Shadow's Tail: A Dark Hero

Shadow sat in front his marble sink, and looked at his broken toothbrush. He let out a heavy sigh, “Third one this week.” On cue Tidy handed him another. Shadow clenched his razor sharp teeth together and began brushing again. When he was finished he spit out a mouthful of toothpaste and shredded toothbrush bristles. Tidy pulled a comb from his pocket, and handed it to Shadow who started combing his hair so that it swayed just above his eyes. Tidy took the comb back and him a large brush. Shadow began polishing his hardened, black tail with it. As he polished the arrow shaped tip of his tail several bristles fell to the floor. Shadow let out another sigh, and turned to face Tidy.

Tidy could see that Shadow was upset with himself, “Worry not sir, we have a vast supply for when that one is finally unusable.” Tidy walked across the wooden floor to a large cabinet. When he opened it, it revealed a vast collection of brushes.

Shadow gazed into his mirror, staring into the brown spot in his left eye, “A filthy stain of darkness in a pure blue sea.” Tidy said nothing, he knew Shadow well enough to know that right now, nothing he could say would cheer Shadow up. Instead, Tidy handed him a black hoodie and his wing bindings so he could finish getting ready for Pinkie’s party, and left the room.

Shadow held the bindings in his dragon-like claws. He clenched his hand, and the ropes were sliced apart. He tossed the remains into the large glass shower at the end of the room. After finishing his preparations he went to the dining hall where Tidy had made breakfast, eggy in the basket with apple flavored herbal tea, “This is early, even for you Master Shadow. Why are you preparing for lady Pinkie Pie’s party before the sun has even risen?”

Shadow had a mouthful of food when Tidy asked, so he waited a few moments with Tidy staring at him so he could speak without sounding disgusting, “I’m going to pick up some things from around town. Stretch my claws.” Shadow raised his right arm and flicked his five claws around.

Tidy grew a concerned look, “Sir, please tell me you are not implying that you are going to steal anything like when you were a teenager.”

Shadow rolled his eyes, “I need some bits from our treasury. Could you collect some for me?” With that Tidy left, and Shadow returned to eating, after spiking his tea his with his hoodie flask of course. He saved his tea until the end so it was nice and cool, and went to his Zen Garden behind his massive home. He sat on his favorite bench the center of the garden. He took a deep breath, smelling the beautiful scents of the many exotic plants decorating his little slice of heaven. He sipped his tea slowly, savoring every drop, “Oh, by the Eternal, I love apples.”

When Shadow entered the house again, he started for the door. Tidy put two saddlebags full of bits onto his back, “The Equestrian currency you asked for, sir.” Shadow adjusted the bag with his tail so he was comfortable, thanked Tidy, and left.

Tidy twitched his mustache to lower the drawbridge, when Shadow reached the other end Tidy twitched his mustache again to raise it. “Oh Eternal, I love being rich,” Shadow said to himself with glee. He strolled through the forest without a single problem. He heard the Timberwolves whining and running away along with the flutters of the native bird’s wings. Shadow had studied a map of Ponyville before he even arrived, so he knew he was already close to Sweet Apple Acres. He skipped along the path with his usual blank face.

Applejack saw him leaving the forest before he even saw her. She rolled on the ground laughing until Shadow finally made his way to her, “Ah’m sorry, but that has gotta be the funniest thing I have ever seen. Anyway, I didn’t know ya knew where Sweet Apple Acres was. What can I do you for?” She took her hat in her hoof, and gave a half bow.

Shadow threw one of the saddlebags in front of Applejack. Bits spilled across the ground, “How many apples can I get for that,” then with a terrible country accent, he added, “Pardna.”

Applejack’s jaw dropped, “Big Mac! Load our biggest with apples. I just made the biggest sale a the season!”

Shadow strolled into town with the massive cart full of apples. He didn’t much care for dragging a cart around, but it made it easier to carry all the apples. He grabbed one from the cart with his tail and brought it to his mouth. He heard what sounded like a small child yelling, “LOOK OUT!” Then something smacked into the side of his cart, hard. He turned his head and saw a young, orange, filly with purple hair lying on the ground. Next to her was a bent scooter. Shadow took a bite of the apple, waiting for some kind of response from her. She sat up and rubbed her head, “Aw man that hurt.”

Shadow was thankful she wasn’t hurt, and grabbed the apple that was in his tail with his hand, and then used his tail to help the filly up, “You okay kid?” His voice was uncharacteristically concerned, but the filly paid no attention to it.

