and go back to conversing about their day.
Shadow on the other hand had had crouched to the ground holding both his hooves over his head in absolute fear. He didn't understand the situation nor ponies very well making him seem almost to have a case of 'Asperger syndrome'. He didn't care too much about what people thought of him, he didn't even care if they shouted at him, but the loud noise and her suddenly quick movements activated a reflex he had taught himself since young. His past had never left him in peace.
"Are you okay deary?" A voice asked sincerely from above. Shadow stood shakily, and gave a weak smile to the concerned pony.
"Y-yes, that was just a-a bit sudden that's all," He lied. "Now what can you recommend for me?"
"Oh, well we have...."
*****************************
Shadow left the shop with his snout smelling the dirt. The scene had reached the voices of the surrounding customers, his sensitive hearing able to collect each state of how strange and different Shadow looked and acted from everypony else. He had glanced around during his exit and saw that same look, everypony had it, the look that had tortured him for most of his lonely life.
But Shadow was stronger than to let some petty remarks get the better of him, shaking the feeling off and reminiscing of Luna's profound pride in him, he continued on thinking the best option was to fill his stomach with confidence and head home to train.
Opening the box he had received from Mrs Cake he looked inside to take a whiff of the static sugary filled air. It tickled his nostrils as if energy itself was slipping through his skin. A shiver slid it's way down his spine tingling his sides causing him to shiver in the warm sunlight, the new sensation rippling through his body time and time again.
He walked over to a bench that sat parallel to a wall and was surrounded to either side by a small flower garden also filled with other shrubs and weeds.
Setting the box down next to him, Shadow judged each item in the box, he had bought one of every type of sweet that would fit. All together he had six different items each to treat his taste buds with. A ginger bread pony, blue berry muffin, swirly rainbow lolly pop, strawberry tart, slice of chocolate mud cake and some gummy worms each sat neatly organized in the box. After some maternal debating Shadow decided his first taste would be of some chocolate since it seemed it was the most common delight everypony had tasted before.
Lifting the slice of cake to his mouth using both his hooves, Shadow took a quick sniff making sure the brown mud was actually edible before touching the end of his tongue to the cake and retracting it into his mouth to receive the sugary goodness that followed. His tongue swirled in his mouth in an endeavor not to lose any smudge of the ecstatic aroma. Before he knew it the overwhelming sensation had forced itself upon him causing every muscle in him body to twitch in the energy. No sooner had he swallowed the cocoa diluted saliva had he stuffed the rest of his dessert into his mouth, well most of it anyway. He had taken a significant amount into his mouth at once almost refusing to chew prior to swallowing to allow his tongue to roam free over his lips and hooves collecting every bit of the brown substance possible in a frenzy.
Shadow's already dark face was now covered in another dark sweet smelling goodness as he sat back on the bench allowing him a moments reprieve from his crazy fury. Closing his eyes and letting his head bend backwards towards the sky, Shadow calmed his senses. He was still able to smell the cho-co-late on his breath. He shivered at the energy the cake was giving off and he could feel his magic accelerate through him trying to break all stillness from within. It took some concentration for him to hold back the flood gates but he knew his magic was relatively stable. Twitching from both the mad outburst and in shame of his behavior he tried to ignore the few surrounding ponies passing by, not wanting to be involved with a strangers problems.
Without opening his eyes Shadow reached for the next dessert awaiting him to devour it, but the moment never came. Reaching to his right he felt around for the box and when he did so he began to feel within it, touching every cardboard surface there was with no success of finding his tasty treats. With confusion interrupting his epileptic sugar overload, he quickly opens his eyes to investigate where his treats had gone only to be met with a pink face an inch away from his own.
Now to say that this surprised Shadow would be an understatement, as would saying that he was completely terrified, stunned and taken off his guard.
The pink blur joyfully began. "HEY THERE! THOSE CAKES WER......"
"AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH" Was the reply she received from the Shadow before he leaped forward running full sprint across town in horror.
"I just wanted to tell him that those cakes were sooooooo yum!" She exclaimed, bouncing her way in the direction he had disappeared off in.
Shadow on the other hand had run at top speed all the way near the other side of town where more houses could be seen. He didn't really know where he was but he knew anywhere would be better than near that pink thing. Slowing down for a moment he stopped in an alley and hid behind some bins. It wasn't the greatest place to stop nor the best smelling, but it would do.
In an attempt to collect himself he sat down and took long deep breaths to calm his nerves and stop his legs from shaking. He wasn't out of breath he was too fit for that, the sudden appearance of the 'in your face' pony had startled him. How she had snuck up to him and even placed her face in his personal space was concerning. Was he losing his skills? Or was she more skilled than she appeared to be?
Tens of thoughts drifted their way through Shadow's head each being rejected as a possibility due to his lack of information.
All of a sudden a rattling noise interrupted his thoughts. He looked to his right to see a bin shiver slightly, then wobble, with each passing second the sound became louder and more ferocious. The silver lid jumping every now and again as if it was being held ajar. Something was trying to get out, that, Shadow was sure of. What it was he didn't know, a drunk pony, changeling, or perhaps somepony had found out his relation to the princesses and had come to take his life for whatever reason. Under the sudden pressure he wasn't able to use a clear head to decipher his own thoughts.
He readied multiple spells a the tip of his horn ready for any situation. Usually his daggers would prove sufficient since his dark magic was unstable most of the time, however they rested in a drawer in his cottage. He ignored the fact that he was unarmed, even if he wasn't strong he could survive at hoof to hoof combat if the need arose.
All at once the lid to the bin came flying off as a figure left the disposal box to reveal; a black coat, white fangs, pointed hears and glowing eyes all moving with force towards Shadow.
"AARRRGGHH" was all he could muster as the little black feline hopped from his head to the ground scattering away leaving Shadow in the dust.
He stood on the spot paralyzed amazed at his own reluctance to cast a spell. He could have ended the pet right then and there. 'This town is really getting to me, I need to relax before I do something I'll regret,' He thought. 'What am I doing here anyway?' He turned to leave the dark musty alley. 'I just need a good book and I'll be ju....'
He never got to finish his train of thought as another bin behind him flew open with no hesitation or warning to unleash the pink pony catastrophe. "THERE YOU ARE!" Was once again the only line she was able to get in before disaster struck.
Shadow turned his head in shock unleashing his built up and readied spell irrationally. The dark aura around his horn lead another pitch black ray towards the cotton candy at an incredible speed denying either one to react to the situation.
The last thing Shadow saw of the pink loud mouth was a great big smile and eyes looking directly at him before the darkness around her accumulated at her legs to form a sort of black and purple portal. The shadow's darkness almost instantly ran up her legs to the tip of her hair before the now black figure dissipated into smoke, leaving Shadow staring at the wall of the house behind her previous location.
