Rising Shadows

Shadow had been working on his new project all day and was nearly complete.

"Just a few more adjustments and it'll be finished," he said wiping the sweat from his brow.

He took a moment to look at the clock on the wall to see how late it was, the clock read 7pm.

"Still pretty early, hmm, I think I'll add a few more features to this before I call it good."

Shadow turned back to his project and proceeded to do just that, after a couple more hours he was finished and the entire project was done, he placed it in a secret pocket inside his vest before heading into his kitchen to make himself supper.

"Let's see, I think I'll just make a couple Zap apple jam and lettuce sandwiches and call it good," after a few moments he had his sandwhiches and ate them.

After eating and cleaning his plate in the sink, Shadow decided to try meditating to enter the all white world like Nightshade said he probably could.

After getting comfortable on the floor, he began to meditate and after a few moments he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Are you just gonna sit there with your eyes closed," Nightshade said causing Shadow to jump before landing on his hooves.

"You really have a bad habit of sneaking up on ponies," Shadow said readjusting his sunglasses that were surprisingly still on despite being inside the all white world.

Nightshade laughed, "Sorry. You wanted to talk about something?"

Shadow finished adjusting his sunglasses, "Yeah, I finished practicing earlier and what you said about focusing my magic through the sword worked, ofcoarse the beam it produced was bigger than I expected it to be, which was awesome, also it seems meditating doesn't take long to enter here, whatever this world is, also I wanted to know if there was a way to sense Strife's exact location and distance from Ponyville."

Nightshade pondered for a moment, "Hmm, well we could try focusing on his presence together, also this world is called the Inner Sanctum, its white because you have yet to fill it with anything but don't worry you'll fill it soon enough, now are you ready to locate Strife?"

Shadow nodded and they both focused on locating Strife's exact location and after a few minuted they had found it.

"Okay, so he's about two hundred miles Southeast from here, and he doesn't seem to be moving, is that because we're in this world or has he stopped moving for some reason," Shadow asked.

Nightshade was silent for a moment, "No, even in this world we would still be able to sense him moving so he has stopped, I don't know why though."

Shadow nodded in agreement, "Well at least there's no cities or towns near him, and it gives us some more time to prepare, which is something I think he's also doing."

Nightshade nodded in agreement, "I think you're right, anyway, did you name that new attack yet?"

Shadow thought for a moment, "I've been thinking about calling it Bass Blast or something, but I don't know."

Nightshade thought for a moment, "Hmm, Bass Blast sounds like a good name to me."

Shadow smiled, "So why is that you seem to not know what I do during the day even though we share the same body?"

Nightshade thought for a moment, "I can know everything that goes on around you but I don't want to invade your privacy."

Shadow looked at him like he had said something weird.

"I don't mind, in fact it might help in the long run," Shadow laughed, "also do we have to come here everytime in order to talk?"

Nightshade smiled, "Okay then, and no I can speak to you as a voice in your head if you want," Nightshade laughed, "ofcoarse if you reply out loud somepony might think you've gone crazy so I think it'll be best if you just reply inside you head."

Shadow rolled his eyes but nodded his head in agreement none the less before finding himself sitting in his floor, legs starting to get stiff.

"Now I remember why I hate meditation," he said.

"That and you can't stand sitting still," Nightshade retorted inside Shadow's mind.

"Yeah, yeah, very funny," Shadow replied stretching out and glancing at the clock.

"Hmm, only 8pm and I'm not even tired," he said but his yawning betrayed him, "Okay I guess I'm a little tired, might as well get some sleep then, hopefully I can actually get some rest tonight."

Shadow got ready for bed before laying down for the night.

"It seems Strife is on the move again, huh," Shadow asked.

"Yeah, it shouldn't be long now, maybe a day or two at the most, well let's get some sleep," Nightshade replied.

Shadow nodded before snapping to attention.

"Wait you sleep," Shadow asked surprised. "Yeah, although I can still sense everything that's going on," Nightshade replied.

