Memories of a God

Shadow opened his eyes, then removed the tubes that were hooked up to him.

"Are you alright, Rainbow Dash?" asked the nurse.

"Yeah. How long was I out?"

"A week."

"You didn't give me my cyanide-ammonium nitrate mixture."

"Of course not!"

"Damn it!"

'What's going on, Shadow?' asked Rainbow.

"We slept too long, we need to get out of here."

Shadow hopped out of bed and examined himself. "Look, Rainbow, perfect condition." He hopped around a bit. "Maybe better."

'You can't improve on perfection.' she said.

"That's the spirit." he said happily, "You, thank you for your help, but I need to go."

He ran out before she could stop him. He reached the enterance and flew to the palace as quickly as he could. "I seriously hope they're not hurt." he said.

'Me to.'

Shadow entered and was stopped by some guards. "State your business." one said.

"I wanna see the Princess. Did they catch Sigma? Where is he?"

They let him pass. He quickly flew in and said, "Luna, where is he?"

"He's in the dungeon, bound by everything we had. Celestia's down there right now, keeping an eye on him."

"Good! Was anypony hurt?"

"Yes. Shining Armor is in the hospital right now. As for Ponyville, we weren't able to find out."

"Was it fatal?"

"No, but there were some complications."

"What about?"

"He's missing a leg and had a blade embedded inside his flank."

"I'll fix him later. Now, first priority is Sigma, take me to him."

She walked away and Shadow followed her. "I assumed that you couldn't regenerate in another body."

"After a few hours and major surgery, I adjust. Rainbow Dash you are lucky."

'Why's that?'

"You're going to have doubled regenerative properties for the rest of your life. Lucky, lucky you. You're also gonna have a longer prime. Natural everything else though."

'That is lucky.'

They entered the dungeon and heard loud bangs and shouting. "Let me out of here you bitch!"

Shadow ran in and saw Sigma, jumping around the walls in a cage that was wrapped in a force field. He was covered in chains. Celestia was staring angrily at him.

"Sigma!" shouted Shadow.

Sigma looked at him, then sat down on the ground facing him. "Shadow! Been a while, hasn't it?"

"Shut up. Celestia, you've done good. Step away from him."

Celestia moved away. He looked back at Sigma. "How did you manage this?" he asked.

"That damn Doctor did most of the work. Limited my power. No less than three ponies knew about me right away. Him, Pinkie, and the grey one. They were busy distracting me, then it started to rain. I ran off as quickly as I could, then a batalion of guards showed up with Luna and Celestia leading it, along with that worthless unicorn. At least I got him." said Sigma.

"Doctor? I remember him! Nice colt. Good friend. Need to speak with him later on."

"Don't bother trying to take this back. It's mine now, Shadow. I made sure of it."

"And how exactly did you do that?"

"I sealed off the passage way. Nopony can get in or out."

"That's a problem." said Shadow as if he didn't care, "What will we do now?"

'Uh, Shadow, that's a big problem!' said Rainbow.

"Oh, shut up Rainbow. Now, since I promised you a body, I'll just have to get out of here."

She felt Shadow's presance leave her body. "That was weird."

"I agree." said Shadow.

Shadow rematerialized in front of them. He had a white aura and was shimmering and fading. "I hate it when I have to do this."

"Well what exactly did you do?" asked Rainbow.

"Projected my soul onto this world. It's painful, irritating, and most of all, the demons of hell are clawing at me. Heard there was a bounty on my head from there. And basically everywhere else, but those are besides the point."

"That's..."

"Don't wanna hear your opinion. Sigma!"

"Shadow!"

"Oh, hey, you got a black mane now! Thought my hair was snow white, not jet black. Anyways, I'm going to get that back, and you can't stop me. Do you smell that?"

"I can smell it."

"Where is it coming from?"

"What is it?"

"Why do we keep smelling it?"

"It's gone." they both said at the same time.

"Well... As I was saying..."

"I know, I know. Body back, yadda, yadda, yadda. Thing is, you're stuck like that until you take another body."

"I'll find a way."

"I'd like to see you try." he said.

"Celestia, Luna, Dash, lets leave." he said.

"I want to stay down here and make sure he doesn't escape." said Celestia.

"Be sure to stab him if he does." he replied. "And be careful. He's a crafty one."

"You need to be careful."