Shadow either didn't realize or couldn't comprehend what he had done until a voice from above caught his attention.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO?!" A mares voice screamed at him. He looked up to see Rainbow, hovering overhead above the houses, seemingly to have seen the previous events. Her face was a mixture of surprise and disgust.
"N-NO, WIAT, I-I CAN EXPLAIN!" Shadow pleaded that she would stay to listen to his side of the story. He hadn't meant to do what he did, he wouldn't have done it if she hadn't kept popping up everywhere shouting every word in his ear. His pleading words were regrettably ignored by the cyan Pegasus.
"Like hell you can!" Was her response before extending her wings at full stretch, blocking much of the little light entering the alley before contracting every muscle in them to shoot off like a cannon ball riding the air toward another part of town.
"Shit," Where ever she was headed, Shadow knew he was in dire trouble and needed to sort it out as quickly as possible. Where he had sent the unpleasant pink pony he knew it wasn't the greatest place on or even off the earth and time was of the essence for the both of them.
It had only been two days and he had already messed so many things up: Finding his cottage, first contact with townsfolk, disappointing Luna, unable to buy food for the week and now this, sending an innocent to who knows where, for how ever long, and all the town is probably going to try and kill him. What a way to start an adventure.
Rainbow Dash punched right through the hollow tree door, neglecting the fact that she was surely flying too fast to stop before meeting with a fully stocked book shelf, each shelf neatly standing multiple coloured books with titles she never really noticed or bothered to look at besides the "Daring Doo" series. She planted her back up to the flat books with a loud thump sliding down to the ground while an avalanche of novels, dictionaries and encyclopedias buried her.
"TWILIGHT!" She hailed while removing the books from above to reach the bright light above. She entered the light of day to come face to face with an upset purple pony standing near the newly shut door.
"What in the name of Equestria are you doing Rainbow?" Twilight gritted her teeth in frustration. "Do you know how long it took me to organize those books?"
"We have bigger problems than your books Twilight!" Rainbow stated flying towards Twilight seemingly ignoring the mess she had left in her wake. "That new guy... Umm"
"You mean Shadow?" Twilight interrupted.
"Yeah him, he just used his freaky magic to turn Pinkie into smoke and make her disappear!"
"And you know this how?" Twilight asked skeptically. She hadn't completely left out the notion that Shadow was in fact evil, however she also recalled times when Rainbow came up with crazy theories or stories, announcing them without a thought beforehoof. An example of this would be when she woke everypony up in the middle of the night stating Nightmare Moon was back destroying everything before Applejack caught her and held her down long enough to explain it was just a bad dream. "Your past outbursts suggest you're just making this up again,"
"I SAW IT WITH MY OWN TWO EYES!" She screamed in Twilight's face, snorting out her nostrils.
"Are you sure?"
"YES! I'm absolutely one hundred percent sure!" She finalized.
"Okay, okay, I believe you, just give me a moment," Twilight placed a hoof to her chin standing as still as undisturbed water, calculating the best route of action. "Hmmm," Being the only sound relieving the silent and awkward tension.
After pacing for a full one minute, Rainbow finally lost her extremely short patience and groaned in Twilight's thought ridden direction. As Twilight was a pony of the mind, Rainbow was a pony of action. All she could see was that thinking about the problem wasn't going to solve anything.
"Well?" The exclamation interrupted Twilight's focus long enough for her to respond aloud.
"I'm not really sure what to do, you know what Pinkie can be like, maybe it's all just a mistake." Twilight tried to explain but unfortunately had difficulty arguing for a better scenario than was described to her.
"Sure, If it was any other pony, they would get scared, but they wouldn't turn Pinkie into dust because of it!"
"Look, we need to talk to the other girls before we come to any conclusions," Twilight put simply. She was unsure of herself and even though she usually took charge she wanted more opinions before taking action on such a serious topic. "After we have a group meeting, only then will we do something about it. You go get Applejack and Fluttershy, I'll get Rarity and we'll meet at Sugar Cube Corner,"
They both rushed through the magically opened door, Twilight galloping at a decent pace toward the Carousel boutique with Rainbow Dash accelerating ahead of her towards Sweet Apple Acres and would reach her destination in ten seconds flat.
*******************************
At a table in the now empty Sugar Cube Corner, Rarity followed Twilight through the bright doorway into the sweet smelling store. The two attended to a table with a nervous looking yellow Pegasus in ownership of a pretty pink bouncy mane and tail, accompanied by Applejack as well as Rainbow hovering impatiently above them. As the two unicorns sat at the table Rainbow landed to join them refraining herself from complaining about their tardiness.
"Okay, Rainbow did you tell them why we're all here?" Twilight asked.
"Of course!"
"Ok, so what are we going to do, or what can we do? Applejack, what do you think?" She requested.
"Ah dunno Twi'. I haven't talked to him fer all that long. He seemed kinda shy, bit like Fluttershy over here" She gestured over to the yellow Pegasus who lowered her head not wanting an ounce of attention.
"Umm, if you don't mind me saying, could I suggest something?" She requested with a smooth innocent tone.
"Go ahead sugar cube"
"Maybe they were just playing a game, I know I like to play games with Angel bunny," She smiled trying to make her statement seem more plausible than it sounded. When the other four gave her a sincere and understanding look, she knew she had been defeated. They wouldn't outright turn her down, although they did understand where she was coming from. The scenario painted before them wasn't the most pleasant to think about.
"I wouldn't think that such a stallion would play games, especially with Pinkie no less" Began Rarity. "He is a pony who likes to get straight to the point and although I am certainly a good judge of pony, I still don't understand what motives he works under. Especially with that creepy look, I mean he almost fooled me into thinking he was a mare, only his voice was clear enough to distinguish. And why is his coat all black? Couldn't he dye it a nicer colour? Red wouldn't be so......." She ended her rant realizing the look she was receiving from Applejack. "Oh sorry dear. Please go on,"
Rainbow Dash slammed her hoof hard on the pink wooden table with irritation, shaking both the table and the ponies sitting at it, widening eyes in shock.
"I think we should march right in there and get some answers! She enthusiastically proposed. "We obviously don't know what we need to and the only one with the answers are Widow!"
"Shadow," Twilight interrupted.
"That's what I said! We can take him head on, and don't forget we have the elements of harmony on our side too!" Adding in the information that the five of them were backed up by the elements changed each of their expressions from one of thought and worry to confidence in each of their abilities. All except Fluttershy whom dared not break off Rainbow's inspiring speech.
"As much as I don't like to roughhouse, I will do what must be done."
