Equestria Under

The fire crackled, sizzled and popped as I added to its pyre the last of the root-pieces. I had already been doing a lot of thinking since my departure with Snow, regardless the same thoughts seemed to continue on in an endless track, within my mind. As soon as Snow and I had returned to my dwell he informed me that he sensed that I might be discomforted if he were to "stick around". He bid me good-bye and informed me that he would be back once "the cost was clear". I didn't really understand what he meant and I didn't really care. I had some thinking to do and I had rathered it be without him present. Then again...I guess that's what he meant... he knew, somehow, that I wouldn't have wanted him around while thinking on what he had told me.

But that was the thing about Snow. He always seemed to just know things. He knew my name even when I didn't remember telling him what it was. He seemed to know where I was located in Shadow Dwell, after the time we first met...Though I hadn't told him that, either. He even knew that I had been purposely lied to... How he had come to know all of these things, I might never know. Unless...I ask him, of course. But would he find it offensive? Maybe his under-pony self would regain consciousness from somewhere within his form and he'd finally realize he is not meant to be with me? -- or any shadow-pony for that matter.

I wonder, also, how he came to forsake his self, in that manner. One ray he just up and decided, "Oh. I think I'll go find and talk to a shadow-pony."

Is that how it went?

That scenario doesn't seem likely so I guess it must've been something else... But what?

And how? How did he come to be the way he is, now. I mean, surely he was once a shadow-pony as I am, so what uplifted him to be the creature he is, in the present? Did he use the spirit-method, by some chance? He seems to be encouraging myself to do so, so...was that it? But how could a thing like that possibly work? I mean...watching those other two shadow-ponies --that shadow-colt HAD, indeed, gained a valuable spirit.... And what was it had he said? Together? That the two of them would work together? And that there had been another one, with them? This one named..Talia, was it? She had made them do the unthinkale and beyond -- but where was she now? Had she, perhaps, already ascended?

It then hit me. Perhaps...perhaps Snow. Maybe he had someone just like that who helped him do the unthinkable just to get where he now was. And maybe by their influence he meant to do the same to me. It is why he said he cared and wanted to care about me...It must by why he said he'd always be there fore me....

A small sensation of sorts awoke me from my thoughts. My hoof had somehow wondered into the hearth's fire.

"Trust Snow." I thought to myself. "Believe in him and hold him to his words...." My hoof slide away from the fire.

"Or", I thought, again, "Try it and see for yourself. He spoke against fire yet has aided in bringing it to life, within your very own dwell. And why has he done that? To mock you, perhaps? You are just a lowly shadow-pony, after all. You know he doesn't and never had to care about you in the first place." My hoof moved towards the fire, the tip of it resting at the needle-thin edge of the flame. "All you have are his claims -- and just after shattering your biggest stepping stone towards the world above. Let this opportunity pass and you might not get another, ever again."

"You are right." I spoke back to the voice in my head, "All that you say is, indeed, possible. I know what I am. I know what he is. And I know that after a while he will, again, return to me. But even so...with all that I am...why did he risk himself for me, out of nowhere? I was nothing to anything and yet this creature comes along and saves my essence! While I should be distressed as well as grateful for this, I never asked him why he did it... Why he chose me, of all creatures... Perhaps... if I had been another...would he have done the same thing? And then go on to aid them in their ascent?" A burst of surprise overwhelmed me, as well as a touch of concern.

If I had been another -- or if another had been at that place, at that time, doing exactly as I had been...would it still have been me he would claim to care about? Would it still be me he would make it a priority to walk by and comfort?

"But then," I spoke, again, "What would I be without him, now? A mindless black mob whose only existence is depended upon that of a deamon??" My essence trembled at the thought and a new spirit was ignited within me.

"Gratitude." I thought, "I am thankful to Snow for what he has done, for me. And...and even if it could have easily been another, it was me he chose to help. Knowing this, I think it best to trust him and him, alone, until I can be sure of things, on my own."

The first thing that grabbed my attention after deciding this, though, was a feeling on my left hoof. I extended it , outwards, to see it, clearly. It was darker than the rest of me, that was for sure...but there was something strange about being able to feel it more than the rest of my frail essence. I wasn't even close to being accustomed to Snow's touches - if not any shadow-pony else's - but this feeling was just there. Plain and simply there. As if it were some other part of my essence I had yet to learn of. It was a lot less frail and looked a lot more tangible... It was strange. The bad kind of strange, I perceived.

Just one spark and the spirit of fear was ignited somewhere inside of my hollow self. The glow of the fire seemed to beckon me closer, but I scooted back, in the opposite direction.  I now feared the fire. There indeed was something wrong with it -- and with my touching it.

"I trust you Snow," I said, quietly. "I understand what it was you were trying to tell me. I understand and I believe you... I trust you. You may no longer have the flaws of a shadow-pony, as I do, being a shadow-pony, but I trust that, in time, I will begin to understand those traits that you do have, as yourself. I will begin to understand the what, the who and the how. I will begin to understand you. Just as you said I would. "In time", you said, "patience", you said..."

"Yes, Snow. I will wait to understand you. I will elieve you. I will trust you. I...I do trust you..." My head rose with the revelation of the truth in my words. "I do trust you."

For probably about the final time, that ray, a burst of energy ignited within me. My essense rippled in sync with the waves of power created by the birth of my newest spirit that was trust.

I did trust Snow. And as far as I was cornered, that would never change.