Promising Shadows

Chapters

My (Un)luckiest day ever!
A new Darkness awakens as an old Moon returns
Alliances and Darkness dispelled!
The best use of a Gala Ticket
Griffins, Capes, and Friendly Gestures
Chasing Freedom
Mini Slice of Life: Rodent Retribution
A slice of my (ab)normal life.

My (Un)luckiest day ever!

"Woohoo~!" My best friend John cheered happily as we walked towards the entrance to the convention, "This is gonna be the awesomest day ever!"

"Feh." I replied dismissively, "We'll see about that, but I wouldn't get your hopes up if I were you."

"Aww~, come on and cheer up buddy! It's gonna be funtastic, just you wait!" John rebutted, pulling me into a one-armed hug.

"Again, we'll see." I repeated, pushing him off me with a small smile. John's pretty good at cheering others up, he's just got that infectious joy about him I guess...

"Yay!" John cheered again, looking around like a kid in a candy store as we entered the convention. "Hey it's Dante! DANTE~!! DANTE~!!!" He bounced over towards another of our friends, waving the whole way.

"Hey guys! Enjoying the convention?" Dante asked with a grin as we caught up to him, John already pulling him into a hug.

"YEAH!" John cheered again. "This is so awesome!"

"Whee~." I added sarcastically.

"Don't mind him, he's just mad that we had the same cosplay idea! I offered to go costume-less, but he was too annoyed to bother to wear his." John stage-whispered to Dante, indicating the casual clothes he was wearing. "Not sure why though... Lots of people are going around as Altair!"

"I'm gonna go check out some stands..." I replied before walking away with a small frown, not really wanting to be reminded of that.

I drifted around the Convention, checking out the various stands and setups selling various action-figures, collectibles, replicas, and souvenirs. Eventually I found myself in front of one that had all kinds of different merchandise, many of which seemed almost too authentic replicas of the objects they were based on. Moving my gaze further in, I found my gaze nearly repulsed by many of the objects, even ones that I actually liked. Eventually I found one thing that caught my eye though...

"Woah! A Shadofang replica?" I wondered, moving closer to the object. "It looks so... Real." I whispered to myself, brushing a finger along the cool purple surface of it's gem. Wait, did the grin just widen?

"Welcome!" A voice greeted from behind, prompting me to spin around. "Interested in that, are ya?" The owner of the voice, dressed up as the Merchant from Resident Evil 4, asked.

"Yeah... How much?" I replied, a bit hesitantly. That game freaked me out when I was a kid, and I wasn't in any mood to remember it right now...

"For you? Hmmm... I'll give you the ring in for ten bucks." He offered. I might not have been able to see it, but I could almost literally hear the smile he must've been wearing. Growing up with John made me pretty aware of stuff like that... Must be glad to make a sale.

"Deal!" I agreed, not even thinking about it. A Shadofang replica this nice for ten bucks? Score!

Fishing out my wallet I handed him the ten dollars and received the ring. Unable to wait, I slipped the ring onto my right hand before walking away from the stand.

About ten steps away from the stand, and about three from having my ribs crushed into another hug from John, I began to hear a faint feminine laughter as the ring suddenly became very cold on my finger... And then, I vanished.

"Ugh... My head..." I groaned, bringing a hand to my throbbing cranium. "Did John miss the hug and headbutt me or something? He really shouldn't be... So... Reckless..." I trailed off as I finally opened my eyes and looked at my surroundings. "Why am I in a field?" I wondered curiously, knowing that even though John was a prankster, Neither him or Dante would just drop my unconscious body into the middle of a field.

"Well Hello~, Handsome. Glad you finally woke up." A feminine voice drawled, sounding almost like a mixture between seductive and loving. "I was beginning to wonder for a moment."

"W-who's there!?" I leapt to my feet, bringing my arms up into a defensive position as I scanned the area. Being a field, there wasn't really anywhere to hide... Maybe I was going crazy?

"Right here~" The voice called again, drawing my attention to the grinning purple ring on my clenched hand. "Don't say you've forgotten about me already?"

"I-bu-you.... You're... Real!?" I exclaimed, holding onto my right wrist with my left hand as I stared at the ring.

"Well of course I'm real! You put me on yourself, you should know that." Shadofang admonished me with a mischievous grin.

"Right..." I replied, staring incredulously at the talking ring. "I'm.... Just surprised that you're real, I guess. Wow.... Uh..."

"Well you're not too bad looking yourself, not a pretty-boy like my dear old count, but you're definitely in shape and fairly attractive..." Shadofang mused.

"I... Thanks?" I said, still staring at a loss for words. I mean, what would you do if you were getting hit on by a talking ring?

"Of course, just giving my thoughts." She responded, winking at me.

"Right... So, any idea where we are?" I asked, re-focusing my attention on the surroundings. "It doesn't seem like anywhere I know."

"I'm just as clueless about our whereabouts as you are right now... Let's see if we can find a town, perhaps they could relinquish some information." Shadofang suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea..." I replied, picking a random direction and walking with it.

A few hours later, I found myself walking into a small town. It looked kinda medieval, and... Furry? The people walking around weren't really.. People. Hooves, Muzzles, Ears, some even had wings or horns... And the colors, almost every single one of them were done up in a different color; Blue, Red, Orange, Purple, every combination of everything. Walking, talking, colorful horses.

"Well, well... This is new." My sentient ring commented. "Very colorful."

"Yeah..." I couldn't believe it, the amount of shocks today are simply unreal...

A few ponies eyed me curiously, whispering to each other and looking away whenever I turned towards them.

Raising an eyebrow, I lifted the purple ring to face-level "I think that they're a bit scared of me." He stated quietly, looking at the face in the gem.

"Perhaps... But this is a wonderful opportunity!" The accessory replied, "Why not sow a little fear? Steal a few shadows? It's the perfect opportunity to bring darkness to this colorful land!"

"No." I responded firmly.

"Oh, why not?" She asked, a pout to her voice. "It would be so much fun! Just think about it, everything here under your control, yours to do with as you please."

"Nice try Shadofang, but I know your game. I'm not going to do that, and don't even think about asking me to get a body for you or something." I replied with a small smile.

"Hey, you!" One of the weird horses, a male based on the sharper features, shouted. "Get out of the way." as he shoved me aside me.

My anger flared slightly as I was shoved aside, causing Shadofang to grin in her little gem upon feeling it. "I don't really need a body anymore, you know.." She purred, "I can manifest myself just fine, so why don't we work together, Hmm? It'd be better for the both of us."

That caught my attention, "What do you mean you can manifest yourself?" I asked, peering at the Shu-Shu on my hand.

In response, a smoky wisp began flowing from the center of the gem and formed into a rather attractive, if slightly devilish looking, woman. Well... Mostly. It was kinda like a genie, from the waist down she was a shadowy smoke.

"Woah." I said, staring at Shadofang. "That's new."

"Just a bit." She agreed, holding out a forefinger and thumb slightly separated to emphasize.

"DARK MAGIC! THAT CREATURE IS HERE TO CURSE US ALL!" One of the equines shouted upon seeing the manifestation of my Shu-Shu. Feels weird saying that... My Shu-Shu, guess I'm technically a Shu-Shu guardian and stuff now. Anyways, all of the other Equines began panicking and running randomly all over the place, I think I even heard one shout 'THE HORROR!' or something...

"STOP RIGHT THERE FOUL BEAST!" An extremely loud voice called out, making me cover my ears in pain. Two Pegacorns or something floated down to land in front of me, a dark blue one and a bleached white one. They both had butt tattoos, something that seemed pretty common around here. I think the blue one shouted.

"WHAT THE HELL YOU BANSHEE!?" I returned, rubbing one of my ears with annoyance written all over my face. "What's with trying to make me go deaf?"

The white pegacorn with the sun-tattoo stepped up, "Why is thou terrorizing our subjects?" She asked calmly.

Subjects? Oh great, pegacorn royalty... "Listen miss pegacorn, I didn't do crap. They saw my friend here materialize, and then bam! Chaos everywhere."

Shadofang went oddly quiet for a moment, "...You consider me a friend?" She asked.

"Well yeah... You've been pretty nice and helpful, and even though I know you could be trying to manipulate me, I think I would like to consider you a friend." I replied with a smile, a genuine full-on smile too, not the small stuff I usually put on for my friends.

"Even though I'm a Shu-Shu?" She asked, smiling a bit herself when I nodded. "...Thanks."

I could sense she had a bit to think about, Shu-Shu's don't exactly seem to take the idea of being friends with humans all that easily if Rubilax is any example... So I decided to let her think about it while I dealt with the pegacorn situation. I turned back to talk to them, just in time to catch a rainbow to the face.

And that's how I ended what's either my luckiest, or unluckiest day ever... By getting turned to stone and put next to some sort of chimera statue in a little hedge-maze garden one of those pegacorns had recently planted. Like I told Dante earlier, 'Whee~.'...

Author's Note

Here's a picture with Shadofang in case anypony doesn't know and is wondering what the ring and her manifested form looks like; it looks similar to this:

P.S. That is her first documented 'owner/guardian' person, not the current character, just in case you were wondering.

Hope eveypony enjoys! :twilightsmile:

A new Darkness awakens as an old Moon returns

"Ugh..." I mentally groaned, annoyed as Discord continued his singing. It was bad enough when he'd begun singing 'Twelve million two hundred thousand bottles on the wall', but the song that never ends... Really may never end. "SHUT UP!!!" I mentally shouted at the patchwork creature. I've been doing so well at staying sane these last thousand or so years, but I swear I'm about to snap.

