Shadow Prophet

Morning had come, and it harshly alerted Shadow Prophet to it's presence, sunlight shining directly in his face. He tumbled out of his bare-bones bed limply, his hooves hitting the floor. He instantly regretted his laziness. Two intense flares of pain shot up his legs, bringing him into a fully conscious state. His hooves had become terribly sore in reaction to the destruction they had witnessed the night before, and once he got up, he couldn't move without his face instinctively cringing. Wincing, he went to the front door, where there was a fresh glass of milk waiting. He downed half the bottle and set the rest on the floor next to the door. He then found his baggage in the utility closet and found his satchel with his money in the left pocket. Using his teeth, he swung the bag over his back and left for the market district of Ponyville, moving ever so slowly to avoid pain as much as possible.

Once he was there, everypony, shopping or selling, looked him over at some point. Some murmured to each other, others waved at him (to which he couldn't return the gesture due to his hoof's condition), all of them moved out of his way as he passed. He didn't pay any attention. Well, not any different than back home, he thought. He looked at the shop signs, scanning for any kind of wheats shop. Eventually, he found a light brown sign labeling the store below it, "Grove Family Breads & Other Wheat Goods." Long name, but it got the point across. Standing at the register was a brown filly who seemed to be holding the post while her family arranged some different -colored breads within the shop behind her.

As he came close, the filly said, "Good mornin', sir! How can I help you?" Her cheery attitude got a small smirk out of him.

"Good morning to you as well. I'd like two loaves of bread, please," he requested, still wearing the smirk.

"And what kinda bread would that be? We got the works, all kinds!" The filly seemed to fill with pride at that statement., and her chest seemed to rise a little.

"White."

The filly's pride faded quickly and she stared at him awhile. "Just... just white? I mean, we got all kinds-"

"No thanks. I'd just like some plain white bread is all. Sorry if that disappoints you."

The filly shook her head and smiled once again at Shadow. "Nonsense! I'll got getcha some!" She hopped off the podiumshe was apparently standing one and trotted off to one of her family members, presumably her brother. She tapped his shoulder and he looked down at her. She said something he couldn't hear, then the brother looked up at Shadow, who replied with a smile and a quick nod. He grabbed two loaves of white bread from the shelf he was arranging and handed them to her, saying something real quick to her as he did. She bounced back to the register and sat the bread on the table, smiling at him.

"That'll be 6 gold bits, sir!" Shadow raised one of his wounded hooves and reached into his money pocket, grabbing for some. The filly looked at his bandaging for a while, then her eyes widened with dawning realization. "Hey, you're that stallion that saved Rainbow Dash last night! No way!" Shadow stopped, then looked at her.

"You know about that?"

"Well, duh! Only everypony knows! You're what everypony's talking about!" Shadow looked around him and noticed all eyes on him, but they looked away when he searched for them. That would explain a little, he thought. He pulled out six gold bits and dropped them on the counter next to the bread.

"No no no!" The filly said, pushing the money back to Shadow, "Take it! It's the least I can do to thank you! Rainbow Dash is one of my favorite pegasi! Have you seen her sonic rainboom?!"

"Well, I didn't know she was famous," Shadow said as he pushed the bits back across the counter.

"Oh, yeah! And she's one of the six guardians who always save Equestria from disasters!" The filly saw Shadow packing the bread into the large empty pocket on his satchel and looked at the coins, then back at Shadow.

"N-no, sir. You don't have to pay... here." She pushed the bits back to him. Once he laid a hoof on them to once again push them back to her, she stopped him by resting her hoof on his. He gasped, and quickly drew his hoof back.

"Oh! Did I hurt it? I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No. It... It's not that. I just..." Shadow stared at the filly for a while then said, "Just be careful getting off that stool this time." Not waiting for a reply, he pushed the coins so far they all fell off the counter and hurried off as best he could with his hooves. The filly looked questioningly after him for a moment, then started to step off the wooden stool she was on to pick up his bits. However, her hoof slipped and before she could grab onto anything she was on the ground, a small cloud of dust surrounding her.

"Is she waking up?" Applejack.

"It looks like it." Twilight. Her friends. They were all here. Where was here? The palace. Why was she here? Because of the... the...

"Knife!!" Rainbow Dash screamed aloud as she jumped up straight in the bed, making all of her friends jump in turn. She looked around her, at all of her friends. Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy were all there, sitting around the bed Rainbow Dash was in. They all wore terribly worried faces. She saw she was in one of the many empty rooms of Twilight's palace, and this particular room happened to be furnished, though very basically. A bed, a bedside table, and a wardrobe. Along the crystal walls were two doors, one opened and leading into the hall, the other one closed, and presumably leading to the facilities.

"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked, taking a step forward.

Rainbow looked at her for a while, then asked in a quiet whisper, "How am I still alive?" All of her friends seemed uncomfortable, and none answered, Twilight even shrinking back and looking away.

She insisted louder, "How am I still alive?"

"Well, a weird stallion, really weird, now that I think about it," Twilight released, "he, this is going to sound really stupid, but he jumped in and caught the knife right before it hit you."

Rainbow Dash looked down at her blankets, seeming to go into deep thought. It lasted for about two minutes, then she looked back at Twi. "Where can I find him?"