The Shadow of Equestria

After the princess’s visit, and Shady’s second round of exhausted crying, she settled in for the night. This time without destroying the room. The bed was soft and warm, and she drifted into a dreamless sleep within a few short minutes.

Tap tap tap.

Shady rolled over in her sleep and sighed.

Tap tap tap tap tap.

She opened her eyes.

TAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAP!

Sitting up with a start, Shady peered out into the darkness of her room. Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she noticed a shadowy figure outside the balcony door. Warily, she crawled out of the warm bed. There was a candle atop the wooden dresser next to the bed, and Shady lifted it with her magic, finding that it had indeed returned to her. Beside the candle had been a small box of matches, which she used to light the candle. The entire room was filled with a soft yellow glow.

Creeping towards the window, Shady nearly dropped the candle in surprise once the figure came into light. Sitting outside the door, with a very pissed look on her face, sat Dusty.

"Dusty!" She cried, and trotted up to the glass. Indeed, it was her long time friend who was sitting outside her room, one hoof pressed to the glass, her usual scowl upon her face. Shady set the candle on the floor and placed her hoof against her side of the glass. She smiled at Dusty.

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve been tapping on your window? The palace life must be really great if you’re sleeping that heavily.” Dusty spat, clearly upset. She stomped a hoof on the ground. Shady rolled her eyes and sat, used to the ill-tempered mare. “Trust me, it’s been one hell of a day. Or two days, really.” she replied. This only seemed to annoy the pegasus more. “Two days? What about this past week? Jeez Shady, what have you been doing all this time?!”

Shady’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean a week? The failed heist was two nights ago.” Now Dusty was confused. “Shady, that wasn’t two days ago… it was six.”It was then that she noticed Dusty’s left wing, the injured one, was completely healed. Scanning her memory, Shady couldn’t find anything between crashing into Princess Celestia, and waking in front of all of Canterlot.

Shady recalled that Princess Celestia’s horn had been glowing when she blacked out. Had she used some kind of sleep spell on her? She snarled automatically at the thought. Dusty was taken aback at the sudden change in expression.

“What is it Shady? Are you okay?” she asked. Shady stood and began pacing angrily. “No I am not. Those princesses are planning something, and I want to know what it is. They take me from my home, turn me into a zombie for a week, and make me a princess out of nowhere without even my consent! Just who do these mares think they are?!” Dusty sighed. “Only the most powerful ponies in all of Equestria. But what do they want with you? A simple minded young mare.” Shady gave her an annoyed look.

“I don’t know. But I do plan on finding out. By the way,” she cocked her head. “How did you even get up here without being seen?” Dusty shrugged. "I just flew up here. The night guards don’t patrol the skies very well. At least not the way I came. Although I did hear some shouting, so there must have been a commotion somewhere else." Shady frowned. “That’s rather strange...” she murmured.

“Strange indeed, now isn’t it? Of course, this is all rather strange.” a male voice called from nowhere, startling the two mares. Dusty rose to her feet, ready to fight if necessary. “Who’s there?” she snarled. “Oh… neither here nor there, I am everywhere!” the voice called out. It laughed and bounced along the walls of the room, surrounding Shady. “What kind of dumb trick is this? Reveal yourself!” she called, annoyed. The voice laughed directly in her ear. “As you wish… Princess.”

Turning towards it, Shady found herself muzzle-to-muzzle with a strange creature. she shrieked and fell back, landing on her rear. Dusty did the same. The creature was a mismatch of many animals, and confused both the mares, for neither had ever seen such a creature. The creature laughed, revealing itself to be the owner of the voice.

