Chapter One - Enter The Pony
The Runaway Shadow
Chapter One - Enter The Pony
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Shade Star took a deep breath and closed her eyes, pushing all her thoughts aside in her head as she began to build her focus, her horn glowing brightly as she started to put her magical powers to work. Before the black-coated unicorn mare, a small black hole opened up in the floor, out of which several long shadowy tendrils slithered out. They wriggled and shook for a few moments, before they began to reach out for small bottles, which inside had multi-colored liquids, sitting atop some shelves on the wall.
The tendrils wrapped themselves around the glass containers, gripping them firmly and tight, before taking them off the shelves and carrying them over to a large cauldron, which sat right next to Shade Star. Heated by a magically-produced fire, the contents inside boiled and bubbled away, a mysterious brew which, of its nature, only Shade Star knew of.
One by one, her magically summoned tendrils brought the bottles they took from the shelves over to the cauldron. Ever so carefully, they tilted the bottles slightly, so as to let only small drops of the liquid inside of them spill out, rather than the whole lot. Each drop they added to the cauldron's contents made a hissing sound as the liquids made contact with the brew, some even produced rainbow-colored steam, which rose into the air, before evaporating shortly afterwards.
When each tendril had offered their contribution to Shade Star's cauldron brew, they then squirmed back over to the shelves to put the bottles where they belonged, before slithering into their hole, disappearing back into the darkness below, within.
Shade had been toiling away over this cauldron for weeks now. The concoction bubbling inside of it was something she had been so very eager to make for some time now, but what with the events regarding discovering her long lost cousin, Sunlit, and the adventure which their reunion set in motion, she hadn't been able to get the time she needed to work on her experiment. To have quiet and peace return to her life again made her happy, as she sat there within her cozy study, in her home within a reclusive forest, where barely anypony ever went. Well, with one exception being Sunlit, of course, but he was traversing the world these days, discovering new places and ponies.
Shade needn't worry about him. Sunlit had proved himself most capable of looking after himself. He grew stronger during their adventures together, and had even surprised herself at time with what he was capable of.
Shade Star continued to focus on the task at hoof. Over the past couple of months, her experiment had been hitting dead ends over and over. She wasn't necessarily skilled in the fields of potion-brewing, to be honest. In fact, she hadn't really wanted to attempt such a thing. The reason why she had made an exception here was because of something she had learned, something which had interested her enough to take a stab at this task.
Shade had learned that through the craft of potion-brewing, she could make a special serum that would grant her great resistance to strong sources of light. As Shade Star's magical powers revolved around the control and manipulation of darkness (though she DID have, to some extent, control over light as well), very strong light sources, such as that generated by magical means, or even from a powerful torch, would greatly weaken her if she remained within an illuminated area for too long.
Fortunately for her, the sunlight during the day would only hinder some of her powers, rather than weakening her to the point of collapsing from loss of strength. Unfortunately, there were some ponies with whom she had made enemies with, who knew well of her weakness, and would no doubt one day come to exact vengeance on her.
That was why she was here right now, commanding a small mass of shadowy, squirming tendrils to aid her in creating this serum. She had found the recipe she held under her hoof in a book she had been reading some months ago, but the book was very old, and so was the recipe. Most of the writing had worn away, and to her annoyance, so has the last couple of ingredients needed for the potion to work, but there were still enough details for her to go on.
She had basically spent her weeks venturing into the forest to collect various flowers and herbs, trying to guess what the last items were that would give her the result she had desired. This was the tenth time now that she had had to gather ingredients from within the forest, her previous attempts at making the potion having not gone according to plan. With the final important components of the potion missing from the recipe, Shade Star was forced to take guesses as to what the last herbs or chemicals might have been, but her guesses had turned out to be wrong so far, and her temper was starting to hinge on the point of eruption.
Especially after her seventh attempt had almost destroyed part of her home, and she spent two days fixing up her place. She made a note afterwards that Monkshood was definitely NOT the missing ingredient.