"Tony! Did you feel that?" Shadofang asked, cutting the link with Discord. Sweet relief...

"No, what was it I'm supposed to be feeling again?" I asked curiously while looking at Fred, my best bush friend. Hey, when you've been stuck in the same position completely conscious for a thousand years... Well, you find things to do that most would call crazy. I call it mental survival.

"The darkness! All that delicious dark energy!" She made a sort of content purring noise.

"If this is about the whole 'Embrace your inner darkness, enjoy the plight of others thing..." I began, thinking back on the many times she's tried to convince me that evil was the way to go.

"No!" Shadofang cut me off, "Well, yes I still think you should, but that's not what I'm talking about! Someone, or something, has released an extreme amount of dark energy!"

"Which means...?" I asked, wishing I could twirl my hand in a 'go on' motion.

"Which means that we could harness the excess energy to break this stone prison and leave that mismatched annoyance behind!" Shadofang answered, a bit impatiently.

Leave Discord behind? Could I really do that to the guy stuck in pretty much the same position as me..? "This is the song that never ends, never ends, never ends!"

Yes, yes I can. "Alright Shadofang, I'm all for it!"

"Excellent!" She responded before small specks and motes of darkness began to draw close to us. "By the way, this will go a long way towards convincing you that darkness is the way to go!" Shadofang said, almost too quickly for me to catch.

"Wait, what!?" I asked, before I felt something twisting at my mind. "What? No!" I felt it digging and prodding, twisting my way of thinking to better suit whatever dark being it belonged to.

*BOOM*

With a ground-shaking explosion and a tall tower of dark-energy, I broke free of the stone prison. "FREE AT LAST!!!" I laughed maniacally.

"Well great! How about helping out a fellow pegacorn-enemy pal?" Discord mentally projected at me as soon as the display ended.

I looked at him with a frown. "Like hell I'm going to help your annoying self out of there! Find your own way out!" I told him angrily before disappearing in a swirl of shadows, leaving behind an angry Chaotic Deity.

"TTOOOONNYYYY~!!!!" Said Chaos Deity mentally yelled, unable to shake his limbs at the sky in all his petrified glory. "And after all I did for that brat too, he should be grateful I was willing to sing for him." Discord thought, giving a small mental pout.

"Princess Celestia, Princess Celestia!" A pony guard burst into the throne room, immediately giving his report. "Princess Celestia, The 'Dark Menace' has escaped his petrification and..." The pony trailed off, noticing the lack of tall white alicorns in the room. Luckily, the Guard Captain happened to hear the report and immediately ordered that a messenger be sent out to the wonderbolts so that they could track down the Dark Menace.

"Message for Spitfire." an adorably cross-eyed grey pegasus pony said, holding out a letter to the pony behind the desk.

Spitfire took the message, opening it and scanning the contents as the grey mare left the room. "Somepony get Lightning Crasher in here! We need him yesterday!" She ordered loudly and urgently.

A few minutes later a darker grey Pegasus stallion with dark blue eyes and a red and black streaked mane and tail walked in. "You called for me Spitfire?"

"Yeah, we've got a crisis situation and my recent training accident prevents me from leading a team to help." The orange mare replied, indicating her bandaged wing. "So I need to you to lead this mission."

Lightning gave a crisp salute, "Yes sir!"

"Alright." Spitfire nodded, "The Dark Menace has escaped his prison and was last seen headed towards Ponyville. I need you to take the team and attempt to stop him. Unfortunately we have no idea what he's capable of, seeing as he was petrified before he could do much more than cause a panic."

"Understood!" Lightning resonded.

"Dismissed." Spitfire said, waving him out the door.

Once he'd left Spitfire's office, Lightning quickly went about getting the team together to hunt the Dark Menace.

I arrived at a town with colorful ponies running around like headless chickens. "This is where the energy first appeared..." Shadofang informed me, materializing into her ghostly form. "But it's already left..."

"Well let's go find it then." I said impatiently, taking to the air floating into the night sky. "Hmm... Shouldn't it have been morning by now?"

"That doesn't matter." Shadofang interjected, "The energy trail leads that way." She told me, pointing at a nearby forest before retreating back into the ring.

"Wow, no need to be rude..." I muttered, floating in the specified direction. "Wait.. What's that?" I wondered, squinting my eyes at what looked like a few specks in the distance. They were growing in size way too fast, almost like they were... Crap!

I quickly swept my shadowcloak around my form, using it to teleport to the ground. Just in time too, as several blurs flew straight through the spot my body had once occupied before making a U-turn. Landing in front of me, the blurs turned out to be several uniformed pegasus ponies. "Dark Menace, you are to surrender immediately by order of the Wonderbolts, and by the authority of our monarch Princess Celestia!" The lead pony told me.

"Monarch?" I asked, "What happened to that other one? You know, the really loud one with the picture of a moon on her ass?"

"I'll only repeat this once! You are to surrender unconditionally and immediately otherwise we are authorized to use force!" Lightning repeated, looking a bit annoyed.

"Ugh, I don't have time for this!" I said, looking up at the sky with exasperation clear in my tone. I pointed Shadofang at the group of five, 3 of which had the common sense and reflexes to move as I did so. The other two were not so lucky and had their shadows removed, quickly reducing them to gaunt, haggard, feral looking things with blank eyes.

"Ghouls, keep those three busy while I continue with my business!" I ordered before floating towards the forest once more.

Lightning moved to stop the Menace, but was quickly intercepted by one of the growling ghouls. "What the hay Blaze!? Move out of the way!"

The ghoulified Pegasus gave no response other than attempting to tackle her superior. Lightning, surprised at the sudden attack from one of his subordinates, made no move to stop her. Thankfully, Blaze was tackled mid-air by one of the other ponies who had managed to dodge. "What are you waiting for Commander? Go after the Menace! Soarin and I will keep these two occupied!" Fleetfoot yelled.

Shaking off his shock, Lightning nodded resolutely and flew off in pursuit of the Dark Menace.

"Hmm..." I looked up at the castle, it must've looked amazing once... But currently it was crumbling to pieces, eroded from centuries of abandonment. "Interesting..." I'm starting to have my suspicions as to who released all that dark energy.

Walking inside, I was greeted by a large pegacorn. "So you reached the castle after all... I su-" She opened her eyes, apparently realizing that I wasn't who she seemed to be expecting. "Who are you?" She demanded, glaring at me.

I blinked, looking at the black pegacorn. Something about her seemed familiar... "Moonbutt?" I asked. "You look a lot different, you old banshee."

Author's Note

And Cliffy! Sorry, but I figured that I would leave a bit for next time. :P

Credit for the Lightning Crasher OC goes to my good friend Lightning Crasher. He has given permission for me to use his OC, and Lightning will likely be making frequent appearances in this story.

Hope you enjoyed Chapter 2 of Promising Shadows,

Storm Shine, Shining out. :pinkiesmile:

Alliances and Darkness dispelled!

The large black pegacorn in front of me seemed to splutter in either shock or rage, probably both, as she stared at me. "HOW DARE YOU!" She cried out at last, "I am Nightmare Moon, and I shall not be insulted by a strange and insignificant creature such as yourself!"

I yawned exaggeratedly at her declaration, "Big words for an old banshee." I chuckled, speaking with a confident smirk. "Besides, I doubt there's much you could do to me."

Nightmare's eyes twitched as she looked at me, "Begone." She intoned, turning to walk away as her horn glowed, causing tendril of shadow to bat at me from the side.

I waved a hand at the shadow, pushing it away with a yawn. "Really? You think you can just dismiss me so easily?" I asked with a twisted grin, wrapping her in shadows of my own with a small gesture. "I don't know if I should be insulted or amused."

"Release me this instant!" The black pegacorn cried out angrily, her horn glowing as she struggled against the shadows. "I am the night! You cannot do this!"

I rolled my eyes at her, floating closer. "What is it with you pegacorns and your 'High and Mighty' attitudes? I've got the home field in shadows, deal with it."

Nightmare glared at me, "I am an ALICORN you simpleton!" She corrected me venomously before teleporting a few feet from my shadow's grasp. "And I will kill you if you get in my way!"

Shadofang materialized then, her smoky form rising from the ring. "This is it! This is the source of dark energy!" She exclaimed triumphantly.

I gave her a deadpan stare, "And where were you with that info about ten minutes ago?" I asked, annoyance lacing my tone.

"I was.. Um.. Shut up!" Shadofang retorted with a pout.

"You were napping, weren't you?"

Shadofang opted to remain silent, turning her head away from me.

"I thought so.. But anyways, to the matter at hand." I looked at the black 'Alicorn' with a curious gaze. "I never imagined that one of you would turn to dark magic. Especially after the fuss all of your little subjects caused from something as simple as Shadofang's materialization."

Nightmare narrowed her eyes at me, "Are you deaf? I continue to tell you that I am not Luna. I am Nightmare Moon!" She ranted angrily, "Luna is naught but a presence in the back of my mind! I am in control!"

"So you're possessing her body then? Interesting..." I rubbed my chin as I thought about this new development. "Well as long as you don't try to stop me, I will stay out of the way of.. Whatever it is you're doing." I told her, turning to leave.

"Wait!" The Evil Alicorn exclaimed, "You are a powerful being of darkness to be able to wrap me in shadows..." She grinned evilly, "I propose a partnership. You help me to bring Equestria to Eternal Night and I shall reward you greatly."