Shadow nodded and rested his head on his pillow once again and drifted off to sleep.

Shadow was woken up at 7am by his alarm clock, after shutting it off and getting ready he left his house.

"Hmm, what should we do today," Shadow thought to himself.

"Well we can go ask Shining Armor how preparations are coming along," Nightshade answered.

Shadow thought for a moment before replying, "Good idea."

Shadow began walking towards Town Hall.

After walking for a few minutes Shining Armor stopped him before he got half way.

"I was just on my way to see you Armor," Shadow said coming to a stop infront of Shining Armor.

Shining Armor smiled, "Let me guess, you wanted to know how preparations are coming along."

Shadow stood there completely bemused to as how Shining Armor had known that.

Shining Armor laughed, "I take it I was right. I was on my way to inform you that all preparations are complete and the citizens of Ponyville have been moved to Canterlot. The only ones left are you, me, the guards, the Princesses, Twilight and her friends, and a few other ponies."

Shadow regained his composer, "Okay that's good, but why are Twilight and the others still here? Shouldn't they be moved to Canterlot where its safe? I doubt the Elements of Harmony will be of any use against Strife." Shining Armor nodded in agreement, "Yeah but they refused to leave, and let's face it, not even all of the Royal Guards combined would be able to force them to leave once they've made up their minds."

Shadow laughed, "Yeah, although they would have their hooves full with Pinkie Pie alone."

Shining Armor joined in on Shadow's laughter, "I doubt anypony could handle Pinkie Pie."

Shadow nodded, "Well anypony besides Vinyl."

Shining Armor looked at Shadow confused, "Vinyl? Who's he?"

Shadow stifled a laugh, "Well she was the DJ at your wedding."

Shining Armor thought back to the white unicorn DJ at his party, "You mean DJ Pon-3 is this Vinyl?"

Shadow nodded, "Yeah, her DJ name is DJ Pon-3 but her real name is Vinyl Scratch."

"Ah, I see now. But what does that have to do with being able to handle Pinkie," Shining Armor asked.

Shadow and Nightshade both mentally facehooved.

"Well you weren't really clear on that part so it is kinda your fault," Nightshade said.

"Yeah, but I thought he would have realized what I meant, though I do admit I never would have guessed that Pinkie was into mares if she didn't tell me, but there's nothing wrong with that, in fact they really are a perfect match," Shadow thought.

"Well Pinkie and Vinyl are..........well," Shadow began, "they're more than friends."

Shining Armor thought about what Shadow said before facehooving.

"So that's what you meant by Vinyl being the only pony to be able to handle her. Although based on what I've heard about DJ Pon-3, her and Pinkie seem like a perfect match. Though I never saw Pinkie being into mares, not that there's anything wrong with that," Shining Armor said sincerely.

Shadow gave Shining Armor a blank stare.

"What," Shining Armor asked.

"I seriously just said basically that same thing to Nightshade before I explained about Vinyl and Pinkie to you," Shadow answered.

Shining Armor started laughing before going silent, "Wait, who?"

Shadow began to explain about Nightshade and him sharing the same body and how they can communicate inside of his mind.

"You know, if I didn't know you, I'd say you were crazy, but based on everything that's going on, I think you're the most sane pony here right now," Shining Armor said.

"You didn't really understand a thing did you," Shadow asked.

"Not a thing," Shining Armor replied, "I'm just messing with you, I got what you said. Two souls one body, your's and Nightshade's, you have an inner world called the Inner Sanctum, and you can communicate with Nightshade inside your mind, did I miss anything?"

Shadow was surprised that Shining Armor caught everything, "Nope, that's everything."

Shining Armor laughed a little, "Speaking of Vinyl and Pinkie, didn't you have a crush on both of them?"

Shadow blushed but it was barely visible through his black coat, "N-no! Who said I did?"