"I'm with ya there Rarity, if he hurt Pinkie pie then he'll have ta deal with us as well," Applejack encouraged, placing a hoof on Rarity's back.
"For once I must say that Rainbow's right! We can't just sit here while Shadow could be doing Celestia know's what! Dark magic is a frightening art as you all should know by now," Twilight looked over to Fluttershy who had refused to say a single word during most of the meeting, only watching the smooth table top and waiting patiently yet cautiously for herself to be addressed. "Fluttershy, are you okay with this?"
Fluttershy raised her eyes from the table slightly to give a reply to the unicorn.
"Umm, if everyone else is doing it then I guess so," She let her eyes wander to the rest of the group to receive approval of her answer. Twilight smiled slightly as the confusion to what they would do was over and they could now plan ahead.
"Then it's agreed, we take the elements with us and force Shadow to tell us what happened to Pinkie, and if worse comes to worse, we use our elements to take him out! Even without the element of laughter we should be able to do that,"
They all rushed out the door of Sugar Cube Corner and headed towards Twilight's home, four of them ready for action and one little shy pony further behind giving chase, a little hesitant at the recent decision.
"Oh my, this doesn't sound good, not good at all,"
*******************************
Not even bothering to slow for the door, the black unicorn zipped through the solid door with his smokey 'being' and right through the floor up to the second level. Ignoring his exhaustion as a result of running from the other side of town as well as just using an advanced spell, Shadow swung wide open his cupboard doors with force that cracked the hinges and continued to open his drawers throwing every book he could find onto the floor behind him. As quickly as he had collected them he ran up to each one and with his smelly sweaty mane over his face began to flip through every one of his books in pursuit for answers.
"No.. No... No... No... No... No... No" Was all the sound made besides the turning of pages. He flipped through chapter after chapter in one book with no luck and moving onto the next without even a second lost. Book after book was taken into his dirty hooves and each was thrown about, scattered on the floor. One after another, Shadow came up empty hooved without the answer to his problem.
"Please please please please please please" He ranted frantically searching through his very last hopeful spell book. "No... No... No... No... No... No... No... N wait, wait, wait, YES! Shadow body slammed onto his bed finally allowing a second to breath. "For Luna's sake," He ushered to himself, sitting up at the same time bringing the page to his face. Reading the words carefully he 'ah huh'd at every fact stated. Finally he organized his thoughts into one place, allowing the confusion to go away. 'So basically I've just sent her to my personal dark storage place and all I need to do is go there and get her back, that shouldn't be too hard. I remember Luna teaching me this a while ago.'
Sliding off the bed Shadow swiftly cleared the unused books from the floor and stood in the newly open space. With a little more effort than usual, caused by his previous exhaustion, Shadow built up magic in his horn and formed the spell in which would take him to his personal storage place.
With the light from the window literally dimming even though the sun was high, the dark shadows developed into almost a pure black colour causing everything to become almost invisible. A purple glow shone brightly below Shadow's legs and smoke accumulated around the floor surrounding him and blocking vision of the wooden boards beneath. The smoke didn't burn with heat, but felt like cool air sitting just above the ground. Suddenly black purple tentacles reached up from below him and grappled onto his body tugging him slowly into the floor that he could no longer feel beneath him. The tentacles were smooth yet firm as they disappeared into the ground along with Shadow.
A single blink after he saw the world blacken above him, Shadow found himself in a completely black body of space. Still able to breath within the 'nothing', he compelled his body to move and it did so.
'That crazy disaster should be here, but why can't i feel her? Don't tell me she evaporated already! No that can't be right, that would take days, she's only been here a few minutes there's no way she was dissolved in my room already, what in the name of Luna is going on?' Shadow thought with bewilderment. 'Well if I can't find her here then maybe, just maybe I used a different spell, that's the only logical explanation right now!'
Shadow relieved the tension within his horn, causing the spell keeping him there to be undone. To take him back to the real world again, a bright light shone from above his head sucking him forcefully through into the warmth and leaving the cold empty vasts of space behind.
Being thrown at a wall hurts, almost as much as being thrown upwards hitting the back of your head on the ceiling, only to peel off and crash on the floor face first. Blood dribbled out of Shadow's nostrils wetting the floor in a rose red puddle. Slowly sitting upright, he tried to make up and down of what had just happened before a yelling voice outside his cottage belted his already ringing ears.
"WE KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE SHADOW! COME OUT AND EXPLAIN TO US WHAT YOU'VE DONE WITH PINKIE!"
The voice was obviously Twilight's but Shadow couldn't bring himself to answer. He wasn't certain of what he had done anymore, crossing off the list the one spell he was sure he had used. He was cornered without a way out.
"IF YOU'RE NOT COMING OUT THEN WE'RE GOING IN!" Twilight's boisterous voice announced a few meters from the front door.
Shadow paced in circles around his living room, quickly manifesting any kind of plan he could think of to explain his previous stupidity. The sweat accumulated around his forehead attempting to cool his overheating brain which was straining in the struggle to create a favorable situation for him. Distracting his thoughts were noises coming from outside, voices, chest hinges and Rainbow's somewhat comedic war cry just as she accelerated with destructive intent towards the front door.
Shadow decided against destructive force whether it be caused by himself or others, hurting them wouldn't exactly prove his innocence and Luna probably wouldn't be to happy at his threatening acts of violence either. In honor of his decision he bolted for the door and by using his momentum whirled the door open with a loud crack as it hit the wall at the end of its rotation. He had sped the door to safety, unfortunately for him, saving the door only revealed a cyan blur speed it's way through the doorway, right into his gut, throwing him towards the back wall.
"UUMMPPHHH" cried the wind extracting from his lungs barely audible over the reverberating sound of flesh slapping against hard wood. Shadow slumped to the carpeted floor, holding his badly bruised body, sitting upright although with his head wriggling over from side to side in agony. Even with squeezed eyes he could clearly picture the five assailants taking quick paces into the room. Over his moans of pain an aggressive voice only a few centimeters away from his face, was raised in harsh and demanding tones.
"What have you done with Pinkie Pie?" The slow voice clearly spoke as to sound intimidating. Shadow, at this point was terrified, very few times was he ever caught off guard and in such a hopeless position. Previously, he could have fought his way out of such a situation. Unfortunately his aggressors were not invading changelings and therefor he had no right to harm them in anyway.
In response to the question he lifted one hoof, pleading for a moments rest while his other still clutched the internal wound that began to appear visible under his fur. This was met with a spell lifting his body slowly in the air and turning him upside down forcing him to open his eyes and meet the furious purple orbs of Twilight's.