But this time, Shade Star had a good feeling. She wasn't sure why, but she felt that this time, she would finally get it right. This feeling wasn't like the other feelings she had in her previous attempts. No, no, this was definitely and most certainly an actual 'good' feeling.
Shade Star maintained her concentration, as she willed the last tendril to bring what she believed to be the secret ingredient over to her cauldron. She needed only to add a tiny drop of the cyan-colored liquid inside of the bottle her obedient tendril held firmly in its grasp, and - hopefully - she would have exactly what she had set out to create.
She mentally commanded the tendril to slightly tilt the bottle. Slowly, carefully, so as to avoid pouring any more than just ONE drop into the bubbling cauldron's contents. Shade Star felt a few drops of sweat break out and run down her brow, as she concentrated with all her might. She just had to tip the bottle a little bit more, and...
"Hi, Shade Star!"
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
Shade Star nearly jumped out of her skin in fright in response to the unexpected greeting. She quickly whipped her head ahead to look at the owner of the voice behind her; a white-coated pegasus pony with bright sky-blue eyes, who reacted to her scream with a scream of his own, causing the two of them to fall over backwards, both frightened out of their wits by the other pony.
Shade Star had lost her focus and control over the shadowy tendril, which itself lost its hold of the bottle containing the cyan liquid, and dropped it into the cauldron. The mixture hissed violently, and sputtered as the liquid, along with the whole bottle, sank into the cauldron's contents. As for the tendril that had been holding it, without Shade's magical power maintaining its form and presence, it quickly disintegrated, vanishing into nothingness along with the magically projected hole in the floor from which it had come from.
Shade recovered quickly from her sudden shock and looked at her guest, who returned her gaze with an awkward smile. Shade's shock subsided, and her expression changed to one of anger and annoyance, as she recognized her intruder. "Unique!", she bellowed.
"Sorry, Shade Star. I didn't mean to scare you," replied the pegasus sheepishly, as he got up from off the floor. Unlike most ponies who walked and stood on all four of their legs, this particular pony stood on only his hind-legs, which did not bend backwards like a normal pony's hind-legs would do, but bent forwards instead. The pony walked over to the unicorn mare, and offered her his hoof to help her up. "Then again, you scared me back, so that makes us even, right?", he chuckled.
Shade took his hoof, and pulled herself up onto her legs. Back up on all fours, she glared crossly at Unique, who stood and smiled awkwardly. "What are you doing here? And how in Tartarus did you get inside?", she demanded. "I placed wards upon the door and the windows, which would have informed me of your presence. How did you not trigger them?"
Unique tapped his fore-hooves together nervously. "Well, you see", he began, shifting his gaze to and from Shade Star's awkwardly, "I, er, didn't come in through the door or the windows." He pointed towards the fireplace, where a large patch of soot covered the frame. "I kinda fell down the chimney by accident," he finished.
Shade Star stared at the fireplace, then at Unique, her mouth wide in disbelief. "You got inside by falling down my chimney?", she asked, find it hard to believe what she had just heard.
Unique placed an arm behind his head, and pawed at the floor nervously with the tip of his hind-hoof. "I was going to knock on your door until i saw the weather vane on your roof," he explained. "It looked crooked, so I flew up to try and straighten it, and then I took a step back and -"
Unique trailed off, as his attention was turned to the cauldron behind Shade. It was bubbling furiously, practically foaming and spilling froth over the sides. The cauldron seemed to be shaking too, which Unique took to be a rather worrying sign that something bad was probably going to happen.
"And you just fell down my chimney?", Shade finished for him. He nodded his head, but didn't take his eyes from off the scene occurring behind his friend.
"Er, Shade Star," began Unique, pointing to the shaky cauldron behind her, "I think your lunch is near about done."
