Chapter 5: Shadow-ponies and Snow

A few rays later, I sat in my dwell as the rain poured down, out side. I listened to it, but didn't give it much thought, even though it was coming down harder than usual. The only thing I thought about was the fire.

On returning from the gathering --I had certainly learned a few things, yes, but none of that was on my mind, now. Only the fire.

I could have been distracted by the rain, could have begun to think about the outside of Shadow Dwell , how I had seen that shadow-pony attacked by that black beast , how it attacked me, how I met that pony...that... under-pony... But no. I couldn't think about that, now. Only the fire.

.....

....

And why not think about it? It was only thing that I knew of that would help me easily escape this cursed world. The only thing that would help me become a pony! But then again, I still had to prepare myself... but how?

I pondered this, and pondered it for a long time. I was not exactly sure what I had to do to become ready, but I definitely  wanted to find out. I made up my mind to go out into Shadow Dwell and look for that shadow-stallion. May be I'd run into him, instead of the other way around, this time.

These thoughts stirred something within me, but it was very faint and I didn't give it a lot of attention. Instead, I proceeded over to my dwell's exit/entrance. I was certain I didn't need any more spirits where I was going.

When I got there, I raised a hoof in attempt to step through it -- and froze. I could see through it, fairly clearly, but I almost didn't believe what I saw on the other side... It was the pony. He was walking along, looking from side to side. I wondered what he was searching for. Slowly, I pushed my hoof through to the outside. I carefully brought my body to the outside, as well... Standing on the outside, now, I turned to look at the pony. He only took a few more steps, before stopping and then suddenly turning in my direction. I waited to see what he would do, which was nothing more than take a good look at me, before trotting over. I waited for him, all the while wondering what he as going to say, what he would do... Would he say anything? Would he... do anything? Had he been looking for me?

Just then, I realized something and looked up. The rain had decided to stop, all of a sudden.

"Hello there." The white pony started, simply, as I turned my attention back to him and nodded.

"Do you remember me?" He asked, a hopeful grin on his face.

I nodded again.

"Well that's good, I was looking for you... And by the way, my name's Snow." The pony said.

I paused. He had been looking for me.

"What... do you want?" I asked.

"Oh, well, I just wanted to make sure that you were alright." He said, with a bit of a shrug.

I just looked at him. Alright? Alright? How could I be alright? I was a shadow-pony and what was alright about that? Nothing. In fact, it was all wrong. I didn't want to be what I was, I wanted to be something more than that. I wanted to be like him. I turned from him and began walking in the opposite direction; I had to find that shadow-stallion and ask him how I could prepare myself.

"I... I'm sorry, did I offend you?" The pony asked, from behind.

I stopped. I had so quickly forgotten about him. "No." I said, then continued on walking.

"Oh, well, that's good." He responded. "And if you don't mind my asking... Where are you going?"

I began to stop, but when I thought about the answer, I kept moving. I was glad the rain had stopped as soon as I exited my dwell; it would be easier to find that shadow-stallion, now.

"Er..." I heard the pony say. His voiced sounded unsure, but I refused to pay him any mind.

"Can I come with you?" He asked, trotting up beside me, soon slowing his pace, falling into step beside me. I glanced over at him, observing his features... Of course he didn't need to come with me; he was already a pony.

"No." I said. "Where I am going, you do not need to be."

"Oh? Why do you say that?" He asked.

"Because." I said.

"....Why?" He asked.

"Because you don't."  I responded.

"...But I would like to know why you say that." He persisted.

I stopped and looked at him. "Do you... understand my condition?" I asked.

"Oh, wel -

"Do you understand what I am?" I asked.

"Of course I -

"Do you understand that I really shouldn't be speaking to you?" I asked.

"...!" The pony  took a few steps back, "But I just wanted to -

"Well then." I said, "If you know that I can't speak to you, then please go away." I walked on.

"...Oh... alright then." The pony said, "If you're busy then..." I paused to listen to his hooves as he clip-clopped away. I turned my head in his direction and watched him trot off. How had he ever became that way? So carefree, so confident about motion, so... pony-like?

I wanted so much to be as he was... And with that being known, I couldn't waste anymore time. Head turned forward, I walked on.

*   *   *   *   *

It was a pity -  a shame, really; I couldn't find that shadow-stallion anywhere... I could have gone back to the gathering place but that was off-limits to ponies when there was no gathering.

I had searched and searched. I was positive that I had never walked so much in all of my time and was certain that I would dissolve into nothing if I didn't stop, soon. I was ready to give up.

Just then, I saw that same shadow-colt from before. He was the one who had approached me on my return to Shadow Dwell a little while back. He had been flanked by two others, that time -- mares, were they?

The shadow-colt had just exited his dwell. On exiting, he pressed two fore-hooves to the ground, arching his back, awkwardly. He then braced himself with his rear-hooves and pulled his body back into an upright position. Very strange; why would a shadow-colt be doing something like that - or any shadow-pony, for that matter?