I gave it a few moments of thought before shrugging, "Eh, what the heck. I'm bored, so why not?" I offered my hand out for a shake. "You've got yourself a deal Nightmare."

"Excellent!" Nightmare replied, placing her hoof into my hand and shaking it. "However, as you have not introduced yourself yet, what shall I call you?"

"Hmm..." I rubbed my chin in thought. I don't think 'Tony' would quite cut it here, sure it's my name but.. It's not theatrical or villainous enough. Oh, I know! How about.. "Tainted Shade at your service." I said, grinning as I gave a low bow. Sure it's cheesy but, considering the names I've heard so far, that seems to be the norm around here...

"Very well Shade, I sh-" Nightmare was interrupted as the door opened again, quickly teleporting away as seven ponies walked into the Castle. I quickly swept my cloak around my form, hiding myself within the shadows of a nearby pillar.

~~~About Ten Minutes Earlier~~~

"Well?" The Shadowbolt asked Rainbow expectantly.

"You." Rainbow began, causing the three darkly uniformed pegasi to grin. "Thank you, I mean. But I'm afraid I have to say no." She finished, quickly fixing the bridge.

The three Shadowbolts scowled, glaring angrily as they made to attack. "Well that's too bad... But we can't let you pass!" The leader exclaimed as the three darkly clad pegasi lunged at Dash.

Rainbow flinched at the unexpected move, falling backwards as they lunged. She closed her eyes, knowing she couldn't possibly dodge the three at this range

"Rainbow!" Twilight called out fearfully as she watched the three ponies lunge at the chromatic pegasus, running across the bridge with the other four hot on her hooves.

*Poof!* "Huh?" Rainbow wondered at the strange sound and lack of pain as she opened her eyes.

"You okay there?" Lightning asked, looking at the fallen pegasus as a dark and sparkly mist-like substance snaked away unnoticed.

"Pfft, I could've handled them." Rainbow Dash replied, standing up and dusting herself off. "But uh.. Thanks for the help."

Lightning rolled his eyes at her claim, looking at her and the other five mares. "You're welcome. But what are you all doing out here? It's dangerous."

"We know, Nightmare Moon is on the loose." Rainbow replied, grinning. "But don't worry, we'll stop her!"

"Wait, Nightmare Moon?" Lightning paused, raising a brow at her. "Isn't that just an old tale?"

"W-wait.." Rainbow looked at his uniform, "OHMYGSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH!! YOU'RE A WONDERBOLT!!!" She exclaimed, flying figure-eights in excitement.

Twilight rolled her eyes and stepped forward, "Nightmare Moon isn't fiction, she's real and she wants to bring eternal night." She looked at the Wonderbolt curiously, "If that's not your reason for being here, then why are you here?"

Lightning looked at the castle, "The Dark Menace is free, and I've tracked him to this location."

"The Dark Menace!?" Twilight asked with wide eyes, "The dark creature that appeared and terrorized Canterlot a thousand years ago!? I thought he was just a myth!"

Lightning gave her a pointed look, "I suppose two myths have been proven fact tonight then." He said.

Twilight looked away sheepishly, blushing slightly at her mistake. "Right.."

Rainbow Dash finally recovered from her excitement, "Well then what are we waiting for!? Let's bust down the door and kick some dark flank!" She declared with a grin.

Lightning shook his head, "I can't let you go in there, it's too dangerous."

"You also can't stop us." Twilight said, glancing at the Wonderbolt.

He sighed, "Fine. If the rest of my team were here then maybe I could stop you, but they're currently occupied..." Lightning lead the way to the castle entrance, "But I'll be going in first, just in case."

~~~Back in the Present- Mane 6 POV~~~

Twilight gazed upon the six arranged stones in awe, "The Elements of Harmony... We've found them!" Fluttershy and Rainbow began carefully taking the stone orbs from their pedestals, gently placing them in front of Twilight. "Careful.. Careful.." the studious mare cautioned.

Pinkie began counting happily, "One, two, three, four.. uh.." She looked at Twilight. "There's only five."

"Where's the Sixth?" Rainbow asked.

"The book said: 'When the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth element to be revealed." Twilight responded, laying on her stomach in front of the five stones.

"What in the hay is that supposed ta mean?" Applejack asked, an annoyed frown creasing her lips.

"I'm not sure, but I have an idea." Twilight responded. "Stand back, I don't know what will happen..."

