Shadow Prophet

"Are you sure of that, son?" Doctor Brownhoof asked Shadow.

Shadow Prophet sighed, annoyed. What, did this stallion think he was just spouting out nonsense? ...Probably. "Yes. I firmly believe it."

"You firmly believe that," the doctor looked at his clipboard, "the Universe is folding in on itself because of a temporal paradox created when Princess Twilight removed herself form the pre-decided flow of time, which was caused and can only be caused when a pony knows their own future, and that in about three days there will be nothing left of what was once known as existence?" He looked up and raised an eyebrow.

Shadow, sitting on a chair on the opposite end of a plastic table as Doctor Brownhoof, had his front hooves crossed. He lifted one, scratched his nose, then moved it back. He nodded and said matter-of-factly, "Yes."

Doctor Brownhoof nodded, then got up and left through a door on his side of the table. This gave Shadow time to let off some steam. He jumped out of his chair and bucked it across the room. It hit the wall loudly, then fell to the floor even louder. Shadow ran around in a circle three times, then ran a hoof through his hair. He looked up at the ceiling and yelled,"Twilight, you stupid, stupid... you don't know what you're doing! Why did you do that?! You stupid freaking bi-"

The door started to be unlocked, and Shadow grabbed his chair, tossed it to the table and sat down in it, placing his hooves in his lap, looking completely calm. Doctor Brownhoof stuck his head in the door and said, "Come on, son. Follow me." Shadow Prophet relucatntly slid out of his seat and trotted intentionally slowly across the room, if only to mildly annoy the doctor.

That night...

In his bed, looking up at the horribly plain ceiling, Shadow could feel the nightmares that filled the hospital every night. Innocent ponies who had been claimed by the ill fantasies of their own minds, unable to escape until the time when the sun rises. It stopped him from getting a good night's sleep, as you might imagine. He tossed and turned under his sheets that barely offered any warmth at all. He eventually got out of his bed and decided that he may as well get to know the place he would be in when it all ended.

He tried to be as quiet as possible, but the marble floors still made clopping sounds as he trotted around. Nothing that would wake anypony, but if one were paying close attention...

"Hey!" Shadow froze completely as a flashlight was shone in his face. It was a night guard who had been standing too still for Shadow to see in the dark.

"What're you doing out of bed this late?" The guard asked, shining his flashlight on the floor and coming closer to Shadow.

"Oh, um, me? I was just, uh..." he decided to take the confusion route. It was his best option at this point. "I wanted to walk on the wall so I could fly upside down to the bakery and order three doors."

The guard's eyes opened wide and he stared at Shadow with a dumb look. "What?" he asked.

"Glibll-de-gobble-de-gook. You sure are a fine cook!" Was Shadow's reply.

The guard stumbled backwards a bit. "What? I don't- you didn't- I'm not a cook, I- wha?!" The guard noticed too late that Shadow was making a run for it. He turned his head and whistled for backup.

Shadow Prophet was headed for the door. It was unlocked, he could see the left door hanging open. He ran into it, expecting it to open, but instead it budged slightly and didn't move much farther because of the chain on it. He ended up ramming his whole left side into a metal door, and let me tell you, that's not the best thing to do when you're trying to outrun a bunch of guards.

Now Shadow was locked in his room. He sat on the edge of his bed, once again being stricken with insomnia. He kept on scanning the room, but the only thing in it was a small table with a clock on it. Just as Shadow was about to climb into bed in vain, there was a draft coming from nowhere in particular. Shadow lifted his head as the strange wind ruffled his mane. He looked around the room once again, and this time there was something new. A flower sat atop the table, right next to the clock. It took Shadow a moment, but then he realized what kind of flower it was. A Poison Joke.

Shadow jumped onto his bed and pushed himself back up against the wall. Where the hell did that come from?! Shadow thought. He knew about how the flower caused annoying and ironic symptoms, and how it was different for everypony. What he didn't know is what it could do to him.

Shadow realized that backing up wouldn't do a single thing; it was a freaking flower, it wasn't going to get up and walk around. Calming, Shadow edged closer to the dangerous flower and began to wonder. How did it get here? Where did it come from?

He knew it had something to do with Twilight's Paradox, but what, exactly, he was unsure of. Shadow began to get very curious as to what the flower actually meant. It was obviously here for some sort of reason, and Shadow wanted to know what that reason was. Warily, he reached his hoof out and grabbed the stem, being very sure to not touch the blue cup-like top. He examined the flower while holding it at a distance, and eventually brought it closer to his face. Once the top of the flower was aligned perfectly with his eyes, a magnificent flash of light shined out from within it. He did not recoil, because the light was warm and welcoming; it could not mean any harm.

He stared into the pit of the Poison Joke, and saw the things to come. They were not his visions, but only his eyes could see it.

The images came in detached flashes, jumping around in time, skipping over the broken record. He saw Twilight Sparkle, running after somepony, saw Rainbow Dash, the poor soul, fall out of the sky and land in the water. He saw darkness, living dark. It enveloped him. Then it was gone and all that was left was a voice. A deep, scratchy voice that resonated through Shadow's entirety, passing through him as though he wasn't there.

"Now you see, boy," it said menacingly. It repeated it's message constantly, taunting him. "Now you see, boy. Now you see, boy. Now you see, boy." He didn't. He didn't see. Couldn't see. It was dark. Too dark to see. But he could smell. Smelled it just fine. It smelled like antiseptic, and sulfur, it was horrible, like-

Shadow came out of trance only to realize his nose was buried in the bud of the flower which he had previously been so cautious about. His eyes widened, and he tossed the flower to the ground and crushed it with his hoof, knowing that was not the best course of action to take. There was nothing he could do now. All he could do was wait for whatever was going to happen, and hope for the best.

There was a loud rumble outside. "May Celestia have mercy," Shadow said.