I was dragged away from my slow-step-search for the shadow-stallion and instead turned my attention to this shadow-colt. I followed him through Shadow Dwell and was sure to remain unseen when he went up to another dwell. What under Equestria was he doing?

I watched, intrigued, as he pressed a hoof up against the dwell's exit-entry way, making it shimmer and ripple. I heard him say something but the words were inaudible. To my surprise, one of the shadow-ponies who he had been with exited the dwell and stood before him. I wasn't sure what I had expected, otherwise, but just for shadow-ponies to voluntarily be in the company of one another was just....unheard of! Even if I had seen them together, already, the sight was still something to behold.

"Are we ready to go?" the shadow-mare asked the shadow-colt. "Or do we need -

"No. I think we can do this without her, this time."

The shadow-mare nodded and they both turned and walked up the road. I followed after them.

*   *   *   *   *

Not too much later, the shadow-ponies and I found ourselves on the outskirts of Shadow Dwell, amongst a patch of thorns. Down under, thorns are a sort of representation of "trees", which are found in the world above. They are thick, crooked, things; almost always a darker shade of grey and very tall.

"So, what...activity...are we doing this ray?" The mare asked, nearly tripping over the word "activity".

"Nothing much," The  shadow-colt answered, his tone matching hers, "Just a few things..."

"A...a few?" The shadow-mare asked, glancing about. "A-are you sure?"

"I''ve been sure." The shadow-colt answered, firmly, "And I thought you were, too."

"Yes, but without... without Talia, here, I feels so different... and a bit insecure..." The shadow-mare said, looking somewhere behind her.

"Do not worry." The shadow-stallion answered, offering the shadow-mare his hoof. "We can get through this, together."

The shadow-mare nodded and pressed her hoof onto his.

"Do not push so hard." The shadow-mare said, after a little while, "I can feel that, you know."

"I know." The shadow-colt said, "That is the point." They both switched to their right hooves and pressed.

"Talia had us do a lot more than this, you know." The shadow-colt said.

"The know." The shadow-mare whispered.

"So we have to do more, on our own." The shadow-colt continued, turning his rear-part to the shadow-mare. She  sighed and turned as well. They both pressed their back hooves together, the left ones, first.

"Yes, because this and more is what it's going to take to become ponies," The shadow-colt urged as they both switched hooves.

The shadow-mare seemed to tremble at the word, her voice raising as she replied with an "I know!

"Here we go..." The shadow-stallion replied, his last hoof on the ground, ignoring the shadow-mare's apparent distress.

"Wha-what if we get caught?" The shadow-mare stammered, for the 3rd time.

The shadow-colt paused a moment and turned his eyes to her. "May be Talia should be here, right now." There was a certain edge to his voice that I had never heard before in a shadow-ponies voice. And the look the shadow-mare had on her face was quite unique as well... It was strange. It was as if his voice actually provoked an expression from her.... Was that even possible?

"A-alright..." The shadow-mare stepped up beside the shadow-colts head.

The shadow-colt shook her hoof off. "Why don't you lead, this time?"

"Wha - what?" The shadow-mare stammered, again, apparently caught off guard by the question.

"Go on." The shadow-colt responded, bluntly.

The shadow-mare began to drag a hoof through the earth. She did the same with all of the rest and I wondered why. The shadow-colt watched her, gaze un-wavering.

Suddenly the shadow-mare took off with a speed un-matched by any shadow-pony I ever knew dared to run! (Not that ever saw any). The shadow-colt took off after her with almost the exact same speed. y spirit of amazement blazed to life within me. HOW could they be doing this?? Did they mean to destroy themselves?! I simply had to see what would become of them and that meant following them. I told myself I'd only run for w little while and then stop if they did not.

*    *    *    *    *

"Very good!" I heard the shadow-colt call to the other. My ear twitched. There was another kind of tone to his voice that just didn't make any sense to me... How did he do that?

Even as I ran I managed to reach up and swipe I touched my ear; was it me? Had I heard wrong? No... That couldn't be it. The occurrence of alteration in a shadow-pony's speech was beyond un-likely! Coming from a shadow-pony, such a thing only ranged from rare to never.I looked down at my hooves. There didn't seem to be any change in them, so I decided to continue the chase.

Just ahead of me I could see that the shadow-colt and shadow-mare close together, still running at what was probably max speed.

"I think you're doing very well." The shadow-colt complimented.

The shadow-mare didn't so much as look at him.

"No, really!" He said, "I really think you're doing it! Just a little ways more you'll beat your all-time record!" The tone of his voice was very disturbing to me. No shadow-pony would ever sound that way. He was so...sincere...

Just then a light seemed to come to life directly between the two shadow-ponies.The shadow-mare gasped a gasp that disturbed me just as equally as the shadow-colt's voice had.