“Yeah I think so,” then she turned her gaze to her scooter and started panicking.

She was on the verge of tears before Shadow spoke up, “What’s wrong?” His eyes darted to the scooter. The young filly looked to him, tears now running down her face. She tried apologizing for running into his cart, or that’s what Shadow thought she was doing, but her crying was too intense to understand what she was really saying.

Shadow popped the rest of the apple, core and all, into his mouth, and grabbed the young, orange, Pegasus with his tail. He set her on the top his cart, “Come on kid. Where’s the scooter store?” The filly was still crying, but less so now. She still couldn’t speak clearly, so he just walked down the road until he found a store with a giant scooter sign above the door. He unlatched himself from the cart and grabbed the Pegasus with his tail, as he entered the shop.

By now her crying had stopped, “Why are you doing this? I don’t have anything to give you.”

Shadow set her down inside, and rang the bell. He turned to her with a smile, “What can I say; I’m a sucker for a damsel in distress.” The shop owner popped his head out from the back, but seeing Shadow, he popped his head back behind the corner again. Shadow rolled his eyes, and turned to face the filly, “Okay kid, so here’s the deal. I'm going to trust you.” He set his saddlebag full of bits down next to her, “Buy any scooter you want then bring the rest back to me.” The young filly stared at the full bag in awe while Shadow left.

Shadow sat next to his cart for nearly half an hour, “Where’s that kid?” He was sure he had just screwed himself out of a bag of bits before the orange filly zoomed out of the store on a brand new scooter. It was blue with red wheels and handlebars. She zoomed around a bit before sliding to Shadow sideways, “Isn’t it AWESOME!” she shouted with glee.

Shadow grinned, “Totally wicked, kido.”

She tossed the bag, still almost full at Shadow’s feet, “I got such a great deal for this!”

Shadow picked up the bag, “Twelve bits? How’d you manage that?”

She stared in amazement, “How did you know?”

He pulled on the saddlebag, and reattached himself to the cart, “Easy, the weight is twelve bits lighter.”

Instead of questioning him further, she answered Shadow’s original question, “My real life sob story with some fake tears and a story of a monster breaking my old one.”

Shadow gave the filly a smirk, “Good job kid, you just might make it big someday, if you pay attention to where you’re going that is.”

The filly smiled and scooted away with, “My name is Scootaloo, remember it!”

Shadow grabbed another apple with his tail and was about to take a bite when he realized something, “I should probably grab some food for Balthazar and Kitty before the party.” He remembered Rainbow Dash talking about how Fluttershy was good with animals, so he thought that would be the best place to start. The locals hid when they saw Shadow’s expressionless face, but he paid them no attention. He had made it to the edge of town before he started zoning out. Thinking about what he should at this party. There wouldn’t be any rich pillars of society to make fun of. He felt another Pony bump into him, but this time the Pony that ran into him was much bigger, and ran face first into him.

Shadow was stopped, but the other Pony was sent to the ground, “Hey man!” He was a Unicorn that was even greyer than tidy. The only color he had was a royal blue hoodie.

“Yes,” Shadow stated, still slightly unaware of what was going on.

He stayed sitting, but addressed Shadow, “Dude, like, watch where you’re, like, going.”

Shadow could smell the pungent aura of weed on him, “Whatever.” He helped the grey stoner Pony up and commented on his lack of observational skills, “Where are you headed in such a hurry that you couldn’t see a Drakonian with a shitload of apples walking in your path.” Shadow tried to be upset with this clumsy stoner, but couldn’t.

The grey Unicorn began walking the opposite direction, and in a kind, sing-songy voice replied “I got me a tree to hug man.” Shadow rolled his eyes, and began heading towards Fluttershy’s home again. He lazily strode through the dirt path, taking time to enjoy the scenery, but he was alone. Ever since he met those six Ponies he hated being alone, so he picked up his pace.

When he could finally see the cottage, a green Pony with red dreadlocks approached him, “Hey, are you headed to Fluttershy’s?”

Again, Shadow could smell the pungent aura of weed, “Yeah. Why?”

She smiled, and asked him to keep Fluttershy company for a while since she had an “Appointment” with some Pony in town, and she didn’t want Fluttershy to feel alone while she was gone.

Shadow was already headed there, so he saw no reason why he shouldn’t, “Sure. I don’t have anything planned till noon anyway.” The green Pony then bowed, and went on her way.