"I won't ask you again, where is she?" Twilight's patience had run out and was applying force to his injuries causing him to writhe slightly in pain. With liquid swelling up around his twitching eyes he forced himself to speak over his desire to scream in torment.
"Okay, okay! I'm sorry for what happened to your friend, it was an accident!" He yelled taking in a gulp of air through the wincing pain, making sure he didn't have to repeat himself.
"Keep an talkin', " Applejack approached from behind to glare into Shadow's eyes with loath.
"She took me off guard in an alley and I sent her to another realm," The purple glowing grip loosened with each word he spoke. In his position Shadow knew he would be unable to explain in full the situation, but tried his best anyway. "I went there myself to get her back but she wasn't there afterwards, I don't know where she is! She scared me and I didn't mean to!" He shouted as gravity took hold, pushing him towards the grey carpet below. He met the carpet head first with another grunt of pain before making an attempt to raise up from his dizzy cosmos.
Gasps were shared throughout the five ponies, each taken back with the new knowledge.
"You WHAT?!" The chorus of ponies sang in unison. Only one was able to speak above the others even while in such shock.
"This is THE, WORST, POSSIBLE, THING!" Rarity announced, lying upon a red decorative sofa that did not belong in Shadow's house.
"So what'll we do now Twi?" Applejack inquired, now with her brown stetson hat removed from her head and placed on her chest as if attending a funeral. The outraged look that screwed up her face was now replaced with worry and hopelessness. As much as Shadow would have like to help them and prove his innocence, he himself was just as clueless in this situation as they were, even with his knowledge he could only sit back and think of possible solutions rather than taking responsibility for his actions.
Only now, after some confusion had died somewhat could he notice golden necklaces around each mares neck with the exception of Twilight whom wore a crown. Each one was embedded with a strange coloured symbol that Shadow didn't recognize.
Fluttershy was sitting just outside the front door not daring to view the scary monster within that had taken away one of her best friends. Tears crept their way down her cheeks, releasing the worry and sorrow she felt for her missing companion.
Rainbow on the other hoof took a different approach to the situation, one Shadow had expected to arise much sooner than it did. With her enraged face she suggested brutality for his actions.
"I dunno if what he says is true, but I think he should pay for what he's done." She clamped both her hooves together to enforce the act of conflicting pain. "Let's hit him with the elements, that'll teach him mess with us!" A smile slid it's way onto her face unknowingly. As she stared intently at Shadow's wet eyes, everypony else was waiting on leader Twilight's decision. All the suspense in the room multiplied for each second Twilight shut her eyes in contemplation and concentration.
Shadow, sitting bent over in pain, fell to his side gasping for the air that the cyan pony had punched from his lungs. He knew he was helpless in such a situation and began to collect himself. Oxygen finally reached his head allowing him a clear mind, with this he gazed up once again towards the group. His tears were shed and now lay soaked within his already dark mane. He decided against protesting, he had been in such a situation long ago and learned that no matter what he said it would only worsen his situation. Running away was not happening anytime soon, his injuries would vouch for that. Offending them either verbally or physically, would make him look even worse and reminiscing about Luna's lessons had reminded him not to let temptation break your morals. Too weak to use magic, he did the only thing he could think of, an honorable defeat. The choice of whether it was right for them to end him then and there was out of his hooves now that he himself had taken a precious life of theirs.
"There is a fine line between justice and revenge," He advised, receiving all the attention in the room. Only Twilight stood still, only to let her twitching ears suggest that he gained her valuable attention. "No matter the choice, I want you to be clear of which you base your decision,"
Slowly, the purple eyelids raised to reveal shining magenta eyes that stared deep within Shadow.
'Those eye's again,' He reminded himself. 'Why do they always look at me with those eyes?' He stared back at Twilight not breaking contact for even a moment. The room was still, not even the beating of Rainbow's wings sliced through the silence.
Few more seconds passed before the magical mare before him broke eye contact. She turned to announce her decision to her friends, each waiting patiently for her answer, but Shadow already knew what would come, her eyes told him everything.
"Evil shouldn't be allowed to roam free in Equestria and now that you have shown your true colours, it is our job to dispose of you who represent the darkness," A magical aura picked shadow up to follow the group now moving outside without a word. They moved away from the house to give distance between them and Shadow before he was laid to rest in the sun at the front door step. A cool breeze swept his mane from his forehead allowing him to see the group of mares in front of him.
Twilight closed her eyes and focused magic into her horn, allowing it to fill her up as well as flow into the element sitting above her head. She opened her eyes, allowing a white light shine through. A spark flew from the ornament before a full bright white light shone with the power of the sun, glowing ever brighter until it seemed to stop only to stretch towards the other ponies pendants which reacted in the same manner. Each glowing brighter until their owners could barely be seen through the radiant glow.
Shadow could feel a hot gust of wind press against his face as if a sun itself grew before him. The mares, no longer visible before him raised into the air, gushing wind releasing from their unparalleled power. Together they all seemed to vibrate with magic, even the earth and Pegasus' shrugged with power. Suddenly two rainbows of different colour, one containing warm yellow's and reds, the other cool blues and greens, burst from the glow to reach for the stars. The two rainbows twirled around each other in magnificent harmony while it fell towards Shadow's vulnerable body.
An eye for and eye
With closed eyelids and a contempt feeling Shadow accepted the harsh reality of what was about to happen to him. He rested his head on the soft doormat now feeling all the energy leave him, whether it was from fear or pain that he didn't try and run he couldn't be sure, but it seemed to be the end for him and he couldn't stop thanking Luna enough for what he had been given. His ears lowered in defeat, he let the world disappear from him.
The power of the elements struck the navy blue pony surrounding him in every colour imaginable, from the darkest blue to the brightest yellow. The magic twirled around him, consuming him and twisting to shape his body. A high pitched noise deafened the Elements as the rainbows accelerated around Shadow until they merged to form the same radiating glow Twilight and her friends were hovering in.
Out of nowhere, the magic enclosing on Shadow erupted, shattering into tiny sparks flying off into different directions. A significantly large ray of light made course for the five mares striking them down forcing them to plummet to the earth, not as to injure them but seemingly to destroy the magic that which held them in place. Each fell and landed with an 'umph' quickly standing to gain their bearings.
Rainbow Dash, having tumbled and crashed many a times before, was the first to compose herself.
"What in the hay just happened?" She blatantly quizzed.
Rarity was next to answer. "Hmmmm, I'm not quite sure, Twilight?" As was everyone else, they looked to Twilight, the expert on knowledge and especially the Elements of harmony. The purple mare joined the group taking off her golden crown and observing it for any imperfections. Without finding any she placed it atop her head.