"I tried that once. I got bored."

Shadow ran up the stairs. He skid to a stop when he got to the top.

"Why did I do that?" he asked.

He felt a warm feeling on his head. He reached up and touched it. He looked at his hoof and saw that he was bleeding. "I don't get it. Why am I bleeding? What did I hit?"

He healed himself and walked off. Rainbow Dash was following him.

"How do you feel?" he asked her.

"I feel great!" she said happily. "What's with you? Why didn't you take it back?"

"Few reasons. One, he's right, I'm not getting in. It's sealed. Two, after I turn etheral, I need to wait a day until I can return to a body. Three, I'm planning on having some fun like this. How 'bout you? Heading back to Ponyville?"

"I thought about it. I don't know. The Wonderbolts are here, so I guess another day couldn't hurt."

"Now, the Wonderbolts, you mentioned them before."

"Best flyers in all of Equestria." she said happily.

"Lets go see them."

"I'd love to see them train."

"Where are they?"

"Follow me, they're over on the other side of town."

"Neat."

Rainbow flew off and Shadow followed her. She took him to a large track. There was a small group of ponies at a gate looking in. "This is the place." she said.

They joined the group and said, "What are we waiting for?"

"For the Wonderbolts to start training."

"So they're not training right now?"

"No, they're getting ready."

"Good to know." he said, "Rainbow, I've lost interest already. I'm gonna go meet them myself."

"You can't just waltz in there whenever you want."

"Because that would take two ponies, gotcha. Maybe I could dance in. Then again, this situation wouldn't call for dancing. Guess I'll have to walk."

"You can't just walk in there!"

"Watch me." he said.

He kicked the gate open and walked straight in, ignoring the looks from the rest of the group.

"Shadow, get back here!" said Rainbow.

"You come in here and get me." he said, looking back and smiling.

"Shadow, c'mon man!" He laughed a little and kept walking. Rainbow flew in after him and tried to drag him back by his tail.

"That's the spirit!" he said happily.

"You there! What are you doing in here? This place is off limits!"

"Shadow! We gotta go!"

"Hey! I just wanted to see the Wonderbolts." said Shadow.

"Well you can see them just fine from back there." he said, pointing to the group.

"Yeah, but I wanted a closer look." he said.

"Well you're not allowed to." he said.

"Tell you what, I beat a Wonderbolt in a race, you let me stay. How 'bout it?"

"You think you can beat them?" he asked, laughing, "You got guts, filly. I like that. No deal."

"Aw c'mon! Why not? And don't you dare call me a filly. I'm more than twice your age."

"You'd just waste their time and embarrass yourself."

"I bet they're too slow to stand a chance. I bet I could literally eat their dust and still beat them in the same race!"

"What are you doing, Shadow?" asked Rainbow.

"I know what I'm doin'."

"Attention!" he called.

The Wonderbolts zipped out and lined up for him.

Shadow whistled and said, "They're good."

"This stalion has insulted your speeds."

"What?!"

"I sure have!" said Shadow happily, "The specific words I used were, 'I bet I could literally eat their dust and still beat them in the same race.' How's that for insulted? On second thought, dust tastes terrible. I know because I've tried it. Maybe if we were flying in marshmallows. Ooo! Or maybe chocolate milk. Chocolate milk is good."

"Uh, Shadow, are you ok?"

"Oh yes, why? Is challanging the Wonderbolts with a plan of winning not normal?"

"A little." she said sarcasticly.

"I got off track." he replied. "Hold on, do you smell that?"

Shadow drifted into the air and tried to follow the smell, but it disappeared.

"Hi, Rainbow Dash! What's with your friend?" asked Spitfire, heading over to her.

"I don't really know. He does really weird stuff."

Shadow dived down and landed between them, then draped his arms over them and said, "I'm Shadow Streak, what about you, beautiful?"

"My name's Spitfire. Could you get off me?"

"Sure thing, Spitfire."

He hopped away and smiled.

"So you're saying you could beat any one of us?"

"Absolutely. How 'bout you first? Unless you're chicken."

"I'm no chicken!" she said.

"Great, lets get started then! Friendly little race to... to..." He starte spinning slowly, "To... to... to... The castle!" he said happily, pointing at the Canterlot castle.

"Sounds like fun." she said.

"That's the spirit!"

"What the... What is that?!"