Shining Armor laughed, "You just did. I thought you had one on Pinkie for a while now but you just confirmed it."

Shadow stared at him blankly before punching him in the shoulder.

"Okay smartplot, and besides, I like Rainbow Dash as we-," Shadow quickly cut himself off but it was already to late.

Shining Armor had a sly but devious smile on his face.

"Don't you even think about it, Armor, don't you dare speak a word of this to anypony, not even Cadence," Shadow said.

Shining Armor let out a sigh, "Fine, I won't say a word, but why can't I tell my wife?"

"Because if you do she might use her love magic to help out, and I don't want her to cause Rainbow Dash is seeing somepony already, and also I want you to Pinkie Promise," Shadow said.

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Shining Armor said making all the appropriate actions.

Shadow's ears perked up from a sound coming from a nearby bush.

Shadow turned his head and looked at the bush that the sound was coming from.

"That includes you too, Pinkie," Shadow shouted.

Pinkie jumped out of her hiding spot.

"Okie dokie lokie, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," she replied.

Pinkie bounced over to join Shadow and Shining Armor.

"How did you know it was her," Shining Armor asked Shadow.

"She's the only pony that can be found in random hiding spots, that and she's almost always around when a Pinkie Promise is made," Shadow replied.

"Hi Shining Armor. And Shadow I'm not just into mares, I'm into stallions also and so is Vinyl," Pinkie huffed.

Shadow's face went bright red, "I didn't mean to make you angry, I'm sorry."

Pinkie giggled, "I'm not angry silly, and it's okay, and why didn't you tell me you had a crush on me?"

Shining Armor decided it was best to let them talk this out in private and quietly slipped away, neither Shadow nor Pinkie noticed him leave.

Shadow blushed even more, "Well I was going to, but then you told me that you and Vinyl started dating so I thought you were only into mares."

Pinkie giggled, "You should have just came out and said it silly, though I'm with Vinyl now, and I'm happy with her, I'm sorry for not telling you I was into both sooner."

Shadow giggled, "Don't worry about it, as long as two of my best friends are happy together, I'm happy, besides it was only a crush, I'm barely in my 20's so there's always time to find that special somepony."

Pinkie smiled, "Well what about Rainbow Dash or Derpy? You still have a crush on Derpy right?"

Shadow sighed, "Yeah, but Derpy is with Doctor Whooves and Rainbow Dash is with Soarin of the Wonderbolts."

Pinkie nodded, "Well I'm sure you're bound to find your special somepony someday." "So how is Vinyl doing anyway? I haven't seen her in a while, I'm sure Shining here would li-," Shadow paused when he noticed that Shining Armor was gone.

"Guess he decided to leave," Shadow scratched the back of his neck, "anyway, how are things between you and Vinyl going?"

"Vinyl's good, she's at home right now, and things have gotten quite serious between us over the past year," she said smiling.

Shadow thought about how long its been since Pinkie and Vinyl started dating, which had been three years now.

"Your third year anniversary is tonight isn't it," Shadow asked.

Pinkie smiled and nodded, "Yeah, Vinyl said she's made special plans for us at a restaurant here in town, I also found a little black box but she put a spell on it to keep me from opening it and won't tell me what it is, guess I'll have to wait until tonight to find out."

"So Vinyl is planning on asking Pinkie to marry her, huh," Shadow thought to himself.

"Yeah, but it also looks like Pinkie is oblivious to that," Nightshade replied.

"That's just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie, I'm sure a part of her knows but she's more focused on being Pinkie Pie to realize it," Shadow thought.

Shadow smiled, "I think I'll pay Vinyl a visit to catch up while we've still got time, if that's okay with you ofcoarse."

Pinkie giggled, "Ofcoarse it is silly, I'm gonna go see if Rainbow Dash wants to pull some more pranks."

Pinkie giggled and bounced off to go looking for Rainbow Dash.

Shadow watched her leave before heading for Pinkie and Vinyl's house.