"I... I... Have absolutely no idea, for once I was hoping somepony else could explain it to me," She looked to the others who had now poised themselves and wondered what had gone wrong. "Is it because Pinkie wasn't here? Is that why it backfired? Magic doesn't usually do that unless it's a complete failure. Wait..." She turned to the cottage. "If it didn't work then..."
Shadow slowly brought himself to his hooves using the door frame for leverage. Grunting from the pain caused not from the magic but from his previous injuries, he backed off into the house to relieve himself from the attention and limped his way to the nearest seat with heavy hoof steps. Resting on his dull red couch, the mares followed him in now aware that that he was no longer a threat, they surrounded him and talked as if he were just an artifact, unable to hear or respond to a word he said.
"Could it have been the lack of an element" Rarity began the conversation with the most obvious question.
"I dunno, if it even got ta the point of hitting him then don't that mean the magic worked?" Applejack brought forth a surprisingly reasonable explanation for a farm pony.
"Did he cast some anti-magic shield thingy?" Rainbow continued.
"Is he Magic resistant? Rarity added.
"Well, if he's still here then what in the hay went wrong?" Rainbow exclaimed prodding Shadow on the forehead.
"HEY!" he yelled fending off the hoof and grabbing everyponies attention. "Maybe it's because I just made a freaking mistake! I could feel the magic attack my body and I can definitely say that it did nothing!" Shadow was infuriated at this point, even after all his calm replies, his pent up anger broke the floodgates. He had been accused, punched, knocked about, hit with magic and not insulted all because he made a small blunder.
"I know that I haven't made the best impression, or done the greatest of things by sending your pink pony to who knows where but you don't have any right to treat me like this!"
Everypony in the room was taken back recoiling in the strength of his voice. So far he hadn't been aggressive and so the sudden change of demeanor scared them. Only Twilight, fueled through anger, was able to retort.
"If your so innocent then where is Pinkie Pie? Huh? Can you bring her back when YOU don't even know where to look?" The two scowled not into each others eyes, but much, much deeper. Shadow's empty pupils saw right into the flamed emotions of Twilight's, as did her eyes to his. Neither side would give in, not Shadow's numb body sitting lowered into the couch nor Twilight's stiffened posture standing over him.
"What's all the racket about" A familiar voice emerged turning everyone's heads "You guys look really sad, but don't worry I'll turn that frown upside down! LET'S PARTY!"
Every head in the room turned to lay their eyes on the sore sight of the pink pony bouncing from upstairs, with crumbs about her mouth. She landed on the last step and in less than a second was bombarded with teared ponies hugs.
"Pinkie!" Echoed throughout the house in a chorus.
Shadow sat there dumbfounded as to what had just happened. He was sure he sent her someplace with his magic but where the hell had she come from? Before he could answer somepony in the crowed beat him to it.
"Where were you? We were worried!"
They all toppled over in the unbalanced chaos. Now laying on the floor all smiling, they nuzzled their snouts into the pink fur, wishing she had never left.
"I was upstairs eating some candy and boy was it delicious!" She responded seeming to misunderstand the question. Shadow wanted answers and was determined to get them.
"Wait just a second!" He demanded. His outburst halted the tears of joy and which allowed the Pink pony to stare at him with an unnaturally big smile on her face. "I sent you to another realm," he began realizing his words could lead to more trouble. "BY ACCIDENT. how did you get out?"
She jumped onto the couch next to Shadow urging him to move a little further away in fright.
"Firstly, thanks heaps for the cakes and stuff, it was yuuummmoo. Secondly, I'm sorry for scaring you mister, It's just that I've never seen you before and if I've never seen you before that means that you're new here and when your new here that means you've never been to one of my parties and eveypony knows that my parties are the best I mean we have cake, balloons, and everything I hope you like cake 'cause......"
The hyperactive chatterbox just went on and on, even after Shadow averted his gaze to the others, she didn't seem to notice and kept rambling on about parties, food and Ponyville. Twilight, once again was the one to take charge.
"Pinkie," She called receiving her attention and ending her rant. "I'm sure he'd like to know all about your parties, but what's we'd all like to know is what happened to you after you met Shadow and disappeared?"
"Ohhh, so your name's Shadow. I'm Pinkie Pie, but every pony calls me Pinkie 'cause...."
"Pinkie!"
"Oh, right, sorry. Well," She paused to think while placing a hoof to her chin. "You sent me to some dark and mysterious place and since it was lonely and there wasn't anypony else there I just left. So I came here to apologize but I smelled some yummy sugary goodness still in your saddle bag and had some for lunch! Then I heard you guys down here making all this noise and so, here I am!"
"Wait, what?" Shadow couldn't understand what she was saying, it didn't make any sense whatsoever. "So I DID send you to another realm and you just left?"
"Yep!"
"How did you leave? Can you use magic?"
"Nope, I just did, let's say it's Pinkie's little secret," She responded with the biggest and most oblivious grin he'd ever seen.
"But, but," He tried to question her logic but couldn't find the words to express his utter confusion. A hoof rested on his shoulder behind him prompting him to turn and face the nervous yellow coated pony of the group.
"Please, don't worry about it. Pinkie can be a little..."
"Random," Rainbow interrupted.
"Well yes a little bit of that, but please understand that she means well, even if she doesn't show it in the way other ponies would,"
Shadow felt touched by the sweet voice of the pink maned mare. She calmed him from his outburst as well as comforted him when scared or confused.
"So there aren't any other ummm, not to sound rude, but there aren't any other crazy ponies like her"-he gestured at Pinkie-"around, are there?" He assured, receiving a giggle from his audience.
"She is one of a kind, luckily for you" Rarity joked relieving Shadow of his worries.
After all the confusion Shadow was able to smile at the unlikely group of friends, even if he was injured and had been terrified he was able to bring forth his better side. Only then did it hit him that he may have made a group of friends all at once. Thinking back to his last day in Canterlot, he never would have thought anything like this occurring. His next few words would be the start of his new life. He began attracting attention as his giggle was transformed into an outright awkward laugh.
"You kay there partner?" The farm pony inquired.
"Even after, being accused of kidnapping, punched in the stomach, you all attempting to destroy me with the 'Elements', I must say thank you," Shadow hoped that his speech was sufficient enough that they would understand. However it clearly wasn't.
"What in name of Celestia are ya talkin' 'bout? We should be sorry fer doin' all those things to ya!"
"Haha," He blatantly laughed which confused everypony even further, causing heads to turn, even Pinkie's. "No, as much as you think you should, I won't accept such humble apologies. I was in just as much wrong as you were, I sent umm, Pinkie here to... Someplace and wasn't able to do anything about it myself. I am thanking you all, for reasons beyond my comprehension, for the fact that I am truly smiling at this moment. It's been a while since I felt this way," She looked up to nopony in particular to present his Pinkie like smile.