Shadow unlatched his cart in front of Fluttershy’s house, tossed his saddlebag on top, and knocked on the doors. Fluttershy opened her door and was shocked to see Shadow, but welcomed him in with her usual quiet tone, “I didn’t know you were coming, I'm sorry if my home is a little messy.”

The house was too uncomfortably organized for Shadow, so he changed the subject, “I remember Dash saying you were good with animals. I don’t suppose you have any chicken seed and dragon lily I could buy off you.”

Fluttershy smiled, “Actually, I do. You can sit on the couch. I mean, that’s if you don’t mind.” Shadow jumped to the couch and sprawled across it as Fluttershy left the room. A rabbit hopped over to the couch and stared at Shadow with apparent annoyance. Shadow glared back at the rabbit, “Don’t give me that look you little shit. I will turn you into rabbit stew if you don’t get out of her in five seconds.” The rabbit could Shadow was serious and darted away.

Shadow began looking around the room when he noticed a familiar object in the window. “There’s no way,” He got up and walked over to it, “By the Eternal, it really is,” he held back his laughter, but grinned for a split second. When Fluttershy entered the room, again she was carrying two bags in her mouth. Shadow lifted the tree shaped bong by his tail and waved it at her, “What do we have here, Stonershy?”

She dropped the bags in panic, “Oh, i-i-i-I don’t know how that ended up. I mean I don’t know where. I-i-I.”

Shadow allowed himself to grin mischievously for this little act. He was waving the bong in her face while she panicked, trying to make an excuse for it until Shadow finally tried relaxing her, “Oh relax Fluttershy. Why are you in such a panic? It’s not like it’s illegal or anything.”

Fluttershy’s panic was replaced by confusion, “What do you mean? Y-yes it is.”

Shadow’s fun had stopped and was replaced with confusion as well, “Wait. What?” Fluttershy explained to him that in Equestria smoking marijuana was illegal. “Are you kidding me, it’s a plant. They made a plant illegal?” Fluttershy nodded yes. “Well that’s stupid, probably why Drakonia has less crime. We don’t make stupid laws illegalizing things that are completely natural.”

There was silence for a while before Fluttershy nervously asked Shadow, “Do you want to smoke some?”

Shadow looked her dead in the eyes with another slight grin, “Oh, oh Eternal yes. I thought you would never ask, yes, yes, a million times yes.”

By the time the green Pony returned, Shadow and Fluttershy had managed to smoke enough weed to hotbox the cottage. Neither of them knew how long they had been smoking, but they did know it had been a fun time. A wave of smoke poured through the door as the green Pony entered; behind her was the grey Pony from earlier, “Oh dude. I finally remember that I know that dude.”

Shadow barely had his eyes open so all he could make out was the blue hoodie, “I’ve never met you. I met this orange kid, a grey stoner, and a green stoner earlier, but you’re blue.” Shadow and Fluttershy were so blasted they had to lean on each other to keep themselves upright. “What time is it?”

Shadow was squinting out the window at the sun, before Fluttershy replied, “Almost nine, we should probably get headed to Pinkie’s party; she likes it when Ponies are early.”

“Damn. We really did get up early,” Shadow looked at his cart of apples waiting at the door, “I'm just gonna, gonna, leave those here. Kay.” Fluttershy nodded and the two of them wobbly got up, and set off for the party.

From behind him, he heard the voice of the green Pony, “Round two?”

As they walked to the bridge Fluttershy jumped into the small stream and looked up to Shadow, “Aren’t you gonna jump in to rinse off the smell?”

Shadow looked down at her from the bridge, “Nah. I'm not too good in water.”

Fluttershy smiled, “I could teach you how to swim. If that’s okay with you I mean.”

Shadow sighed, “I mean I literally can’t get in water. I sink. When I'm at the bottom my own body becomes so heavy I can’t even move.”

Fluttershy looked at him curiously, “How do you keep yourself clean then?”

Shadow shrugged, “Showers and rain don’t affect me, for some reason it’s only bodies of water, so i guess running water is somehow different than still water, or something.” Fluttershy was about to say something again before Shadow interrupted her, “Don’t question it. My body is weird. Want to know more stuff, ask me when we’re not headed to a party run by a pink psychopath.”

Shadow walked to the side of the river Fluttershy was climbing out of and attempted to help her out. However, they were both so stoned that she ended up falling on top of him. “Oh. I'm sorry.” Fluttershy squeaked out. Shadow said nothing; he just looked toward the sky and felt her warmth. He felt the wind through his hair, the sun on his face, and the water running from Fluttershy’s body onto his hoodie. He felt her breathing and heart beat slow as she drifted to sleep. He looked towards the clouds, and for a moment he thought of doing the same. He refused to sleep though. He knew if he let himself drift to sleep, he would have nightmares like usual. Eventually Fluttershy got up and asked him if he was ready to go.