Shade raised an eyebrow to the pegasus. "Lunch? What are you talk-". She stopped, as she remembered her brew. She whipped her head around, to see a heap of froth and foam pouring out of her cauldron, the contents within spewing and sputtering violently. The cauldron was bouncing up and down, causing some of the contents it held to spill out onto the floor.
Shade Star deadpanned. "Oh, crap."
The whole room shook as the cauldron erupted like a volcano, blasting its contents upwards with the force of a geyser. It hit the ceiling, and spread itself out everywhere, splattering the entire room with a nasty-smelling substance.
The floors, the walls, the cupboards, the windows. Everywhere was instantly covered with the stuff. Especially two ponies, who found themselves absolutely drenched from head to hoof. From underneath their layers of foul brew, a pair of scarlet eyes stared daggers at the pair of blue eyes that gazed back. Unique dipped his hoof into some of the brew covering his body and tried a taste of it. His face contorted into an expression of disgust and regret.
"It (bleah!) could use some salt", said Unique.
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Ten minutes of cleaning later...
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"Er, I guess you'll be, um, ordering a takeaway huh, Shade Star? Heh heh...", joked the pegasus nervously, as the black-coated unicorn threw a mop back into her closet with her telekinetic magic, having finally finished cleaning up the mess, with Unique's help.
"That wasn't lunch I was making, you twit. That was my potion experiment." She turned her head and gave Unique a look that made him feel rather small, intimidated. "And your intrusion has ruined it."
"What?"
Shade took a few steps towards the pegasus threateningly, causing him to back away out of concern for what she might do. "I've been working on making a special potion that might save my life one day, if somepony were to ever try and assassinate me!", she explained furiously. "I've been following a recipe for making it, but the last ingredients are missing from the page. I've spent the last few months trying to figure out what the final components are, and i felt sure that this time I had it, but you put me off with your barging into my home uninvited!"
Unique felt shock and guilt, upon learning he had spoiled the unicorn's work. "Oh, Shade Star, I'm really sorry. I didn't know. I didn't mean to cause any trouble. I just wanted to see how you were, was all", said Unique sadly.
"Well, I WAS in a good mood", replied Shade Star with a scowl, "but then some foalish pegasus fell down my chimney, and made me screw up what could have been the result I have been spending the past Celestia-knows-how-many weeks trying to achieve!". She sighed, and walked over to her cauldron, staring at her reflection in what was left of her brew within. "So much hard work, and all for nothing", she mumbled.
Unique watched her, feeling awful inside. He really hadn't meant to screw up her work. He didn't even know she was working on something today that was of great importance to her. "I am really sorry, Shade Star. Please, let me make it up to you. There's got to be something I can do to make things right, right?"
Shade Star flashed Unique a glare. "No, Unique. There is nothing you can do. You've done enough." She turned back to her cauldron as her horn began to light up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get rid of this formula, now that it's gone to waste." Her magic flowed from her horn, a blue aura pouring forth from the tip like a mystical stream into the cauldron.
Unique suddenly popped up on the other side of the cauldron, opposite to Shade, which startled her a little. His eyes were wide and puppy-like. "Oh please, Shade Star! There MUST be something I can do to help!". His attention then shifted to the foul-smelling brew in the cauldron, which was slowly being drained away as the blue aura from Shade Star's horn enveloped the contents and magically removed it, whisked away into nothingness.
Unique suddenly had an idea. "Wait, Shade Star!", he exclaimed, holding out his hoof, a smile replacing the sad pout he previously had. "Maybe you don't have to get rid of this! I bet we can still make it right!"
"What do you mean by 'we', Unique?", Shade Star huffed wearily. Using her magic to get rid of the waste was tiring, especially when she'd perform the spell so many times already to rid herself of the previous failed formulas of her experiment. Her eyes looked to the now-excited pegasus, her magical power still flowing into the cauldron. "What would you know about potion-brewing?"