The other four mares left Twilight to concentrate, with Lightning staying to guard her and the five important relics.

~~~My POV~~~

As the purple unicorn concentrated, I watched a tendril of ethereal darkness snake over, picking up the 'Elements' in a whirlwind of magic. "The elements!" The unicorn cried out as she jumped into the tornado, followed by a familiar seeming pegasus.

"I wonder what Nightmare is planning..." I said contemplatively, watching the other five mares rush into the room with exclamations of distress. As they rushed back out I walked into a nearby shadow, following the feeling of Nightmare's dark presence.

Somehow I think I got lost in the shadows somewhere along the way, appearing in a few different locations I know I hadn't meant to... It was actually a bit of a wake-up call since, for all of my power and abilities, it reminded me that I really need to practice with them. I'm pretty sure the only reason I held out against Nightmare is because I was riding a power high or something... And Shadofang forcing knowledge of her powers it into my head. Either way, I should still practice.. Okay, enough mental ranting, I'm starting to sound like John now. A thousand years was not kind to my mental health.

Anyways, I finally arrived in the shadow of a pillar near Nightmare moon. The Purple unicorn from earlier was ranting about something or other, her friends surrounded by rings of floating rock shards. "This place is so weird.." I muttered, watching as the unicorn floated into the air, a rainbow light spinning towards Nightmare.

I flew over to snatch her from the rainbow laser since I knew that the rainbow wasn't anything good for her health, and cursed when it simply bent to follow me. "Just what I need, a homing laser!" I grumbled, dodging the magic rainbow as best as I could. I looked behind me to see if it was still following me when...

"Look out!" Nightmare screeched, pointing ahead of us.

My eye twitched as I looked up, just in time to see the rainbow beam I was flying at, "Crap, not again..."

Surprisingly enough, when I regained consciousness I was not back in the hedge maze. I was still in the castle, with a dark purple Alicorn laying on top of me. I raised an arm up, noticing that I was back to my normal skin tone. I glared at Shadofang, "You knew that the dark energy would make me evil, didn't you?"

The face in the gem grinned back sheepishly, "Well... Evil is a strong word. I knew it would make you more, hmm... Open-minded?" I glared at her and didn't respond, simply opting to put my arm back down. "Oh come now, the silent treatment? That's just childish!" She attempted to chide me.

I didn't even twitch at her declaration, instead letting my gaze wander around the room. I took in the sights of the castle room, the eight shocked ponies, the ruined decor, th- wait, eight shocked ponies?

I glanced over to confirm it, "Hi Sunbutt." I said nonchalantly, waving the arm that wasn't being held in place by a sleeping pony. "Long time no see." the other seven conscious ponies gasped in horror.

"How dare you speak to Princess Celestia like that!?" the two unicorns of the group raged indignantly.

"Dark Menace." The tall alabaster pony replied neutrally. "I would prefer it to have been even longer."

"Dark Menace?" I asked, annoyed. "Is that what I'm known as?"

"You terrorized Canterlot." 'Celestia' replied, still using a neutral tone.

"Oh come on, are you still pissed at me for that incident in town!?" I declared in annoyance, looking at her. "I didn't even do anything, technically speaking! My companion materialized and every single one of those ponies just freaked out!" I pointed at her, "And then you trapped me, completely conscious I might add, In stone for a thousand years! I think I've paid my dues for that and then some!"

"I..." Princess Celestia shook her head, "I didn't realize.. I apologize Dark M-"

"Tony, my name is Tony." I interrupted, rubbing my forehead to stave off any potential headaches. "I refuse to go by that ridiculous and innacurate moniker. The only thing I've ever willingly menaced, while in my right mind at least, has been John's baked goods... And bullies."

Celestia blinked at that, "I see... Then I apologize Tony. I had no idea that you were conscious during your imprisonment."

"That's what you're apologizing for?" I deadpanned, as Moonbutt finally began to stir. "Not the fact that you jumped the gun and imprisoned me for a thousand years!?"

The white Alicorn was saved from replying to that as Luna woke up. "Princess Luna.." She said, recieving a gasp from the smaller pony. "It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this..."

What is it with this place and 'A thousand years'? Well on the bright side, if it can be considered bright, thousand year imprisonments as the normal punishment must make crime rates pretty low.

"Time to put our differences behind us. we were meant to rule together, little sister." Celestia continued, "Will you accept my friendship?"

"I'm so sorry!" Luna cried out, bounding forward to.. Nuzzle? Yeah, I'd call that a nuzzle. Anyways, she nuzzled her sister with tears in her eyes. "I missed you so much big sister!"

In the meantime I cradled my stomach, which had been used as a springboard by Luna, in pain.

Celestia, of course, responded with "I missed you too." She then turned her attention towards me. "As for you..."

I slowly got to my feet, leaning against a wall for support. "If you're gonna petrify me again, at least put me somewhere that I can't hear that patchworked annoyance's terrible singing." I requested with a small shrug, guessing at what she had planned.

"Actually..." Celestia responded with a small smile, "As you tell it, we had wrongfully imprisoned you in the first place."

"What's the catch? Do I have to stand trial or something?" I wondered.

"Not quite." Celestia replied. "I shall give you the benefit of the doubt, so I shall not imprison you. However..." She looked at me and frowned slightly, "I cannot say that I trust you. So I shall be keeping you under observation until I am absolutely sure that you shall not be a danger to my little ponies."

I raised a brow at her, "So... You're going to have guards follow me around or something?"

"Not quite..." That smirk of hers does not bode well for me... That's the kind of smirk John gets when he's about to pull a prank. "I have a much better idea in mind." ...you know what? On second thought, put me back in the garden.

Author's Note

I know, I know, I'm either pure evil or just crazy. how dare I post a chapter with yet another cliffy? :pinkiecrazy:

Don't worry, it'll be worth the wait. Probably. :derpytongue2:

Managed to crank this out real quick. I'm still in a bit of a tight position as far as some personal issues go, but I've decided to try and make time to get some writing done whenever I can. I hope you enjoy this newest chapter, took me a bit to think of it and a bit longer to type it. Hopefully I didn't make this chapter too dialogue heavy or wordlogged :twilightblush:

The best use of a Gala Ticket

"Luna! Panca-..." Didn't even get to finish my sentence before she literally teleported downstairs, smiling at me from the table. Now if only I could get her to wake up that fast without the pancakes.

"Deliver to me my fluffy discs of dough, so that I may smother them in syrup!" Luna declared imperiously, pointing at the stack of pancakes with a magically gripped fork.

Shady materialized from her ring, drifting over to the table to 'sit' next to Luna. "Yeah, hurry and dish up the pancakes!"

"Yeah, yeah." I replied, rolling my eyes with an amused smile as I set the stack I'd made on the table. "You know, if you keep eating like this, you're gonna get fat."

Luna looked horrified at the thought, "Nay! Our pancakes would never betray us so!"

Shady nodded as she used the distraction as an opportunity to get a head-start on the pancakes, "Exactly! Besides, I can't get fat." She stuck her tongue out at me childishly.

"Right..." I grabbed an envelope off the counter, "Anyways, we got some mail Luna. A nice grey pegasus mare dropped a letter off from your sister... along with a rather delicious muffin."

"Tia? I wonder what she would wish to send through the normal mail system." Luna wondered, before shrugging and continuing in her shared genocide of the pancake race. I could practically hear the screams...

Forcing a slight shudder back, I shrugged and opened the envelope, pulling out a letter. "Hmm... Apparently she sent us tickets to something called... The Grand Galloping Gala?" Hearing a thud, I lowered the letter I was reading to see that Luna had embedded her horn into the table... somehow. "Uh.. Need some help?"

"Yes Please" Luna replied, slightly muffled by the table-cloth.

After about half an hour, we finally managed to get Luna's horn unstuck from the table. "So..." I began, "What exactly prompted your attempted murder of our furniture?"

"The Grand Galloping Gala," Luna groaned, "Is the most annoying event of the year."

"I'm guessing it's like some sort of... I don't know, a ball? A dance or fancy party of some sort?" I hazarded.

"All of the above." Luna muttered, nibbling on a few more pancakes. "I don't know why everypony always wants to go, it's a complete bore."

"So... Can we just skip it?" I asked, not really eager to go to the Gala myself. I went to one dance in my life, and if it's anything like my Highschool dance... Yeah, no.

"No, Tia will insist that I go, and you will likely be made to attend as well." Luna replied, dashing that hope of simply skipping out.

"Great..." I groaned, thunking my head against the table as well. Thankfully, humans are devoid of table-goring horns.

"I have an idea!" Shadofang grinned, "How about we use the tickets to have a bit of fun?"

Luna glared at the golden tickets on the table, a mocking pony party parody of Willy Wonka's own wacky tickets. "How could anypony have fun with such... such evil?"

"Easy!" Shady's grin widened, "You said ponies all really want to go to the gala right?"

"Last we checked, why?" Luna asked curiously, shifting her gaze to look at the Shu-Shu.

"Just follow my lead, hehehe...."

I have a bad feeling about this.

"It's mine!"

"No it's mine!"

"Hooves off, I saw it first!"

"Girls, it's getting away!"

"Get it!"

On a nearby roof, my palm connected with my forehead with an audible 'SMACK' while I watched the chaos down below. Luna and Shady giggled evilly next to me as the latter held a fishing pole, waving it around and watching all the earth pony and unicorn mares - who seemed to have conveniently forgotten about their magical abilities - attempt to get the ticket on the plastic hook. The former's horn was glowing light blue, a corresponding glow surrounding another ticket that some local pegasi were chasing around the sky.

"Really?" I asked, exasperated. "I mean, really?"

"What? At least I'm not doing anything evil." Shady protested. "It's just a prank!'

My eyes narrowed slightly, "Where'd you get the fishing rod?"

"I, um, found it." She replied, her eyes shifting side to side suspiciously.

"Relax Tony, 'tis all in good fun!" Luna added, saving her fellow prankster from further interrogation. "Nopony is getting hurt-" She winced slightly at a sharp 'SMACK' that rang through the air, a couple of mares suddenly turning into a dust-cloud of furious hooves "-Much... And besides, the tickets are actually useful for once!"

"Yeah, but what about those poor mares?" I retorted with a bit of bite in my voice, "I doubt that they'll be happy to find out that none of them will end up going to the gala." I winced myself as a mare was ejected violently from the fight-cloud, only to snort angrily and jump back in with a battle-cry, "Not to mention the bruises they might get..."

