My little pony: the Shadow veil saga

Chapter 10 hydra at the party

Shadow veil was helping himself to some punch, trying desperately to avoid speaking to other ponies, which proved difficult when Pinky pie had a banister made with not only his name but a crude drawing of his face on it.

"When did she have time to do this?" He asked himself, as he poured a glass of punch with magic.

"While you and Twilight were with the mayor, silly!" Pinky pie appeared as if by magic right beside shadow veil, making him drop his drink and nearly suffer a heart attack.

He looked at the pink party pony for a moment in shock and awe, then took a deep breath and remembered she often did that. "Right, well I didn't think you'd want to do it tonight."

"I know what your thinking, that I didn't have to try and squeeze this in when there was so much already going on, but it's your first night in Ponyville and I know these aren't the best circumstances, but you should still get a chance to enjoy yourself, and I thought the best way for you to enjoy yourself would be with a party, after all, what a better way to enjoy yourself then at a party surrounded by a bunch of friends-"

Shadow veil had took a sip of the punch while pinky pie went on and on about something or other, he wasn't paying too much attention to the pink pony, until at the end when she claimed that he was surrounded by friends, to which he then reacted by spitting the punch in his mouth out in a small spraying shower.

After a moment of nearly choking, shadow veil wiping his mouth and turned to the pink party pony and in a very clear and stern voice explained "miss Pinky pie, I appreciate the welcoming party, but I do not want any .... Friends" the last word was forced out as if it was stuck in his throat.

"What's wrong with making friends?" Twilight's asked as she approached pinky and shadow veil.

The dark stallion stood up strait and met the purple princess eye to eye. "What you and your so called 'friends' call 'friendship' I find to be a load of oats. No offense to you, princess Twilight sparkle, but the only ponies you can truly rely on are those who hold the same goals as you, and vise versa. simply because you both are working together to achieve said goals. And if they were to hinder you, their own progress would be hindered. And no pony ever truly wants to hinder third own progress. That would mean they hinder their chances of achieving something they want. In short, friends are only ever truly friends if they get something out of it."

"That's not true," Twilight put her cup down and looked Shadow veil strait in the eye. "Friendship is a bond that binds ponies together, it's stronger then just meeting some goal or objective. When one has friends they can depend on, they don't need anything to work for or achieve. A true friend will never abandon you or-"

"ENOUGH!" Sparks flared from Shadow veil's horn. "It seems as though we are at an end pass here, princess Twilight sparkle. However, one day, your friends will stab you in the back and leave you out in the rain, whilst they enjoy the fruits of your 'friendship's' labor, and when they do, I want you to remember that I tried to warn you."

A small group of ponies nearest to the punch bowl had stopped what they were doing and were listening in into the conversation.

Shadow Veil noticed this, cleared his throat, and told Twilight "excuse me, I need to use the restroom. Where is it, pre tell,"

A slightly annoyed and down trotted Twilight pointed up the stares and to the left.

Shadow veil calmly walked away, acting as though nothing had happened. Then when he arrived in the bathroom, he quickly locked the door, then used magic to summon his assistant to the room as well.

She looked around curiously, a punch cup still in her hand. "Do you need toilet paper or something?"

"No, I need this party to end," he said maliciously. "Any ideas?"

"Well blowing up the cake and yelling at the princess didn't work." His assistant said as she threw the cup out the window. "So I'm guessing you need something bigger..."

"Bigger eh?" Shadow veil grew a deviant, long grin on his face as he began cooking up a wicked plan.

The party went on as if nothing had happened after shadow veil excused himself, well, for most ponies it did. Twilight was speaking with a few of her friends, seeking comfort from them.

"I think I've bitten off more then I can chew" Twilight admitted to Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow dash. "I can't quite figure him out."

"He's a tough nut to crack" Applejack commented."we don't know much 'bout the feller."

"I agree" Rarity added. "His name does just fully describe himself. Mysterious and dark, but still, there is no excuse for acting like that."

"I need to show him how having friends isn't a bad thing, but how-" Twilight began, but was interrupted by the sound of screaming ponies from outside.

Twilight and her friends rushed outside and had to do a double take of what they saw. Standing there in the middle of town was a 7 headed monster, hissing and chasing ponies around, snapping at their heels.

"How did a hydra get into town without any pony noticing?!" Twilight asked the rhetorical question loud enough to reach over the hydra's cry.

"Does it really matter right now?!" Rainbow dash said as she glared down the monster.

"Rainbow dash is right, we need to get it out of town before some pony gets hurt!" Applejack said rushing next to her purple alicorn friend.