I looked back to the two shadow-ponies - I felt something hit my muzzle. I blinked and looked up. It was beginning to rain, again. I turned my attention back to the two shadow-ponies.

The shadow-mare had begun to move away from the shadow-colt, although they were both running in the same direction. A sharp turn and they were both out of view. The intensity of light that had started between them had increased, greatly. I had to know what would happen next and did the only thing I could in order to achieve that. I dared speed up.

Coming around the corner I could see that the shadow-colt and shadow-mare had come to a complete stop and struggled to slow down -- just managing to scrambled behind a thorn before either of them could notice me. Not that they would. Both - or at least the shadow-mare - were giving no attention to anything else but the glowing shadow-colt. Turns out it wasn't a light between the two that I had seen, but a light coming off of the shadow-colt. He had gained another spirit....or so I guessed.

"Barry... are you...alright?" The shadow-mare asked the shadow-colt.

"I...think so." The shadow-colt who was apparently names "Barry" answered.

"I-it's beginning to rain... do you think we should go back to our dwells?" The shadow-mare asked as the glow of the shadow-colt died down.

Ignoring her concern the Barry responded, "And I think I've never felt better!"

"What do you mean?" The shadow-mare asked, seemingly afraid of the shadow-colts brightness.

"I've just received another spirit!" The shadow-colt said, loudly. "I am just that much closer!!" Another burst of light and this time I knew it was coming from Barry. A wave caused by the magnitude of the spark hit me and I could tell that the shadow-colt was....happy.

What a strange thing to be feeling, now. Down here. In this world. Amongst these thorns and away from the safety of Shadow Dwell. A certain spirit began to come to life inside of me, but I ignored it. I guess...I guess it wasn't so strange to be the least bit happy, though. I gazed at the shadow-colt who had his face turned up into the rain.

"Make that, two..." The shadow-mare said, quietly.

"Yes," Barry responded, his tone as soft as hers, "And I am so glad that you were here to see it."

Before the shadow-mare could respond, the shadow-colt wrapped a foreleg-part around her and pulled her in close. I had no clue what under Equestria he was doing, but I knew that it wasn't anything normal. Was he trying to destroy her essence or something?

"Barry!" The shadow-mare sounded as alarmed as I thought she should have, "What are you doing?!"

"Oh...well...it's just...it just came over me..." Barry responded.

"What came over him?" I wondered.

"I forgive you." The shadow-mare said, softly, "But now, we really need to be heading back.

"You are right," Barry said, turning and leading the way back, "But you really have no idea how good this feels."

"What?" The shadow-mare asked.

"To be happy." Barry said.

As the two passed by my hiding place, I was sure to adjust to the changes in their position in order to remain hidden.

I watched as the rain came down on the two, and hardly noticed as his hit and then slid right off of me... And as weird as it was, the rain didn't seem to just slide right off of the two - at least not the shadow-colt. Instead, the rain seem to actually make contact.

*   *   *   *   *

I returned to my dwell, not long from then, a few of my spirits struggling to dominate my essence. I had never felt so many strong feelings at once. What did this mean? There was confusion, that was one. There was fear, that was another... I was afraid for the two shadow-ponies I had seen doing the unthinkable.

But just what did anything I had seen mean, anyhow?

Why... what... why.....

.....

Perhaps it was best I stopped trying figure things out. I wouldn't want my head to ware away, did I? Also, around now, I couldn't help trotting. I really couldn't help it. I had trotted all through Shadow-Dwell to get to my dwell, through the rain and everything, spirits and thoughts swirling. What could be worse? If I didn't dissolve within the next few moments I didn't know what would happen to me...

Turns out, nothing exactly happened to me. Perhaps because my essence wasn't fully decided on anything -- too much was going on within me, I guess. Hm. That is interesting to consider.

Anyways, when once my dwell was in view I decided to slow to a walk. Some shadow-pony was there. But who could it be? Turns out, it was that pony. He was waiting for me. He was waiting for me, outside of my dwell, when I returned.  I wondered why. What did he want with me? Regardless of the fact that I was thinking THESE thoughts, when I saw him, I trotted right up to him, WITHOUT thinking.

He had his backside turned to me, as I approached, but then - as I suspected him to - he heard me, and with a flick of his ear, he turned and said, "You're back." He was smiling.

I trotted up and trotted right into him, both of our muzzle-parts nearly touching.

"Uh-uhb." The pony named Snow said.

He backed up, blinking. My spirits which had just begun to settle, began to be aroused.

"Oh." I said, "I wasn't thinking."

".... That is alright." He said.

...

....

Neither of us said anything for a few seconds and then he said, "I...I should be the pone who is sorry, I... I don't think we got off on the right hoof...um....both times, so-" He extended a hoof towards me -

"Hello there, my name is Snow."