"That's a wing." said Shadow, "A ruby wing."

"Why is it ruby? Also why did you only have the one?"

"No idea." he said happily, "Better that way, gives me a goal. Of sorts. Always good to have a goal."

"Well, alright then."

"Get ready, Spitfire."

They stood side by side facing the castle. "3-2-1... Go!" shouted Shadow.

Spitfire zoomed off, and Shadow sat there and grabbed a chunk of cloud, then swallowed it.

"Why'd you do that?"

"There's no dust on clouds." he replied.

He took off and got to the castle in a few seconds, arriving at about the same time as Spitfire. He went in, said, "Hi." to Luna, then flew away, finishing first with ease.

"Now I can stay, right? We had a deal. I think. Never got a proper agreement from it. Now you get here! Took ya long enough. Could've died of old age waiting for you. Well, not die, or age."

"How did you..."

"I just flew. When it comes right down to it, I'm faster than you."

"But..."

"Yeah."

"Can you teach me how to fly like that?"

"Yeah, that was some serious speed."

"So you wanna go fast?" he asked.

"You got that right."

"Alright. Can anypony here fly from here to Ponyville without stopping? No, you can't. Takes too long and you get too tired. You train with me and you'll be able to do it in two hours with energy enough to get back."

"Woah."

"Now, who's up first? Don't care who you decide, I'm choosing. Spitfire!"

"Yeah?"

"You first, how 'bout it?"

"I guess that's be ok."

He tapped the front of her chest, walked around her, then grabbed her back leg and held her in the air by it.

"Hey! Put me down! Shadow!"

"Zip it." he said.

He tapped her hoof and she laughed. "Shadow! Stop that!"

He held his ear up to her knee. He set her down, then grabbed her front leg and tapped her shoulder. He let her leg go and stepped back.

"Hmm..."

"Shadow, why did you do that?" she asked.

"Get ready for the most brutal training session you can handle." he said. "Be warned, it can bring a bear to his knees, begging for mercy."

"I'm ready." she said, steeling herself.

He pointed his hoof at her and said, "Gravitational field up, X1.5."

She quickly dipped to the ground and had trouble standing up. "What is this?"

"Gravity control. You're on X1.5. Your body can only withstand X1.89 before causing severe, permenent damage. That's pretty good in my opinion, and right now, it's the only one that matters."

"Do you do this?"

"I'm doing it right now. I'm on X5."

He looked around and said, "You're all in the 1-2 range. If anypony wants to gravity train, I warn you, it will get painful. Line up if yes, remain if no." They all walked forward. "You to, Rainbow."

"Me?"

"Yup."

"But..."

"If you want to get substancially faster, line up with the Wonderbolts." he said sternly.

She nodded and walked up next to them. He removed the gravity around Spitfire and gave her some energy. She went over to the group.

"Now, I want you to follow my orders exactly and immidiately, is that clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Now hold on just a minute." said the coach. "You can't just tell them what to do."

"So sue me." he said. "Wonderbolts, Rainbow, I'm going to increase gravity slowly. You're bodies are used to holding your normal weight. A change to that would be training. X1.1."

There was virtually no change in the line. "X1.3."

Some of the members started to bend their legs and pant. Shadow moved them from the line. He kept doing this until he was left with a stubborn stalion at X2.15.

"Good job, very good job." said Shadow.

"This is painful." he replied.

"What's you're name?"

"Soarin'."

"Ok, Soarin', I'm going to keep you at X2. Get through the entire day like that."

He lowered it and said, "Everypony, the goal is a normal X2.5 by the end of the month. That means you must be able to fly around freely with that weight."

He got a piece of chalk and a piece of wood he wrote down everypony's names and what gravity they had. He used a spell on it and said, "Whenever you get used to - or can't handle - the weight, write a new number here. Don't go over 2.5. I'll see you in three weeks."

He handed it to the coach. "You're the coach, not me."

He walked over to Rainbow and said, "I'm going to go, what about you?"

"I'm... good."

"Awesome. See ya later."

"Bye, Shadow."

"Hold on a mo', did I just train the Wonderbolts?"

"Yeah, you did."

"Cool."

He walked away and headed to the hospital. "I should've done this sooner. I'm horrible."

Shadow walked up to the receptionist and said, "I'm here to visit Shining Armor."