Unique tapped his chin in thought for a few moments, before he responded. "Nothing at all. But I bet I could learn pretty quickly!". He ran to one of the cupboards nearby, and after searching through the contents, returned to Shade Star with a cup in hoof. He leaned over the cauldron and reached inside with the cup. "Here, just let me get some of the leftover formula!", he grunted as he tried to scoop up what little was left of the stuff. "I bet we could still make this right!"
Shade Star's face contorted into an expression of horror, as she realized what Unique was doing. "No!", she cried, extending her hoof out to him, her horn still active and releasing the aura into the cauldron. "Unique, don't touch it!".
Unique gave the panicking mare a confused glance, but didn't stop trying to scoop up some of the brew up in his cup. "Why not?", he asked.
Shade Star was too late to answer.
The second Unique's hoof made contact with the magical aura, to the pegasus' surprise, it began to crawl on to his hoof, and along his arm, encasing his entire arm with a bright blue glowing aura. But it did not stop there. It then began to spread all over him, covering his legs, his other arm, his head and even his tail and mane with a bright glow. Unique dropped the cup into the cauldron and staggered back, looking himself over in awe and puzzlement.
"Er, Shade Star? Is this something I should be worried about?", questioned Unique, a look of uncertainty on his face. Even when Shade severed the flow of magic channeling through her horn, the aura remained present on Unique.
"I TOLD you not to touch it!", shouted Shade Star, as she watched Unique become engulfed by the aura.
Shade Star looked on in bewilderment as Unique suddenly started to giggle. His giggling was shortly followed with random twitches, with the pegasus doubling over as he went into a laughing fit, holding himself as he cried hysterically. "Hee hee hee! What's going on? Ah ha ha ha ha! Why am I so - hee hee! - ticklish all over? Ha ha ha! No! Cut it out! For the love of - ha ha ha! - Celestia, it's too much!"
Shade Star continued to watch the bizarre scene playing out before her eyes, as the hysteric pony's ticklish frenzy brought him down to the floor, where he began rolling side to side, all the while laughing his head off. Then Shade Star noticed something else, and her attention shifted from Unique to a large dark circle that had suddenly appeared behind him. The unicorn gawked as something began to emerge from the center of the circle, a pair of blackened ears followed by a head with a blank and featureless face, lacking eyes and mouth.
Unique, because of his laughing fit, didn't seem to notice the black anthro-pony-like figure slowly rising up behind him. However, as the figure revealed more of itself, of its form, Unique's laughing fit began to steadily wane away. When the figure had completely risen from out of the circle's center, Unique was laying on the floor, panting heavily as he tried to catch his breath, a few last chuckles escaping his mouth. He stared up at the ceiling, still unaware of the dark figure standing behind him. The dark shadow circle from which the figure rose out of was gone now, having disappeared after said figure had fully emerged from the floor.
Shade stood rooted to the spot, her mouth agape, her face a reflection of the surprise and awe she was experiencing at this moment. Her gaze switched between the pegasus laid on her floor, recovering from his ticklish episode, and the shadowed featureless pony thing that stood right behind him. Interestingly, it was standing on two legs, just as Unique did.
Unique took a deep breath as he sat himself up, looking at the unicorn mare with an awkward look. "Well, that was fun," he said with a smile. "Didn't think you were one to use tickling spells, Shade Star."
She didn't respond. "Shade Star?", Unique called out, "Hello? Equestria to Shade Star? Come in, over?". He got up from the floor, and moved closer to her. He waved his hoof in front of her face. "Hellooooo? Anypony there?".
Unique then noticed Shade Star's expression, and tilted his head in wonder. "What's up? Why are you looking at me like that?". He began feeling around his face with his hoof. "Is there something on my nose? A spot? A booger? What are you looking at?".
Shade answered him this time, but not with words. She merely raised a hoof and pointed at the figure, still standing in the spot where it had emerged from.
"Huh?". Unique looked to see what and/or where she was pointing to, and at last he noticed the creature.
Unique blinked a couple of times. "Well," he said after a few moments of silence, and with a look of surprise, "that's actually rather, um, interesting..."
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