More giggles ran it's course through them before Twilight greeted him with her speech.
"Even if you don't accept our apologies, I think we owe you for your injuries none the less,"
"Yeah, I guess we kinda reacted badly didn't we" Rainbow said sheepishly.
"I'm dreadfully sorry darling, If there's anything you need, you know you just need to ask," The pretty white mare affirmed.
Shadow admired their forgiveness that complimented their apologies. Each had made a mistake and didn't try to ignore it but took up the shame and dealt with it. Not an ounce of Shadow even thought of taking advantage of this moment, he had been taught better than that. All he wanted was some peace and quiet for now. Time to be able to take in his experience and learn best from them. He was a sentimental pony if nothing else.
"I'm sure you're all very sorry but i'll need to stop you there, I... I just need some time alone for now," He looked over the group one last time. "I don't mean to be rude but I'm going to ask you to leave,"
With the awkwardness building up Rainbow was the first to leave followed by Applejack and Fluttershy. Just Rarity and Twilight remained behind for a few last words.
"When you would like your cape size measured, just come around, I'll probably be there," Shadow gratefully accepted her generous offer and she too left leaving Shadow lying on his couch, and Twilight standing off at the end of it. Pinkie Pie had vanished once again not leaving through the door, but in another manner entirely that only she would knew how.
"What did it feel like?" Twilight asked bringing forth her studious urges for knowledge.
"I'm sorry," Was his response to the question lacking somewhat in information.
"When the Elements of harmony hit you, what did it feel like?
Shadow looked to the floor with a puzzled look. To explain the feeling in words was harder than one would think at first. He summarized his feelings into the most plain language possible.
"Surprisingly I though it would hurt, but it was warm and my emotions wouldn't stay still I felt happy, sad, frustrated, bored and excited all at the same time. Weirdest thing was I felt my magical power being multiplied rather than being devoured. I thought it was going to destroy me, but, I dunno, guess the elements knew it was a mistake or something like that and decided to let me live,"
Twilight sat for a moment taking in all the judgments she had received.
"That is interesting" She inquired. "I'll be back in the morning to check up on you, It's the least I can do for what's happened," She headed for the door waving a last goodbye, looking back to mak sure she was the last to leave.
"Umm, okay? Bye!"
Then she was gone and Shadow was left alone once more. He was hungry and limped slowly upstairs taking it one step at a time. Reaching his discarded saddlebag he realized that Pinkie had left his box on his bed, opening it he found crumbs of what she had finished. Swiping the box to the floor in irritation he climbed onto his blankets. Ignoring the fact that it was still early in the afternoon, exhaustion caught hold of him wavering him into unconsciousness.
Sleep came easily to him but his dreams never formed. Luna would be collecting a lot of stories next time they met.
The morning sun warmed his exposed body laying curled up on the bed. Shadow squinted through his eye lids to search his room once again for the source of light and once again limped over to close the blinds. Ignoring the receding pain from yesterdays encounter he made his way down the stairs into his living room.
Sunlight filtered into the living room from all angles causing him to close his eyes entirely, fumbling around with one hoof out in front of him to find each window and block it with the suspending cloth. The room was near pitch black, though he easily saw through the darkness with his night vision and began to head for his kitchen only to realize it contained no edibles.
"Shit," He muttered finally giving into his hunger collapsing on the couch. Besides a slice of enticing chocolate cake he hadn't anything to eat for at least two days. "Uurrgghh," Was the noise of all his effort to once again stand and walk out the front door towards the market.
Once again, his day began with nothing but trouble. He lay there for a minute, collecting his thoughts. His nearly empty pouch lay upstairs and the market all the way at the other end of town. The more he though about it the less he was compelled to feed himself, especially after yesterday's incident, going to meet new ponies was the last thing he wanted to do. However, in order to fill his pleading stomach, do it he must.
He was about to make one final effort to stand when a knock at the door rung through the silent house.
"Hello? Shadow, are you home? It's me, Twilight," The muffled voice called out from the other side of the door.
"Thy can let yourself in," He replied only realizing what he had just said. He had tried to keep his mentors habits from influencing him but once every blue moon he would let something slip if he wasn't attentive.
The door creaked open slowly opening a path for both the purple unicorn and the bright light surrounding her. She took a few steps into the house not stepping out of the light before she squinted into the darkness of the house.
"Shadow, are you there?"
"Right here, on the couch," He lifted a lazy hoof and waved to her from the couch with no success of grabbing her attention.
"Why is it so dark in here? You know you could just open the blinds, there is a thing called sunlight and it helps us see," She said with agitation.
"The switch is to your left,"
"Oh," She turned her head feeling for the light switch. "So it is," Were the last words before Shadow's world brightened into a yellow realm. Using the last of his energy he sat upright on the couch to look more inviting for his guest. "Still, I think opening the blinds would have been a little bit more effective. So how are you this morning?"
"I've had better mornings," Shadow cocked his head. "Really hungry though,"
"Umm, I could get you something to eat if you want?" She offered turning slowly towards the door, displaying her willingness to act through her words.
"I would be grateful if you would," He moaned slightly through his words, the hunger was taking its toll and his stomach was screaming for something, anything tasty. "My bits are in my saddlebag upstairs, please use what's left to buy me some apples from your orange friend's stand, sorry I forgot her name,"
Twilight cautiously moved through to the other end of the room, walking up the stairs into the bedroom. After a quick magical rummage through the saddlebags, she returned with a small black pouch containing what little money he had left. As she headed for the door, she stopped as she passed the short brown table looking with odd suspicion towards Shadow.
"Why do you want her apples? There are lots of other things I could get for you, other fruits, vegetables or eggs if you really wanted,"
Shadow wasn't picky with his food, but the earlier incident inclined him to seek compassion of some sort from the ponies he knew so far.
"I guess it's a way to say sorry," He shrugged, "and it feeds me as well as drums up business, right?"
"I guess so. Anyway, I'll be back in a few minutes, just sit tight, I want to ask you a few things when I come back," She trotted quickly out the door closing it in a purple glow leaving Shadow sitting in the dimly lit room by himself. Deciding it would comfort his guest... friend, he opened every curtain downstairs to allow the warm glow hit every surface before he turned off the cheap fluorescent light. Sitting back on the couch, he waited for only a few moments in his own company before Twilight flushed through the door once again without even an announcing knock.
"Seven granny smith Apples coming right up," she announced trotting up to the small table and dropping a straw bag of perfectly bright green apples on it. Without a moments hesitation Shadow almost leaped from his spot on the couch to grab an apple and take a quick yet wet, juicy, crunchy bite out of it, barely chewing before eating the rest if it in rushed haste. Not leaving even a single crumb go to waste, not even the core was left.