"Worry not! I have already mailed Tia requesting more tickets for this very reason!" Luna replied with a smug smile, which turned into a slight frown. "Though I cannot say anything for the bruises.. However, 'tis their own fault for fighting over something so trivial."

"Alright Luna, but if that backfires..." I began menacingly, "I won't make pancakes anymore."

Their eyes widened, "NOT THE PANCAKES!"

"Yes, the pancakes." I replied firmly.

"Tony..." Luna began seriously, "I will procure tickets for each and every one of these mares, personally if I have to, if you will promise to never threaten our pancakes again."

I thought about it for a moment... On one hoof, I lose my leverage and would have to find new leverage to keep these two out of trouble... On the other hoo- HAND! I meant on the other hand. This world is getting to my lexicon... - , I don't want all of these mares to get depressed over a simple prank.. Which seems possible, given how crazy they're going over the tickets.

"Fine." I replied, "If you can get each and every one of these mares you're pranking a ticket, I won't ever threaten to stop making pancakes again."

Luna 'squeed' at me, "Don't worry Tony, I will!" She looked up at the sky, "...Right after this stops being funny." The two pranksters then proceeded to resume their giggling fits, causing me to roll my eyes. It's not that funny

Author's Note

Hope you all enjoyed this, I'll be trying to go through and update all of my stories more often now that I finally have a way to get internet on my pc at home.

Griffins, Capes, and Friendly Gestures

"What the flock are you supposed to be?" A rather rude griffon asked me as I shopped for more pancake ingredients. If that mare wasn't a Princess, I'd be eaten out of house and home by now with how many pa-"Some kind of hairless monkey?"

I raised a brow at her, not giving away how annoyed I was by her interruption of my mental monologue, and gave a slow, sarcastic clap of non-amusement. "Oh ha-ha, like I haven't heard that one before." I replied dryly, "Your wit is truly sharp as the apple you just filched, bird brain."

The griffin puffed up then, looking more cute than intimidating with the way its feathers were, "What's that supposed to mean Dweeb?"

I rolled my eyes, used to dealing with these kinds of people. "if you can't figure it out, you're not even half as smart as you look." I replied, adding a smirk to give just that right level of provocation. Conflict ending in 3... 2... 1...

The Griffin's eye twitched as I waited for her to back down. Unfortunately, I forgot one minor detail... I'm used to dealing with these kinds of People. Humans who generally wouldn't want to make a big scene in public. The ones who would bluff and bluster and walk away. Griffins, on the other hand...

"GET BACK HERE AND TAKE YOUR BEATING LIKE A MAN!!!" The enraged hybrid screeched, chasing me.

"PUT THOSE CLAWS AWAY AND MAYBE I WILL!" I shouted back, taking a sharp left. Times like these, I wish I had learned more about Parkour from John.

I tapped frantically at Shady's ring as I ran, "A LITTLE HELP HERE SHADY!?"

A sleepy voice replied, surprisingly clear over all the screeching, "I'm Sorry, Shady's not here right now, please leave a message after the beep... Beep."

My eye twitched in annoyance, "YOU CAN'T EVEN BE ANYWHERE ELSE! EVEN IF YOU SOMEHOW HAD A BEEPING ANSWERING MACHINE, YOU WOULDN'T NEED IT!"

"Fine, fine.." Shady yawned, materializing next to me as I dashed through an alley. "What's the problem?"

"Oh, I don't know, how about a lion-bird lady trying to RIP ME TO SHREDS?!" I yelled out, diving behind a fruit stand as a set of vicious talons raked through the spot I was a second ago.

She took a minute to observe the Griffin, a grin forming on her face, "Whatever did you say to get her so mad?"

"Okay, I may have insulted her a little, it's not my fault I'm better at taking an insult than she is." I grumped.

Shady sighed, "Okay, you know what, I can't be saving you all the time."

My eye twitched, "Excuse me!? You sleep more than half the time!"

"Irrelevant."

"IT'S COMPLETELY RELEVANT!"

"Fine, if that's the way you feel then I just won't give you the gift I was thinking about." Shady sniffed disdainfully, turning away from me.

I blinked in confusion, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Apology accepted."

"I wasn't exact-"

"Hold on.." Shadofang cut me off, turning to a spot under the stand and appearing to... Stick her entire arm into the shadows in that spot and start moving it around, like she was grasping inside some sort of drawer rather than a lightly swirling pool of shadows. "Let me see, where did I put it..."

"Put what?" I asked, flinching as the griffin raked her claws across the stand on a flyby.

"Aha!" Shady exclaimed triumphantly, pulling her arm out holding up... A bundle of cloth?

"Shady, I don't think a bundle of cloth is going t-"

"Tony, this isn't a bundle of cloth, this is a cape. A very powerful semi-sentient cape with many abilities."

"oh.." I replied, lost for words. Is my life a video game now?

The bundle quivered slightly, moving towards me as though it were a snake, appearing to be making.. sniffing motions of some sort.

"Well that's.. kind of cool, actually." I admitted, looking down at it. Suddenly, it launched itself at me! I instinctively flinched back, arms raised and waiting for the impact... That never came. Instead, I was treated to the sound of Shady laughing.

"It likes you!" She laughed happily, smiling. "Looks like you're stuck with it now."

I blinked, looking down at myself and noticing that the cape had wrapped itself snugly around my shoulders. "Okay, that's pretty awesome. What can this..." I paused. A cape this awesome needs a name... Well, it's semi sentient, and given to me by the Shu-Shu of Darkness... A gift from my friend... "What can Shroud here do?" Okay, so I'm not good at naming things, sue me.

I really have to stop talking to myself...

The dark Shu-Shu was not amused, "You do realize it's only semi-sentient right? It has enough sentience to choose a bearer, and to connect to them to act as an extension of themselves. Though I suppose it can also follow simple commands..."

"Wait, so it's in my head?"

"In a manner if speaking." Shadofang shrugged, "Anyways, the cape grants you the ability to teleport, it is also nigh-indestructable and can act as a set of limbs as well as an infinite storage space, I'll let you figure out the rest for yourself."

"Woah.." I breathed out. Let it be noted, I'm not proud of how slack-jawed shocked I was to get a cape like this, but I was definitely happy.

"SHIT!" I yelled in shock, feeling a sharp pain as three long slashes were suddenly drawn across the side of my head.

"Stop hiding behind that stand and fight!" The Griffin, which I had somehow (don't ask me how) forgotten about, screeched at me after turning back around from her latest diving run.

"Can't we talk about this?" I asked, slowly standing from behind the stand, my new cloak (Cape, whatever you want to call it.) not restricting my movements all, despite the length, almost feeling as though it was moving WITH me. "We both said some things, you chased me down and cut me, so can we just call it even?"

The Griffin scoffed, "Not until I beat you unconscious for calling me a bird brain!"

She got ready to dive again, and I fell into a ready stance. Or, at least, as ready as I could get for a Griffin to dive at me.

"GILDA~!?" A somewhat familiar voice called out searchingly. "Hey Gilda, where'd you go!?" I really can't place it, but it made the Griffin stop and sort of grumble a bit. "You got lucky Dweeb." She spat at me, flying off towards the voice. Well, that worked out I guess.

"Guess you didn't need help after all, huh?" Shadofang piped up suddenly, making me jump slightly. "Still, that cape looks pretty good on you." She winked with a smirk.

I gave a small smile in return, "Thanks Shady... Even if I didn't need it in the end, and even if I was pretty rude to you there, you still tried to help me.. You're a good friend." I said, shocking her a bit. "And that's why... I've decided to try and get you out of the ring.

"R-really?" She asked, shocked. "You'd do that, for me?"

I scratched the back of my neck a bit nervously as I answered, "Well.. Yeah. You've been a good friend, besides the whole 'convert to evil' thing, and you even dropped that after a while. I still remember the way Rubilax was released, and it gave me an idea on how to release you."

"Are you sure?" She asked teasingly, though sounding a bit nervous. "I wouldn't be around to protect you from the big bad griffins anymore~.."

I laughed slightly, "Well I supposed Shroud here will just have to fill that role then." I replied, indicating the cape. "But first... We need an area where there aren't any ponies... Like that castle, back in the Everfree. We need to go... There?" I trailed off uncertainly, as I noticed that our surroundings had drastically changed.

"Shady.. Did you have to teleport us here while I was in mid-sentence?" I asked, exasperation lacing my tone.

She shook her head, "Hey, don't look at me! That was all you." She rolled her eyes a bit, "I did mention that the cape is semi-sentient and capable of granting you the ability to teleport, remember? It's basically like an extension of your will now that it's accepted you. Well, mostly like that."

Shady then flicked me in the head, "So, about the whole 'Releasing me' thing?"

I rubbed the spot where she flicked, "Hey, I'm injured here!"

The Demoness rolled her eyes "Oh grow up Tony, it's just a scratch or three. I can always smack you next time instead though."

I raised my hands in mock surrender, "Okay, okay, sheesh."

Stepping into the castle, I carefully removed Shadofang from my hand and gently placed the ring on the ground before stepping back a bit.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

"Just do it already!" Shadofang replied impatiently, "I've been waiting for this longer than you've been alive, I'm sure."

"Wait, I just remembered something.." I realized.

"What?" Shady snapped.

"I'm pretty sure I need a sword for this to work." I replied sheepishly, scratching the back of my neck lightly.

"Ugh.." She facepalmed, "There's one in 'Shroud' as you so affectionately call it."

"Oh, how do I-" I cut myself off, as apparently just thinking about it was enough. A small portion of the deceptively large cloak moved in front of me, similar to a snake in some regards, a hilt pushing out towards me from the luminescent underside.

"That's just... too cool." I couldn't stop myself from saying, as I drew the sword from within my cape in what had to be the most literal sense ever. Anyways, I took a moment to admire the blade, the obvious craftsmanship that must have gone into making it, as the slight purple aura it appeared to have.

"I'm glad you're so easily entertained." Shady commented, acting annoyed, though I could tell she was at least a bit amused herself.

"Okay, Here goes..."

Author's Note

CLIFFHANGER!! NOOOO~~~!! WHYY~!!! WHAT KIND OF MONSTER WOULD DO SUCH A- oh, wait... Yeah, sorry about the cliffhanger everypony :twilightblush: (Well, assuming I'm not crazy and this is a cliffhanger like I think it is and not just my imagination's twisted incarnation of one :pinkiecrazy: )

Anyways, I have a few very important announcements!

I am NOT dead(kind of obvious, but I feel a need to say it :rainbowwild: ), and I do plan to keep updating whenever I can, So yey for that. :derpytongue2:

In other news, my Phone and Computer conspired to betray me... Either that, or they decided to hold some sort of grudge against each other. My computer won't recognize my phone, and my phone refuses to connect to my computer, so that wi-fi method is down the drain...

Fortunately, I moved recently! And with that move came, you guessed it, WIFI! YAAAY!!! :pinkiehappy:

So now I can update whenever I want/have the time, so :yay: for that. :pinkiesmile:

Hopefully I'll start churning out story chapters more often now that that issue is fixed. really sorry for all the long waits and stuff everyone ( :twilightblush: ), I'll be getting started on all of my stories as quick as I can.

Also, a big shout-out to Krazyfan1, thank you for the cape and, by extension, the sword idea! I know I probably modified it a bit but, I dunno, weird stuff in my head man. Weird stuff. :pinkiecrazy:

Also, another thanks to you Krazyfan1, for reminding me that the shu-shu can apparently be freed through alternative means! I went back over the episode where they freed Rubilax to gain his respect, and I think I've come up with something at least semi-plausible here... For the next chapter!

And, (lots of praise for you here Krazyfan1 :derpytongue2: ), I may be using another idea you gave me, though none of my character's will know... Until it's too late! Mwahahaha~! :pinkiecrazy:

Yeah, evil laugh doesn't suit me. Maybe crazy laugh, but I'm not really sure how to type that out, Y'know?

I could totally go for a muffin right now... Lemon Poppyseed, preferably. :derpytongue2:

Anyways, thanks for having the patience to deal with me everyone, and don't worry; I'm already working on the next chapter :twilightsmile:

As for the Sword and Cape, well... They look something like this.
Cape:

Drawing the Sword:

The Sword:

As always, I very much welcome constructive criticism, advice, comments, and any ideas you might want to throw my way. :pinkiehappy:

For some reason, even though it isn't even 2k words, I feel like I might've made the chapter really long winded and stuff... If that's the case, sorry everypony, I'll be doing my best to make the next chapter better :twilightsmile:

Chasing Freedom

"Okay, Here goes..." I said, a bit nervously, as I raised the sword. I pointed it at the ground and stabbed down, cutting into the stone slabs with ease. "Huh.. Is this sword magic or something?"

Shady's ring rolled it's eyes, seeing as she couldn't remain in her phantasmal form during the process. "No, it's a very normal, very dull sword. That is why it can cut through solid stone with ease."

"Hey, no need to be so snippy" I replied a bit defensively.

"Well I wouldn't be snippy if you weren't delaying my release by getting distracted at every little thing." She pouted angrily at me. "Just do it already."

"Okay, hol-" I cut myself off as a small white blur ran in front of me, snatching the ring and stopping on a nearby stone. "Shady!" I shouted out in surprise as the blur, which turned out to be a white rabbit, stuck its tongue out at me and took off.

"Hey, get back here!" I yelled, putting my sword back into Shroud and giving chase.

I chased that rabbit through the whole castle and then some, even ending up running through the Everfree at some point... Then, suddenly, the rabbit stopped on a dime. Unfortunately, as I inconveniently forgot, humans aren't built to stop in an instant after running full tilt, which means my momentum sent me rolling head-over-heels for a few moments.

"Oh SUNNUVA-OW!" I yelled out, impacting a tree with bone-bruising force.

I could hear the rabbit laughing at me as I got up from where I'd smacked into the tree. "Yeah, yeah, Laugh it up furball." I growled, glaring angrily at it. "When I catch you, I'm going to make Rabbit Stew out of you."

The rabbit blew a raspberry at me, making to run off again before suddenly freezing. It stared at something I couldn't see as it dropped the ring, and seriously booked it in the other direction. "What the hell?"

Shrugging, and rolling my eyes, I began to move to pick up Shady's ring but I stopped as a hissing noise filled my ears. Shady manifested herself as I stopped, "What are you doing just standing there Tony? Get over here and pick me up already! Ugh, I've got rabbit drool all over me.." Her form grimaced and shuddered slightly, looking over her ring.

"Hang on Shady, there's something here.." I replied wearily

"I don't care!" She responded petulantly, crossing her arms and frowning at me. "Just get my ring already!"

"Cockadoodle-Doo!" a Cockatrice crowed angrily, bursting out of the bushes between me and the ring.

I blinked in surprise, looking at the Cockatrice. "I don't... I mean.. I can't even..." It began as a smile, which turned into a chuckle, and then full blown laughter. "THIS is a cockatrice!?" I laughed out, holding my sides. "THIS is what Luna bragged about hunting before her banishment!? If it weren't for the slightly draconic wings, it would look like a chicken got a snake shoved up its ass and then fused with it!" I choked out as I kept laughing, doubling over a bit and pointing at it. "It's almost like the Snake and Chicken version of a Centaur!"

The Snicken, as I shall forever remember it, crowed angrily at me, rearing up on it's tail and attempting to 'stare me to stone'. "Oh no, I'm so scared~!" I laughed out, even as my feet began to harden and lose feeling. "Oh my god, I can't even take this seriously..." I had a really hard time calming down.. By the time I stopped laughing, I was petrified up to the waist, not even bothering to look away.

"Hey snake-butt, you know why I'm not afraid of you?" I smirked, the petrification halfway up my chest. "Well, aside from how effing ridiculous you look anyway..."

It made an odd confused-sounding cluck, tilting it's head with a raised brow at my confidence. "Er-roo?"

I chuckled again, keeping it small so I wouldn't go into another laughing fit, and used Shroud to smack it hard enough to send it flying against the trunk of a tree. Immediately afterwords, the stone covering my form shattered, falling to the ground as I walked unhindered towards the creature. "Because if a Cockatrice loses concentration during the petrification, the victim is freed." I told it, wrapping it up in one of the 'limbs' of my cape and bringing it closer. "Luna used to hunt your kind, among others, before her banishment; and she loves telling stories about her old hunts."

I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with it, so I decided to decide later. Bringing up the other 'limb' of Shroud, I dropped the cockatrice on it and watched as it sunk into the.. Fabric? Not entirely sure what it's made of actually.. Anyways, It was odd to see; like watching a magnet sink into some of that 'Smart Putty' stuff John bought once.

Shaking my head, I turned back to get the ring and saw... THAT DAMNED RABBIT AGAIN! It blew another raspberry at me and took off with the ring. "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!" I yelled, running after it again. What next? A manticore!?

To my slight relief, the chase took us out of the Everfree and towards what looked like a cottage. The rabbit ran towards it and began knocking on the door frantically as I advanced.

"Ha! I've got you now furball!" I laughed menacingly, advancing on the rabbit with murder in my eyes as it turned to face me; back against the door.

"Angel!" A, somewhat familiar, yellow pegasus mare gasped as she opened the door, allowing the rabbit to fall backwards comically. "Where have you been? I was so worried!" She cried out, bringing the creature up for a hug. The rabbit squeaked and gestured wildly, causing her to gasp and turn to glare at me.

"How could you!" She exclaimed, pointing accusingly at me.

Uh... Excuse me?

"You should be ashamed of yourself, chasing poor innocent Angel bunny around and scaring him!" She continued. "You could have hurt him, or worse!"

I looked incredulously at her obvious naivety, I mean.. Innocent? Innocent my ass! If that rabbit is innocent, then my grandfather is Superman! "I think you're misinformed." I replied calmly, doing my best not to just off and yell at her. "That rabbit stole something from me. A ring, which is very important to me."

Seeing as my friend is trapped inside it, yeah... Super important. And the damned rabbit had the nerve to just hide the ring behind its back and whistle... I don't think I'll ever get used to the human-like characteristics most of the animals here have.. It's like living in a fricking cartoon sometimes!

"If I can just get it back, I'll be on my way." I continued, glaring at the rodent as it flicked me off behind the mare's back. One day Rabbit, one day...

"Angel Bunny!" She gasped, turning around; conveniently, and just barely so, missing the gesture. I took the opportunity to share a digit with the little nuisance in return, causing it to attempt to glare fiercely. Surprisingly, that gesture seems to be universal with non-hoofed creatures around here..

"Did you take this nice man's ring?" Nice? Well, I mean, sometimes. But I'd really say I'm just being polite here; Nice men don't flip off rabbits, I'm sure. John was nice, Dante was decent, I'm just a lot less obvious or rude than most about some things.

The rabbit shook its head, still attempting to hide the ring. "Yes, he did." a voice responded from behind the rodent's back, startling it into dropping the ring. "Ouch! Watch it you pathetic vermin!" Shady yelled, materializing once more from the ring. Shroud quickly grabbed onto it for me, depositing her current physical form into my waiting hand.

"Sorry about that Shady." I apologized.

"You know, this would have happened if YOU HAD JUST PICKED ME UP WHEN I TOLD YOU TO!" The upset Shu-Shu yelled at me, poking one ghostly finger into my chest. "I told you to pick me up, I said that I had rabbit slobber on me, but NOOO~! You had to play mister 'I'm a tough guy, look at me laugh at danger' with the stupid Cockatrice!"

"Shady, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to have all that happen." I apologized again, putting a hand on her phantasmal shoulder.

"Hmph." She huffed and turned away from me.

"I'll make you pancakes later as an apology~" I offered with a smile, moving to stand in front of her again.

Shady looked away, remaining silent for a few moments before she finally responded. "...With chocolate chips?" She asked hesitantly.

"Yes, and I'll even make some with those little strawberry chunks." I replied, "And you'll be able to taste it properly, after I free you."

"...Fine." She replied, finally looking at me "I forgive you. Now hurry up and get me out of this thing."

"Your wish is my command" I teased, doing a little bow before teleporting us back to the castle, leaving the yellow mare and the rabbit behind; gawking incredulously at the spot we'd been standing.

I stood in front of Shadofang's ring again, sword in hand. "Now then, to do this right..." I paused, "Now, what was it I thought up again.. I remember that they freed Rubilax by stating a few words, things I'm guessing are traits of his, followed by his Shu-Shu 'title' and the words 'Show yourself!'.." I thought about it for a bit, before finally thinking of something that seemed suited for Shady

"Here it goes..." I stabbed my sword into the ground again, some instinct or feeling leading me to drive it into the shadows near the ring, this time causing the stone to spiderweb with glowing purple cracks, moving to encompass a small area around the ring "Treachery! Deceit! Pancake Obsession! Shu-Shu of Darkness! Reveal yourself!" I exclaimed confidently, causing a wall of shadows and darkness to rise up and encompass the entire castle. I felt like I was weightless, floating in an endless abyss. I couldn't feel the stone beneath my feet, nor could I even see so much as my own two hands.. It felt like I was nothing but a formless entity, floating in an eternity of nothing..

