A Shade's Rebirth

"Ishan?" asked Twilight, puzzled. "That's a weird name."

"Well, I'm not from around here." said Ihsan, not really caring. "It's rather common where I came from and what kind of name is Twilight Sparkle?" Ihsan asked with humor in his voice.

"Which brings us to our next question: where exactly are you from?" Twilight asked ignoring the jab at her name.

"Why would you want to know that?" he asked.

"Well you're definitely not from Ponyville, and that’s the only town in Equestria that close to the Everfree Forest. And I hope I'm not offending you, but... well..."

"No pony has ever seen something like you before!" Rainbow shouted.

Ihsan facepalmed himself and let out an exasperated noise. "I'm from very far away........very far, so things that are normal here are considered rare there," he said. "I'm willing to bet that there are also few things known to me and not to you or... anybody here."

"Anypony." Pinkie interjected causing Ihsan to glance at her while she simply smiled and waved at him.

"Right."

'Well, at least that's true.'

"I do have a question, though. What are those tattoos on you.?" Ihsan asked as he pointed at their cutie marks.

"A cutie mark is a symbol that appears on a pony after he or she discovers his or her's special talent." as to emphasize her words, she moved her body so that Ihsan could see her flank and the star-like symbol on it.

Ihsan stared for next few seconds with an undoubtedly stupid expression at Twilight cutie mark, until he realized that he was also looking at her ass, which made him uncomfortable enough to snap out of this. Guess being a shade helps otherwise his face would have been blushing bright red.

"You're serious?" he asked. Which all of them nodded. Ihsan glanced back over to Twilight. "And what, pray tell, is your special talent, Miss Sparkle? Stargazing?"

"No, my cutie mark represents expertise in magic."

"So it's more a metaphorical thing..." Ihsan wondered in his mind while looking at the other mares: Applejack's cutie mark were three apples, Fluttershy's three butterflies, Rarity's three diamonds, Pinkie Pie's three balloons and Rainbow Dash's was a cloud with thunder in rainbow's colors. 'Why more than half of them has three things on their cutie marks?'

"What about yours?"

Ihsan turned towards Applejack who had her eyes narrowed at him. "My kind doesn't get cutie marks."

"What is your race anyway?"

The question caused Ihsan to freeze. What was he supposed to say. Hey, I was a human but I tried to become a creature of eternity so I can save my people only to be killed and turned into a shade who tormented people even his own family. "I'm....unique and that's all."

The ponies frowned at his answer while Applejack continued to stare at him.

"Where the heck are you from?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"I doubt any of you will know."

The ponies just stared at him with a look that said 'try us.' Ihsan sighed.

"Ever heard of Aysen?" Ihsan answered, figuring he could say at least the name of his land.

The ponies were silent for a minute but eventually turned towards Twilight who a thoughtful expression on her face.

"I haven't heard of that place!" she practically yelled, surprise in her voice. "Where is this Aysen of yours? I've read tons of books, but none of them mentioned of such place, with just earth ponies without cutie marks!"

'Her 'special talent' thing is magic, and she 'read tons of books'?' Ihsan thought with humor since that was what his sister did when he was a paladin. His humor suddenly turned dark as did his thoughts. 'Was a paladin.'

Ihsan slowly stood causing all the ponies to look up at him as he stood at his full height. "Well it has been fun ladies and I thank you for your help but I will be leaving now." Ihsan bowed then turned and walked out the library door while everybody stared where he went and no pony said anything to stop him mostly cause they lied when they said they weren't scared of his apperance when in reality they were slightly put off by it.

"So, what did you think of him?" Twilight asked the other girls as they left the hospital.

"Ah'don know, Twi." said Applejack, her expression puzzled. "Ah mean, am thankful he saved mah sister and all, but... he seems strange."

"Yeah, no kidding!" added Rainbow Dash. "He's hiding something, Twilight."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually agree with her." Rarity spoke.

"I'll write a letter to the princess about this 'Aysen', as well as about Ihsan. In the meantime, I think it would be best if he stayed at my place..." Twilight spoke only to be interrupted by both Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

"Are ya crazy?!"

"He beat five timberwolves in a matter of seconds!"

"I know, and that is why he should stay with me; if he tries something, I can easily stop him with magic. And besides, I want to hear more about the place he's from, anyway."

"Are you sure, sugahcube? Ah don't know if this is a good idea."