"Maybe he just wants some cake!" Pinky pie hopped onto the scene, holding a slice of the cake in hand.

"Well he needs to go back to the evergreen forest," Twilight said as she took a step forward towards the beast. "And ideas anyone?"

"Twilight!" Shadow veil came running out of the library, a salt shaker in his mouth. He tossed it to twilight , who caught it with magic. "Use this! It's shrinking powder! Sprinkle it all over the hydra! Use the whole container!"

Twilight didn't argue with the dark unicorn. She looked to her friends and asked "could you guys distract him for a minute while I douse him with this?"

"Not a problem, sugar cube" Applejack said as she dashed off towards the multi headed creature, kicking the beast in variousness spots around it's legs and tail. This annoyed the monster, and it sent some of its heads after the earth pony. Right when the creature would have the farm pony in its sights, Applejack would jump right out of harms way.

"I'll help too, I'll show this bruit what for" Rarity added as she began shooting the hydra with shots of magic, being sure to keep moving around the beast to avoid being hit by it's heads.

"We got this" Rainbow dash said as she followed Applejack's example and began flying around the various heads in an attempt to confuse it. The heads then had three different attackers to try and pay attention too.

As her friends distracted the hydra, Twilight flew high into the sky, and waited directly above the monster. "Now guys!" She cried out to her friends, who then moved out of hams way, leaving the hydra some what confused.

As Twilight began emptying the entire contents of shaker onto the hydra, it noticed her. The hydra then sent all 7 of its heads after the purple alicorn, but it was too late. As it reached out for twilight, jaws ready to bit down on the alicorn, the world around it began to grow. By the time Twilight had used all of he shrinking powder in the shaker, the hydra had shrunk down to the size of a large insect.

"You may want to put it in this" Shadow veil appeared beside Fluttershy who leaped at the sight of him. He held out a jar with holes in the lid. "You don't want him to get hurt, do you?"

Fluttershy took the jar and immediately went over and scooped up the hydra.

"Why don't you help her take that back to the ever-free forest" Shadow veil then whispered to Pinky pie, who then jumped over to Fluttershy.

"Come on Fluttershy" she said while bouncing her way towards the ever free. "We need to take this little guy back home."

"Water reverses the powder's effect!" Shadow veil cried out to the two mares as they made their way out of town. "Be sure to only get the hydra wet after your in the ever free at a safe distance!"

And like that, the problem had been solved, and a huge catastrophe had been diverted. Every pony remained silent for a moment, in shock at what they had just seen. But before any pony could ask questions, envy shouted out "the princess and her friends saved us! Hip hip-"

"Ha-ray!" The town ponies all cheered and followed suit. They began cheering for the girls who saved them.

Rainbow dash, Rarity, Applejack and Twilight sparkle were now the center of attention. They all stood tall and proud of their victory. But something bothered Twilight, other then the hydra's mysteriously appearance. Shadow veil reacted pretty fast to the whole situation, almost as if he knew what to do at every second of the conflict. It didn't sit well with her.

The cheers didn't last long, and by the end of it, every pony was exhausted from the great scare of the hydra's appearance, and decided to call it a night. Pinky pie and Fluttershy returned just shortly after the huge crowd disbanded.

"We. Were. Awsome!" Rainbow dash exclaimed as she floated in the air around her friends.

"I agree, most excellent team work every pony" Rarity commented.

Pinky pie was about to make a comment, but she instead let out a huge yawn, reminding every pony just how late it was.

"We should probably head on home," Applejack suggested. "Got to get up bright and early for apple buckin'."

Twilight waved good by to her friends as they each went their separate ways. When she re entered the library, which was still covered in party decorations, she found a note on the punch table. She plucked it off and began to read it.

"Dear princess Twilight soarkle,

Congratulations on your conquest of the hydra, I did not expect to see one so close to the center of Ponyville. I will have to be better prepared for next time should something like that were to happen. I have already gone to bed, along with my assistant envy. I'll leave her here tommarow morning as I perform my community service. Feel free to have her clean up the party mess. I would have her also run out to pick me up some more shrinking powder, but it's hard to find. I'll have to look for more myself later. Sleep well.

Sincerely, Shadow veil"

Twilight read the note over again in her head, and although the hydra's appearance did bother her, what bothered her more was the fact that Shadow veil helped them each to get rid of the hydra without harming it.

"Maybe there is some good in him like princess Celestia said..." Were her last thoughts before she shut off the lights and began for bed.