"Are you a family member?"

"Nah, just an old friend."

"What's your name?"

"Shadow Streak."

"Alright. He's a little preoccupied right now."

"I reckon missing a leg isn't doing him any good."

"How do you..."

Shadow looked in her eyes. "Emergancy room 7. Just down here."

He started walking over there, but she tried to stop him. "You're not allowed to go in there."

"I'm a doctor, they need one in there."

"You're a doctor?"

"A good one."

He ran in before she could say anything. He ran in while they were operating.

"You can't be in here!"

"Oh that is foul." said Shadow, "Seen worse." He healed the gash on his flank and regenerated his leg. "Wake your lazy plot up, Shining Armor, you got work to do."

He didn't move. Shadow ignored the other ponies. Shadow lifted him up and shook him around. "Wake up! Shining Armor! Eh... you'll get up eventually. My work here is done. Keep him rested, it take a lot of energy to regenerate an entire leg."

He waved goodbye and walked away.

"Is that you, Shadow Streak?"

"Why yes it is, strange citizen."

"Why am I strange all of the sudden?"

"Not every pony I've met has a time-traveling teleporter, do they, Doctor? Do they? Have I been gone that long?"

"Shadow! It's great to meet you again." he said happily.

"Yeah. Are you sure?"

"Why wouldn't I be sure?"

"Reasons. Hey, I met your human counterpart."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He didn't like me, but there was one thing we agreed on."

"Oh?"

"Humans are stupid. I also met another immortal when I was there. He wasn't truely immortal though, but he was pretty dang resiliant."

"That's enough about parallel worlds. How have you been?"

"I don't know. Memory loss and all."

"Right, right."

"Now what's the real reason you came to find me?"

"Down to business as usual."

"Ponyville attacked, Sigma running amock, and he told me that you were there. Exactly what happened?"

"You'll find out."

"Alright."

"Sigma. A feared name in the universe. One mere mention of his name and a whole legion would be ready to fight within seconds. He's back here in Equestria. He was never supposed to exist. Shadow, tell me what's wrong. I can help."

"No you can't. Don't think you can, either. You'll just get yourself killed. See ya, Doctor."

"Bye, Shadow Streak."

Shadow flew back to Ponyville. He was determined to see what he missed while he was gone. When he arrived, he realized that everypony was hiding inside their houses.

"Oh, this isn't a good sign." he said. He passed the Carosel Boutique. The drapes moved slightly as he approached. "I'm being watched. By everypony."

He walked to the town square without seeing anypony. There was a pony tied to a pole. He didn't recognise her. He ran over to her.

"Help! Help, please! Please, help me!" she shouted in fear, trying to get away.

He looked around. No doors opened, no windows creaked. Nothing. No movement whatsoever. He looked back at her. "You've been here for a week. Why? Why hasn't anypony freed you?"

"Help me, please!"

"Shut up!" he roared.

She stopped yelling and started to sob.

"Why are you still here?"

"You... you said that if anypony tried to free me, you'd kill them."

He ripped off the rope and said, "You're free to go."

She ran off without another word. A pony poked her head out of her doorway. It was Octavia. He looked at her and she quickly darted back inside. "If even ponies I know are afraid..."

He walked into city hall. The Mayor was inside. "Shadow!" She jumped backwards and tripping over a table. "What are you doing here?!" she asked from behind it.

"Mayor, what happened within the past week?"

"You did."

"What did I do?!"

She moved back a little. "You... attacked two ponies. They're not well."

"Was it fatal?"

"No."

"Odd... Sigma would've... Not twice. How could he have missed twice? Never mind. They're in the hospital, right?"

"I'm not going to let you hurt them again." she said angrily.

"That's a good Mayor." he said, smiling.

He shot off and headed to the Ponyville hospital. He scanned the hospital for his own energy and took a window enterance inside. "They're in the same room." he said.

He dodged the cameras and staff, then entered the rooms. They were asleep. Shadow examined them. "He is going to pay." he said angrily.

He healed them both, then walked out. He managed to get to the window, but heard somepony run up to him. They stopped right in front of him.

"I hope you're happy about what you did to them." she said.

"Exstatic." he said, jumping out.

"Sigma!" he shouted, heading back to Canterlot.

"Shadow." said Sigma calmly, face splattered with blood.

*Cheese whiz is good.