Then, just as suddenly as it began, it ended. I was once again in the castle, standing on the stone floor in front of the most beautiful woman I had ever set eyes on. She was about as tall as me, clad in simple clothes of pure darkness, with purple skin and hair, as well as a lone visible eye; the red of the iris glowing as she regarded me with gratitude and amusement. "S-Shady?"

She gave me a fanged grin, "Yes John, it's me" She giggled, "So, how do I look?"

"Well..." I tried to find the words to express it, but the most I could come up with was... "Amazing.. I- I've never seen anyone more beautiful." IDIOT!

Shady smirked at that, giving another giggle. "You know what would be even better than listening to you compliment me?"

"What?" I replied curiously.

"Pancakes! Come on, let's get home, you still have a promise to keep!" She cheered childishly, scooping up the ring she had once occupied and pushed it into my hands before dragging me towards home.

Author's Note

Phew, Cliffhanger averted! You can all climb back onto the cliff now, make sure to watch your step! :derpytongue2:

Yep, got this chapter out only four days after the last one, how awesome is that? Though, admittedly, I spent most of that time doing absolutely nothing on the chapter. I usually wait, then sit down and get the whole thing done in an hour or so. Usually that's because I have to wait for inspiration, but this time I guess I was just being a bit lazy/mean and waiting to see your opinions and build suspense. :scootangel:

Shadofang's new appearance is largely the same as the picture in the first chapter, except the clothing. So the main changes are that she isn't see-through now, she has a lower body now, and she's wearing a dress of pure darkness (and of a design that doesn't restrict her movement.), and her mouth is an actual mouth with teeth and everything (Oh, and fangs). So she's more human-like and stuff than she was in the picture. :yay:

Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, took me a bit to come up with the phrasing. The original phrasing for Rubilax was 'Despair! Fear! Bad Temper! Shu-Shu of Carnage! Show yourself!' or something like that. I was also bouncing around a few different ideas for how to make this chapter go, such as:

Free her, something appears to fight

Freedom, and then some slice of life stuff (This seemed like the worst option to me, given how often I've done those on this story.)

or, this one, Attempt to free her but something shows up and snatches the ring, leading Tony on a merry little chase to get her back. That one had the most potential in my opinion :twilightsmile: (Plus, I have an idea for the Cockatrice :pinkiecrazy: )

Also, admittedly, I can't help but laugh at the MLP Cockatrice... I mean, it looks ridiculous! :rainbowlaugh:
Admittedly, it's almost cute in a way, like in this pic.

Not sure if you can really break free by disrupting it's focus, but the encounter with Fluttershy kind of makes it seem possible, and it's my fanfic, so~... Yep. :twilightsheepish:

Anyways, Hope everyone enjoyed! As usual, comments are good, Comment, like, and whatnot! Ideas are appreciated, and constructive criticism accepted! :pinkiehappy:

Mini Slice of Life: Rodent Retribution

"Tony, What exactly are we doing out here?" Shady asked as we crept through the forest, annoyance leaking into her voice

"Shh... I'm hunting wabbit- shit." I stood up suddenly as I realized just how much I was acting like John in that moment. "This world's bright tones are seriously getting to me." I said, frowning. Shroud, as if reacting to my annoyance, suddenly lashed out towards the surrounding forest. Wriggling in the confines of the cloak, a white rabbit was soon deposited into my waiting hands. "Hello there, you little bastard." I said cheerfully as Shady and I began walking back towards the edge of the forest. "You remember me?"

The rabbit squeaked angrily, making many rude gestures as it attempted to escape.

"Because I remember you." not like it had been more than a day or two ago that I last saw him.. "So I'm going to just.." I pulled some rope from Shroud and began tying up the rabbit. I stopped at a tree, just barely out of sight of the cottage belonging to the little yellow pony and hung the rabbit from a low-hanging branch. "I'll be back tomorrow to let you go, if you haven't already been let go or killed." I said dispassionately to the little fluffy pain-in-the-rear.

Shady deadpanned as we walked away, "You went through all that trouble- distracting the guard, teleporting away, moving through the forest- just to do that to the rabbit from the chase over a month before?"

"Yeah."

"Just checking.." The Shu-Shu shook her head, rolling her eyes slightly.

"So, how did it go?" Luna asked curiously as we walked through the door.

"I can't believe you were in on something so petty." Shadofang replied, annoyed.

"Went great!" I said, a grin coming over my face. "Hung it up on a tree, may or may not check on it tomorrow."

Luna smiled in response, a dark grin. "Good, that rodent deserved it."

Shady looked at her in disbelief, "What the hell did it do to you that was so bad? It drooled on me, and I'm less upset than both of you!"

I shrugged, "Well it decided to piss on my foot while I was in the market the other day." I would have probably killed the thing, but that yellow pony.. I could only imagine how sad she would be. I swear there's some sort of nearly primal urge, telling me not to upset that pony.

Luna's expression darkened considerably, "It committed the most heinous and evil of acts. Such an offense should truly be punishable by death and eternal torment." She then pouted and whined, "It stole my pancakes~!" the princess sniffled, "I mean, they weren't the pancakes Tony made... The little pancake restaurant wasn't even that great.. But they were still pancakes!"

The Shu-Shu's eyes widened in response, "A pancake thief!?" She exclaimed, "That's it, I'm going back there and-"

"Nope." I had Shroud grab her, seeing as she would've just phased through my grip otherwise. "Not gonna happen."

"But-"

"Nope"

"It's just-"

"Nu-uh,"

"You can't-"

"No." I poked her in the forehead. "Now if you calm down and stay away from the rabbit, I'll make pancakes for dinner tonight."

Their eyes widened, "Pancakes for dinner?" They asked me in unison.

Luna teared up slightly, "S-such a thing is possible?" She asked, obviously overwhelmed with emotion.

Face, meet palm. Palm, face. I'm sure you've become very well acquainted by now, so this is just a formality, but.. *Smack* "Yes.." I said slowly, "It is very simple, in fact."

Luna suddenly began to cry. "Woah, woah!" I exclaimed, taking a step back. "It's not that big a deal!" *SMACK* "OW! WHAT THE HELL SHADY?!"

She looked at me seriously, "Never speak of pancakes that way."

"It's not that.." Luna sniffled, "W-we can't have pancakes for dinner tonight." Great, now Shady is tearing up. To any deity that might be listening.. why? Why is this even?

A faceless being in a void suddenly grows a big shit-eating grin "Because it's fun to mess with you."

I blinked slightly as a quiet "fuck you..." floated in on the wind. "Anyways... Why is that Luna?"

"Because" Luna sighed, wiping away the tears. "The Grand Galloping Gala is tonight."

Author's Note

I know it's been a while since I updated, but I'm going through and updating my stories. The chapters may or may not be a bit smaller than normal to start, but I'm going to try to make them as big as I can and try to get a regular update schedule going if possible.

This isn't entirely relevent to the story as a whole, and you can even dismiss this chapter. It's more of a random experimental bit to get back into the mindset of the characters. The first new chapter of each will possibly be a bit off as I try to re-familiarize myself with each character's mindset. Still, I hope everypony enjoys it anyways, and I might go back and edit the less than ideal bits as I get my head back to where it was when I started writing these.

If not, lemme know. If you do, lemme know. Any suggestions? You guessed it, lemme know.

The gala is going to happen though. :pinkiesmile:

A slice of my (ab)normal life.

Okay, so maybe I over-reacted at the utterly troll-ish expression on Celestia's face, muzzle, whatever you want to call it. Turns out the only thing I have to worry about is helping Luna adjust to modern equestrian society... With a babysitt- I mean Guard, of course. Nothing wrong with that... mostly.

I yawned as I once again pondered on whether or not I was going crazy, what with mentally narrating my life and all, as I finished making some oatmeal for breakfast. "LUNA! BREAKFAST!" I shouted, serving up a bowl and sitting down at the table. I guess I forgot to mention that Celestia also has us living together as well... Though, for the record, we have our own bedrooms. "LUNA, WAKE UP OR I WON'T MAKE PANCAKES TOMORROW!" I yelled after a few minutes of eating in peace. Don't want the oatmeal going cold after all.

"WE'RE UP, WE'RE UP!" Luna shouted back, galloping down the stairs. Heh, that mare really likes pancakes.

"It's 'I'm up' Luna, not 'We're up'. There's no we in I or you. No royal 'we'." I reminded her, rolling my eyes as she served herself some oatmeal. Yep, adjustment to modern society also means learning modern speak- Equish, as the locals call it.

"Did I hear that you're making pancakes?" Shadofang, or Ombrage as she says her real name is, asked.

"No, that's tomorrow. You know, you eat a lot for someone without an actual stomach." I replied, looking at her genie-like form.

"Pancakes transcend the boundaries of physical form!" Shady - as I tend to call her, since Ombrage reminds me too much of that toady Umbrage woman from Harry Potter - preached.

I snorted as Luna nodded, trading a hoofbump with her fellow pancake worshipper. "What next?" I asked jokingly, "Are you two going to have a statue erected in honor of Pancakes?"

"A most wonderous idea! All shall be able to bask in the joy of the delicious dough disks!" Luna cheered, causing me to facepalm. With these two around, the exasperation has been doubled... tripled, even! I can only imagine what would happen if John were here. Oh Jeeze, I can feel the phantom migraine already!

"No, no monuments of pancakes." I said firmly, stopping that train of thought from crashing into reality.

"But wwhhyyy Noooot~?!" The two whined, making adorable pouts at me.

"Because you can either have pancakes or a pancake monument." I think the phrase 'You can't have your cake and eat it too.' applies here perfectly... "If you build a pancake monument, I won't build you pancakes. Simple as that."

The two went from pouting adorably to sulking angrily in two-point-five seconds flat, giving me a faint "Fine..." I never would've guessed something as simple as home-made pancakes could hold so much sway over anyone...

This is my life now, isn't it?

After breakfast, we went for a walk... After alerting our babysitter of course - Seriously, I swear I can't go to the bathroom without having to alert the guy first. Cause one minor panic a millennium ago and then let dark magic take you over for about a day and they never let it go.. - The guy requested to be able to use force on me if I don't follow all of the rules of my 'Probation'. I think he's still sore over the whole 'Turning his teammates into ghouls' thing. Which is kind of stupid if you thin- And I'm rambling in my own head. Great.