Twilight on the receiving end of such coarse behavior took a seat at the other end of the couch as no other furniture could be located in the room.
After the intense annihilation of six of the delectable apples, Shadow took his time with the seventh. His stomach was satisfied and began to churn with the new found treats.
"Hungry, huh?" She chuckled at his informal display of eating.
"Well, your pink friend, umm," He lost his words.
"Pinkie?" She guessed.
"Yes, your friend, Pinkie ate the last of my sweets from the, umm,"
"Sugar Cube Corner?"
"Once again, yes. Sorry, I'm not too great with names," He gave her an awkward smile along with a laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck. "So did you want to ask me a few things?" He declared joining her on the red couch.
"Yes, I was wondering a few things about your study in magic,"
'Oh boy, here it comes, may the Q&A begin,' Shadow announced to himself. "Can you be a little more specific?"
"Well," She thought aloud looking at the ceiling while diving into the depths of questions she had previously prepared. "Why dark magic? I mean, what brought you to study something that's considered forbidden by everypony?"
"That's a very simple question with a very complex answer," He sighed, giving himself time to produce an answer. "I'll make this as simple as possible. For one, I just can't use normal magic-" He paused, trying to levitate his half eaten apple in a dark glow with no success. "-but as you can see, I really do suck at it. Anything and everything that was within the normal sections of the library and deemed safe to use, I just couldn't do. After a long struggle with patience I sneaked into the forbidden section of the library took a few books off the shelf and tried to cast a spell,"
Twilight looked at Shadow with concern. "Didn't you know how dangerous dark magic can be? Didn't your mentor or parents ever tell you these things?"
Shadow flinched at her last remark.
"Let's just say that I was a really stupid stallion and leave it at that, okay?" His answer was met along with another question from the data hungry unicorn before him.
"Wait, what? Did you just say stallion? How long ago was this?"
Shadow rubbed the length of his left fore-hoof with his right. His eyes wandered away from Twilight, engaging onto something very interesting on the floor. "It's probably been about a year and a bit, perhaps more, I can't really remember,"
"So you went through your entire foalhood without using magic? Didn't you ever get those magical outbursts?
In the most straight forward voice Shadow could muster, he replied with one informative sentence wondering what Twilight's reaction would be.
"Are you talking about when a pony builds up unused magic inside of them like a dam, only to be released through their horn in the most excruciating pain imaginable for a unicorn?" Ending his sentence with a smile, inducing a reaction from Twilight that's similar to shock. For her sake he kept a straight face.
She scrunched her face up as if under the influence of the pain herself.
"Didn't that, you know, kinda hurt? I mean only experienced them when I was a foal,"
Shadow chuckled at her sympathy.
"Well of course it hurt, but I wasn't the only one to have it. As you know only unicorns that can't cast spells have this build up, so all the little foals had headaches every now and again. I would see them on the streets suddenly crying in their mothers arms," Shadow looked lost in his own thoughts for a moment, staring into empty space until he snapped back into reality to continue. "Of course since I couldn't use magic until late in my life I had those for quite some time, but think nothing of it and let's move on,"
Twilight, shook her head rapidly, removing her previous depressive thoughts to ask another question she had speculated.
"If I remember correctly, yesterday you said something about sending Pinkie to another dimension, or something. What did you mean by that?"
Finishing his last apple, and swallowing the core he took the moment to remind himself exactly of what he spoke of.
"I call it another realm because it doesn't actually change any physical dimensions, just moves you to another body of space entirely,"
"What, in the name of Celestia are you talking about?"
Shadow snickered at her utter confusion.
"Don't worry too much about the details, essentially the spell I used transports an object into, umm, what you could call my personal magic room, I guess," Shadow's generalized explanation left Twilight with a frustrated look on her face. Shadow immediately noticed and offered his help to fill her knowledge. "I could show you if you want?"
Her hardened stare switched from puzzled to astonishment as the suggestion was left on the table.
"I-is it safe? I mean, are there life taking risks involved?"
Shadow expected such a response and did his best not to force her in any particular direction of choice.
"I won't lie to say it's completely safe-" Twilight shifted uncomfortably, "-but this spell is relatively safe in comparison. It's not so much how the spell is cast as how long you spend in this reality. Now, if you trust me enough we can make our way there,"
Twilight turned her head to the window contemplating pros and cons of the decision, before looking back to Shadow nodding her head in acceptance. Shadow asked her to close her eyes for her own sanity earning a stern look from the purple mare before she complied.
Focusing magic into his now black glowing horn, he slowly and carefully cast the spell as to not mess it up and make a fool of himself. As the darkness grew below their hooves, Twilight yelped as the black tentacles slowly latched onto her, dragging her into the floor. Not a moment later Shadow followed into the purple mist below to appear in a perfectly black world.
He looked around and found the unicorn a few lengths below him with her eyes glued shut. He floated down calling her name to make sure she hadn't passed out. When he was assured she was okay he requested her to open her eyes.
"Oh, wow. This is amazing!" She exclaimed, looking about in awe similar to how a country pony would act seeing tall buildings in a big city for the first time. "Wait-" She flailed about in the empty space foolishly, "How can I breath? Are we falling or flying or something?" She yelled, her heart racing and her hooves struggling to find anything solid.
"Hey!" Shadow yelled grabbing her attention. Even though he felt uncomfortable having the teacher and comforter role, he knew it was his duty to help her understand both him and his magic better, as to not spread any more atrocious rumors about him. "It's okay, just take deep breaths, that's right slow breaths, please don't hyperventilate on me. Good, that's better,"
Twilight stopped struggling and seemingly stood still on air, calming herself and her nerves before Shadow began his lecture.
"As you can see, or can't in this case, this world is pitch black. Don't ask me why we can see each other, I don't know either, okay?" He quickly added seeing Twilight's mouth open then close. "The easiest way to describe what this place is would be to say it's my personal magical room that is stored inside me and only I can access. I can use a certain spell to add whatever I want to this vast space, think of it as a storage space. Any questions?"
Twilight obviously had a few as her mouth shot out words quicker than one could think of a question.
"How much stuff can you store in here? Could you store an entire house?"
"That would depend on how powerful the unicorn. As far as my abilities go, I could probably get a fairly large bed in here, maybe more. The only problem is once something is stored in here it takes more constant flowing magic to keep it suspended in here, not too much magic but enough to cause discomfort if ignored for too long. Oh-" Shadow looked to his left as a small rubber band floated slowly towards him from apparently nowhere, "-so that's where that went," Twilight just stared at him in amazement. "I can sense everything in here, technically it goes on forever but I can move anything at any speed with just a thought, even you," Shadow resisted the urge to show her but her mental stability was, well, unstable at the moment and panicking further could set something off.