"I'll be there," added Spike with a cocky attitude. "Even if he would try to do something bad, he can't beat a dragon."

Everypony rolled their eyes.

"Hey Fluttershy, what do you think of Ihsan?" asked Twilight, noticing that their timid friend haven't said a word.

"I, well..." said the shy pony, looking at the ground. "I think he's scary."

"You think everything is scary, Fluttershy." replied Rainbow Dash.

"I know he had looked scary, Fluttershy," said Twilight; she herself was afraid to think what kind of magic he could be using to hide his body in complete shadows even unconsciousness.

"Um, its not that." answered Fluttershy, shaking her head. "I was scared of... his eyes." she added in a whisper.

"They were kind of spooky especially since they were glowing red." Spike commented.

"Its not that."

"Why then?" asked Twilight.

"They held pain....and they held no happiness in them but only an emptiness like he lost his life."

Ihsan walked through the town not really sure where he was going. "Ihsan!"

He stopped as he heard his name being called and turned to see Twilight with Spike on her back. "Twilight?"

Twilight picking up the question in her name answered. ""Well... I just thought, that since you don't have anywhere to sleep, you could come to my place."

"Really?" asked Ihsan, surprised. "That’s... nice, thanks."

"You're welcome. So, shall we go?"

"Lead the way."

Twilight smiled and started trotting away with Ishan walking after her.

"So," said Twilight to Ihsan, not reacting to Spike "Could you tell me more about Aysen?"

'Ah, there it is.' thought Ihsan, looking around. It was already past nightfall, but only one of the moons was rising. "Or maybe they have only one moon here? Better not ask.' The town was preparing for the night, it seemed; he could see ponies leaving places that reminded him of his land taverns and inns and hurrying to their homes. More than few of them shoot him a curious glance and were more than disturbed by his appearance. What struck him as odd was the fact that he couldn't see any fortification around town, no walls or anything. 'Is it really that peaceful around here?' Ihsan thought. At the same time, however, he noticed a town at the mountainside in a distance.

"Maybe," he said, answering pony's question. "but perhaps you could tell me few things about this place, first?"

"Oh!" said Twilight, as if the thought of him wanting to know where he is didn't occurred to her. "Sure. What do you want to know?"

"How about you give me some basics?"

"Okay. This is the town of Ponyville, and this land is called Equestria, ruled by sisters Princess Celestia and Princess Luna from the capital, Canterlot, which you can see over there."

Ihsan nodded.

"Princess Celestia also raises the sun, while princess Luna..."

"Wait, wait." interrupted a confused Ihsan. "What do you mean by 'raises the sun'?"

"Eee... what I said? She raises the sun every morning, and Princess Luna raises the moon."

Ihsan shot her a look of disbelief but didn't say anything. Either all of these ponies were being fooled by their rulers, or this world was even stranger than he thought. Not even the most powerfullest mage in his homeland could accomplish such a feat.

"They're good rulers, I take?"

"Of course!" Twilight snapped at once.

"Sorry, didn't mean anything rude." said Ihsan, flinching a bit.

"So, can you tell me now about your homeland? And how come nopony ever heard of it?"

"It's... complicated. You see, our land is hidden."

"What?"

"I don't fully understand it either, but it is hidden by.......a goddess."

"Godess?"

"She is the goddess that helps us when we need her the most. She is also the one that created my land Aysen."

'She wasn't there when I fell that day.' Ihsan thought sadly as he remembered the baron killing him.

"How come you are here, then?"

"I'm... not sure." he said, for it was the truth. "All I now is that I woke up in a middle of that forest and almost immediately heard three fillies screaming for help."

"So that’s why you were there." said Twilight, nodding.

'Wait, she actually believes me? What a strange world.' Ihsan thought as he stared at Twilight.

"I'm assuming you would like to find a way for you to return to Aysen?"

"No, not really."

Again, she looked at him stunned.

"You don't want to return to you home? Why?!"

"Well, mostly because I'm pretty certain that it's impossible. And besides," he added in much sadder tone "I don't really have anything to return to."

Twilight looked at the strange being next to her. She must admit when she and her friends discovered him they were afraid besides Pinkie, but she doesn't count. His appearance screamed evil yet the three fillies told them how he rescued them while also doing some strange magic. Now talking to him she could he was nice indeed. What was boggling her mind was why he never took his armor off or the spell that hid his face. Why was it her hoof also passed through like he didn't have a physical body?