"We See-" Luna began, to which I cleared my throat loudly. -"We- er... I mean that I can see a Sweets Shop! Let us partake of the sugary delights held within!" She corrected herself, stressing the corrections so much that I almost swear I could hear it underlined or something... Though I'm pretty sure that's impossible. Then again, this is a different world. A different world that's probably driving me crazy

"Alright, fine. But don't expect me to pay for it princess." I retorted, rolling my eyes slightly.

Luna, of course, made a dramatic gasp and held a forehoof to her head "But it is only proper that a gentlecolt pays for a mare's meal when accompanying them.." She replied, batting her eyelashes at me with a hopeful gaze.

I chuckled, opening the door of Sugarcube Corner for her, "Well then it's too bad that I'm a gentleman, isn't it?" I replied, watching her pleading look turn into a disappointed pout as she walked inside. "Besides, you're a princess. Don't you have access to some sort of royal treasury or something? Why try and mooch off of me?"

"Our access to the royal treasury hath been restricted until our probation is lifted..." She replied sulkily, drawing circles on the floor with her hoof. I decided to let that speech slip pass, given the current situation I'd feel like a jerk for correcting her on that one.

"Fine, I'll pay for your sweets." I told her, rolling my eyes. "Just cheer up." I never could stand to see a girl sad... Even if said girl is a completely different species.

"Really?!" Luna exclaimed happily, looking up at me with hope-filled and sparkling - Literally sparkling, kinda weird actually. - eyes.

"Yeah, just don't go crazy with it. I only have so many bits I can waste on junk food." I replied, pulling out my wallet - Aka bag of bits. Seriously though, is gold just that common in this world? Not only is their currency made of it, so is the guard armor at the palace. - and removing some bits.

"Here." I said, offering the handful I'd removed to the lunar princess.

"Only 10 bits?" Luna asked, looking disappointed as she pulled the coins into a telekinetic grip. "Can't you spare just a few more?"

"I could always just take them back if you want." I replied easily, reaching towards the floating currency.

"No, no!" Luna replied, pulling the coins out of my reach, "This is fine!" She quickly trotted over to the counter.

I took a seat as she ordered, watching as a uniformed pegasus - our assigned 'watcher' - slipped in quietly and took a seat on the other side of the room. I would frown, but it was a bit hard not to chuckle at the sight of the multi-chromatic pegasus attempting to stealthily follow him. Though I couldn't help but laugh as he rolled his eyes at her.

I turned to see if Luna was done ordering, raising a brow as she walked back with a veritable mountain of baked goods. "How did you afford all of that with just ten bits?" I asked incredulously.

She smiled sheepishly as she set the pile down on the table, "Princess Discount.." Luna replied with a squeaky smile -How the hell that works, I have no idea. Dunno where to even start. - , "And some of my own bits."

I shook my head in exasperation, "Whatever…” Then I paused, “wait, What bits? I didn’t see you carrying any when we walked inside…”

“Just because you didn’t see them, doesn’t mean they weren’t there.” Luna responded with a grin.

“well it's not like you're wearing saddle-bags or anything, so where else could you have…” I trailed off, raising an eyebrow at her in disbelief.

“What? Do I have something on my face?” The moon princess asked, looking back at me, pastry crumbs falling down to the table as she moved.

“Don't worry about it.” I responded, looking around the shop again to distract myself. I'm just gonna assume magic on this one.

I noticed my guard try and give an ‘I’m watching you’ hoof motion, and I nearly fell over laughing as his rainbow colored fangirl took it as an offer for a hoof-shake. Sometimes it's the little things in life that you’ve gotta enjoy. Like watching my little stalker get stalked by the pony lovechild of a rainbow and the sky.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Luna tugging on my shirt - nice of that white pony, Rarity I think, to make a wardrobe for me. Didn't exactly have anything else to wear after all and I really don't feel like going native - “What are you laughing at?” She asked curiously.

I pointed our guard out. “I think I'm gonna go mess with him a bit, seeing as he definitely seems to have an admirer there.”

“Like a prank?” Luna asked excitedly, rubbing her hooves together. “What fun!”

“Be back in a bit princess.” I smirked, walking towards our guard.

“Hey, will you let go of my hoof already!?” I heard him ask the other Pegasus in an annoyed tone. “I kind of need to focus on my guard duty.”

“So you’re saying you can't focus when I'm holding your hoof?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes! I mean no! I mean- will you just let go of my hoof already?” My guard - Lightning something... Lightning Lasher? Lightning knocker? Ah! Lightning Crasher, that’s right. - replied.

“Hello Lovebirds!” I said cheerfully as I walked up to the table, looking towards their still connected hooves. “Having a nice date?”

“We’re not on a date!” Lightning replied, a slight amount of distress in his tone as he pulled his hoof out of Rainbow Dash’s grasp. Speaking of which, how the hell do they grasp things so well with hooves? Damn magic, defying the laws of physics. For shame Magic, for shame...

“Really? It looked like a date. Are you saying you wouldn't date this nice wo- er.. Mare?” I replied with a sly grin, which faltered slightly as I corrected myself, gesturing towards the multi-chromatic Pegasus. Said Pegasus looked Lightning expectantly, hope written all over her face.

“I never said that!” Lightning replied, annoyed.

“So you would date her?” I countered with a raised brow.

“I never said that either!”

“But you were thinking it.”

“Like you would know what I was thinking!”

“Pfft, I know that you’ve got a mare just hoping for a chance. Are you gonna crush this nice mare’s heart?” Said mare was surprisingly quiet as she watched the back-and-forth; her head following the conversation like it was a tennis match.

“Well maybe I would give her a chance, but I don’t exactly get much personal time as your personal baby-sitter!” Lightning spat back.

“Then it’s set! You’re gonna take her out on a date on your next day off.” I responded with a grin, gaining one of those ‘squee’ smiles from Rainbow, who was now looking at Lightning with excitement.

“Well I-”

Whatever Lightning was going to say was cut off as Luna walked up. “If I recall, my sister did mention that you could have the weekends for thyself.” She supplied helpfully.

Funny thing about the assignment of our punishment, it took three days to get the sentence; Two of which were me getting lost in the castle. That place was a frickin’ MAZE!

“Like I was saying, I would but my weekends are filled. I need to go back to the headquarters in Cloudsdale to report on my mission.” Lightning said, “I still have to report to my commanding officer.”

“So are you going to be adding anything about a certain rainbow colored mare catching your eye?” I asked, giving him a knowing wink.

“Potential relationships with mares is not a viable report to send up.”

“So you’re admitting that you see her as a potential marefriend. You sly pony you~!” I laughed.

“I didn't mean that!” Lightning backtracked, “I was just making a statement.”

“Oh I think you meant it.” I grinned, “A nice statement about how you’re looking at her as potential relationship material.”

“I need to get back to work; this conversation is distracting me from my duties” Lightning replied, attempting to end the conversation. Not letting you off that easy pal!

“But I thought keeping your eyes and ears on Luna and I was your duty?” I responded easily, motioning to myself and the moon princess; who had wandered off to sit at a table for some reason.

“Well it is, but this conversation has nothing to do with my assignment.” The Wonderbolt said stubbornly.

“Are you sure about that? Maybe there's some dastardly plans involving that mare, and you should stick close to her for the sake of protection and investigation.” I told him, chuckling slightly.

“My assignment is to keep you and Princess Luna in my sight until my mission is complete or I am relieved. Therefore, I am not leaving you.”

“So I guess that means that you’ll just have to stick around for that date Rainbow!” I exclaimed, looking at said mare. “I think he’s hinting that he can’t escape you if you stick with Luna and I!”

“I'm not hinting anything.” Lightning denied, “And from what I have heard, Rainbow Dash is not one for relationships.”

“So either your info gathering skills suck, or your pony-reading abilities do.” I responded somewhat teasingly, “Because this mare has been like a beacon of want for you.”

“Hey, I’m not that desperate!” Rainbow spoke up, glaring at me slightly.

“She doesn’t want ‘me’, She just wants to be near me because I’m a Wonderbolt; no other reason.’ Lightning added his two bits. Wow, his two bits. That sounded kinda wrong now that I think about it. Moving on!

“Maybe initially, but then again maybe she’ll calm down if you give her a chance. I'm not suggesting you marry or something, just that you give her a chance” Then I got a really mischievous look on my face. “Or are you too CHICKEN to ask her out?”

“I'm not chicken!” Lightning barked out.

“I mean, I know that you pegasi could be distantly related to birds; But with that attitude I would’ve assumed a hawk.” I continued with a smirk. “Not a puffed up rooster.”

“Hold your tongue!” Lightning yelled. “I’m not going to pressure a mare to go out with me. This is her decision, not mine!”

“Well in that case, we’re going out!” Rainbow piped up, giving a hoof-pump.

Lightning sighed in resignation. “Fine then, I’ll go out on one date, but that’s it. Nothing more.”

“So you say now.” I chuckled.

“My mission comes first, I don't have time for dates.”

“Well you’d better make time, because you just promised her one.”

“I can make room for one, but that's it.”

“Good news!” Luna called, walking up and waving a letter. ‘Celly just said that she personally gives you time off for any and all dates as long as it doesn’t keep you from writing reports once in awhile.” She then looked at the letter, “She said that your long term duties shouldn”t affect your love life, but to remember that the opposite should hold true as well.”

Lightning facehoofed, “Fine, but I still have to make time to find a house. I’m not staying in government housing my whole time here.”

“Well maybe you could talk to Rainbow Dash about that.” Luna suggested with a grin, “She is a local after all!”

Lightning agreed with a shrug, “I guess I can do that.”

“Then it's settled!” And just in time too, based on how dark it’s getting.” I said, gesturing at the darkening sky. “It looks like we'll have to take our tour of Ponyville tomorrow instead.”

Lightning looked outside, “I guess I’ll escort you back home and get some sleep myself. Early day tomorrow after all.”

Luna was disappointed for a moment before realizing something... “Yay! Pancake day tomorrow!” She cheered, running out of the shop.

“Luna! Hey, wait up!” I shouted, chasing after her. “Good luck with your date Lightning!” I threw over my shoulder as I ran after the pancake-pining Princess.

Author's Note

I know it took forever, but it's really annoying to try and update when the nearest source of wi-fi is at least 4 miles away and you don't have a car or drivers license or bike. So my workaround was to type it up on my PC, then copy it to my phone, then copy - and - paste it to google docs, then upload it here. So it's a bit rough, and it took a while, but chapter 4 is finally here