"This is so cool and it's so convenient, why aren't I allowed to learn this kind of spell? It can't be considered dark magic, right?" She squealed with the new text book information she had received from Shadow.
"Let's get out of here and I'll explain why that is," His horn consumed an ounce of magic as a bright light above them broke through the dreary black sucking them both through slowly.
As their world was blinded white, they shut tight their eyes to save themselves from seeing the eye doctor. Then once again, they were standing next to the red couch in Shadow's living room.
"Got it right that time," He whispered with delight.
Lying on the couch, face to face once more they continued where they left off.
"Okay," Twilight began with an up toned voice. "So you were going to tell me why it's classified as dark magic, right?"
"Honestly, I thought it would be obvious to you, but I'll tell you anyway," Shadow was feeling quite good about himself, being able to talk without too much concern on how he presented him self or what he said felt good. Relaxing was the last thing he thought he would be doing in Ponyville. "I am able to take any inanimate object in and out as I please, even with organic substances there's no problem-" Twilight shuffled closer to be sure not to miss a word, "-The only problem is that if some kind of organic thing is kept in there for too long then it starts to disintegrate into the realm and eventually disappear all together."
"Wha?.. So if we stayed in there too long then we could....."
"Don't worry," smirked at her concern. "It would take a couple of hours before anything like that would even start, but it is a deadly weapon if used by the wrong pony. Only a responsible and dependable pony should be taught this kind of spell.
"And you're responsible?"
"I guess so, I haven't hurt anypony or been abandon by my mentor, so I guess I am," Shadow lengthened his neck in pride as he thought harder about what he had said. 'Yeah, I am responsible aren't I. Luna sent me here without any guards, she must trust me to do that. Hmm, never thought of that 'till now,' He gleefully thought.
"Talking about your mentor, what's he... or she like?"
Shadow immediately snapped his neck backwards, his pose looking similar to a swan on water.
"Errr... Ummm..." Lost for words with the uncomfortable subject, Shadow decided to turn the questioning round. "Since I've answered your questions so far why don't you let me ask some now?" He said obviously trying to avoid the subject of Luna being his mentor. Shadow never liked the idea of riding on his or someponyelses prestige. He'd witnessed first hoof what it could do and knew how cracked that pillar stood.
"That seems fair enough-" She glared at Shadow with a different suspicious look now, knowing full well what he had just done, "-Shoot away dark knight,"
"Shoot who, where, what?"
Twilight face hoofed
"Never mind, just ask me something, anything, I'll answer whatever you want,"
Shadow had built up his own bank of questions since their last meeting, but a knew interest arose and his desire to know more about his friends was temporarily blockaded.
"Why are you so intrigued by dark magic? Can you use it too?"
"Well, no I can't. I tried once but things didn't exactly turn out the way I planned it," Twilight's gaze slid from Shadow to the cold hard floor, she obviously regretted her previous decision, whatever it may have been. Her head resting on her hooves and her eyes half closed in dismay. Shadow saw this and decided to move to another topic. She had made mistakes just as everyone else had.
"So you're an element of harmony, huh?"
Twilight's dismal stare was brought back into Shadow's eyes with the simple question. Her head rose up high as her brighter past was brought into the limelight.
"Yep," The now gleeful unicorn replied.
"So how'd that happen, were you born as the element or were you granted the power?"
"It's a long story, my life story really. If you want to go into the details I could tell you,"
"I've got no plans today, and besides I feel really comfortable around you, so go on, I wouldn't mind hearing someponies adventures," Twilight's smile cracked a little at his unusual statement.
"You feel comfortable around me? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, isn't that normal to say, how you feel around other ponies? Oh, is it just assumed or something?"
"Uuum, yeah. You really haven't spent a lot of time socializing have you?"
"Not really, no," His smile had disappeared long ago leaving a discomforted frown on his face. Saying moronic things seemed to be his special talent at the moment.
Once again he was having second thoughts about his trip. When ever he said stuff like 'You make me feel warm' or if he used dark magic in their presence, Luna was the only one to understand and comfort him. So far he mostly seen those same judgmental eyes looking at him with spite, it had taken a full on incident for Twilight to view him differently, but some things just never seemed to change.
"You know, we might have more in common than we thought," Shadow's ears perked up as he grasped the letters right out of the air and held them tight, savoring every definition and meaning to each word. "I used to be just like that....
Twilight explained her story of how she became Celestia's student, her visit to Ponyville and how she acted at first. She went on to explain her dealings with Nightmare Moon and how she came to realize that it was her friends that saved her, she wasn't able to beat the princess alone and her friendship saved both the whole of Equestria, as well as clear Luna of what evil lay in her heart.
Shadow, lay dumbfounded, confused, amazed, overwhelmed, and in complete disbelief of what he was hearing. Not only was the purple Unicorn powerful, smart and famous but she was totally modest about her adventures. However much these facts and stories may have dropped Shadow's jaw, nothing stunned him more than to realize who the mare in front of him actually was. She was the mare that had brought Princess Luna back to Canterlot, which in turn had given Shadow a new life, a new home and new hope. Without Twilight Sparkle, Shadow Stalk may not have come to pass.
Twilight ended her story, finishing where her 'boring' daily life began. She had gotten off the couch to reenact scenes from her past, which she felt was somewhat embarrassing but was fun to do anyway. She took a quick glance back at Shadow, noticing his jaw almost falling off, she fell to the floor laughing.
Shadow realized she had noticed but remained silent only to sit upright onto the couch. Just staring blankly at the hysterical pony on the floor he thought of what he should do. 'Do I tell her about Luna? I don't think she'll treat me better, but what if she thinks I'm like a Canterlot bully? Maybe I'll tell her later, but there might not be a better time. Do I tell her about my life?'
"Why is this so hard?" He muttered aloud, louder than he intended.
Twilight stopped flailing about on the floor long enough to wipe the tears from her eyes. Standing and composing her self she sat facing Shadow.
"Hehe, W-what was that?" She asked still with a giggle in her voice.
Shadow took in a slow deep breath attempting to calm his nerves. Even before he spoke he could feel damp fur under his legs and the dry air passing through his throat. Exhaling, he felt the vast heat as it left cooling his jittery body.
He opened his mouth, about to burden every ounce of his past, his status, his responsibility, how she had effected him and his relation with Luna; he was about to shove all of that onto a single pony. One he had met just a few days ago. She was about to gain a whole new perspective of the Navy blue unicorn in front of her.
"Twilight........