"Hmm, not a very graceful princess are we? Of course, we already know that." He smirked. Shady rose and backed away from him, instinctively placing herself between him and Dusty. "Who are you?" She asked. "And uh, what are you?" Dusty added from behind. He laughed and moved closer. "Why, I am Discord of course, spirit of chaos, mad genius, most handsome draconicus to ever live?" Both mares stared at him blankly. he sighed, defeated. “Wow, tough crowd…”

“Well… What are you doing here?” Shady asked, still wary of this strange creature. He snapped his fingers and appeared next to her, his arm around her as though they were long-time friends. “Well, ever since I sided with you ponies ten years ago, I’ve found my life rather dull. ‘No more chaos’ Celestia says. And without MY magic controlling Equestria, my life has become just SO docile. So of course I simply HAD to come and visit my dear friend Celestia once I heard there was a new princess in town. And my, what an interesting case this has been.”

Throughout his speech, Discord kept snapping his fingers and teleporting throughout the room. It was making both Dusty and Shady dizzy. Finally, Shady stopped him.

“Discord,” she said, “All I want to know is this: how did you get past the magic barrier, and is there any way you can get me out?” He laughed. “Oh this silly thing?” He flicked the window and it jiggled like jello. “This is nothing. Honestly though I’m surprised Celestia didn’t use something stronger. But then, you don’t exactly have the magic strength now do you? A shame; otherwise you COULD get out. I however, can come and go as I please.” To demonstrate, he stuck his head through the glass, right in Dusty’s face. Annoyed, she pushed him away.

“Well that’s no help.” She sighed and turned back to Shady. "Told you you should have practiced more with Crimson Streak..." Shady rolled her eyes and grumbled. "It's not my fault I didn't learn magic as a filly like normal ponies..."

Discord laughed and floated around the room, moving as though he were swimming. "Well princess, you don't have much to worry about in the case of magic." She looked up at him, cocking her head. "Oh yes, they wouldn't have told you yet. The "Elements of Harmony" as you ponies call them will be visiting tomorrow to greet the new princess." He turned into a bird suddenly and sat on Shady's horn. "And a little birdie told me that Princess Twilight herself is staying to teach you magic, since you're clearly lacking in that department." Shady shook him off. "So?" She asked.

"So, I'm hinting that there would be your time to make a deal with the princesses. They want you to use magic. You want something yourself. See where I'm going with this?" Discord waggled his eyebrows at her. Shady understood immediately. "You're right, I can turn this around, at least a little bit." "Hold up, why are you helping us out here?" Dusty eyed Discord suspiciously. "You said that you were a 'master of chaos'. What's in it for you if you help us?"

Discord leaned through the glass and roughly patted Dusty's head, much to her discomfort. "What a smart little pony you are, but I'm afraid I have nothing to tell you there. I am merely looking for something fun to watch. I certainly do find this whole situation fun. But now my little ponies, I must be off. Can't have Celestia realize that I'm sneaking around without her now can I?" He started to snap his fingers but Shady stopped him.

"Wait!" She called. He looked at her. "Will I see you tomorrow? With the others?" She asked. She thought his eyes softened for a moment before they instantly hardened. "Sorry princess. I had a bit of a falling out with a certain mare several years ago." His tail twitched. "It would be tremendously awkward to meet up with her again. You'll be on your own by then." His tail twitched again and he was gone.

Shady turned back to Dusty, who was making a disgusted face at her. "What is it?" She asked, sitting next to her on her side of the glass. "Oh Discord, will I see you tomorrow?" Dusty mocked in a high pitched voice. "What are you, a filly?" "Shut up, I didn't mean it like that." Shady rolled her eyes. "It's just... Discord is the first pony, well, creature, to have openly given me information since I got here. He could very easily be lying, but I have the feeling that he isn't."

Shrugging, Dusty stood and looked to the sky. "It will be dawn soon..." She murmured. "Go on home Dusty." Dusty looked back to her long-time friend. "Will you be okay? Here?" She asked worriedly. Shady smiled sadly. "I'll be fine. I'll see what I can do about that deal. Tell everyone I'm okay, and send them my love." Dusty nodded as she turned away. "I will. They.... The little ones have been asking for you, you know." Shady's heart clenched as her friend flew off into the night. She returned to her bed wearily, yet found that sleep was not going to come easily to her as dawn approached.