He stretched his legs and tail, and rolled onto his stomach, “Yeah, after all I said I’d go.” He pushed himself up and walked with Fluttershy to Sugarcube Corner.

As he approached, he saw Pinkie standing at the door, “Square!!” Shadow had no clue what she was talking about and Pinkie could tell, “I said high noon, you’re almost two hours late!”

Shadow looked to Fluttershy, “I thought we left early enough to get here in time?” Fluttershy smiled and walked past him.

When he got there, he saw all of the Ponies he had befriended in Equestria, as well as the two stoners, “How did you two get here before us?” The two looked at each other, and then winked at him.

Rainbow Dash flew to Shadow and hovered above him, “So, Shadow, the big, scary Drakonian.” Shadow looked to her, slightly mesmerized by the array of colors in her mane. “The new monster of Everfree Forest,” her voice was extremely chipper and sarcastic, “The Element of Bravery… has a soft spot for crying kids!”

She burst into laughter, but the rest of the Ponies looked on in confusion until Twilight finally asked, “What are you talking about Dash?”

She landed next to Shadow and bumped his shoulder with her elbow, “A certain somepony told me you bought them a brand-spanking new scooter for no reason at all. A little un-Shadowy, don’t ya think.”

Shadow stared at her hair for a while before looking directly at Dash, “You mean Scootaloo. Yeah, she accidently ran into my cart and broke her old one. I can be nice and stuff.”

At this, the rest of the Ponies began laughing. “You, nice, yeah right,” blurted Twilight through her laughter. Shadow rolled his eyes, which made him more than slightly dizzy given his condition, and headed toward the food table. How could he have lost so much time just lying by the river?

He could already feel his body filtering out the THC. He began grumbling to himself, “Stupid fast healing bullshit. I never get to enjoy being drunk or on drugs. This sucks. He decided to cure his blues with food.

After eating a dozen cupcakes, the grey Unicorn approached him, “Wow, you are like, suuuuper hungry. Still feeling the bake?”

Shadow turned to the Unicorn, “Not anymore. Besides, I'm always hungry here. No one serves any meat.”

The grey Unicorn laughed, “Same old Umbra man. Dude, you should work on that, call yourself Umbro or something. Because I can tell you and I are gonna be total bros n’ stuff.”

Shadow stared at the Unicorn in shock, “How, how do you know that name? I haven’t been called that in, in over a… well a very long time.”

The grey Unicorn turned around, “Just do man, just do. By the way, names Pony, Stony Pony.”

Shadow sat near the food in wonder. How did that Unicorn know his real name? Well, part of his real name anyway. Suddenly Scootaloo burst through the door crying. Rainbow Dash flew to her, and was the first to ask what happened. She said nothing, but seeing the Blue Pegasus made her crying slowly subside. She pointed outside, and Shadow went to see the problem while the rest comforted Scootaloo. The first thing he saw was a seriously pissed Rockskin. Shadow liked most Rockskins. They were extremely docile, and resembled massive, scaled, Ponies without mouths or color in their eyes. Like most Rockskins, he was tall, and made of one color except for his solid white eyes and gradient legs. Shadow studied him for a moment, whispering his observations to himself, “Golden body. Gradient shifts from gold to black on legs. Brown spikes and a clubbed tail. It looks like he’s levitating Scootaloo’s scooter. Based on color and form, he’s a desert dweller, but why did he take the scooter?” With his observations in his head, he approached the Rockskin.

He walked as unthreateningly as possible. He knew if they had to fight others might join in and get in his way, and given how thick a Rockskin’s scales are, he didn’t want anyone getting hurt; at least, not yet. The Rockskin turned to him, being from Drakonia, he instantly recognized Shadow, “Shadow?! Where is HE?!” The Rockskin stormed over and towered over Shadow.

“Where is who?” Shadow remained calm, but stood tall and proud.

Shadow could see the hate growing in the Rockskin's blank eyes. “STONY! WHERE IS STONY,” the Rockskin bellowed into Shadow’s mind. Psychics, the one thing Shadow hated about Rockskins, they were psychics. Shadow filled his mind with his encounter with Scootaloo, Hoping this would make the Rockskin relieve the scooter to him, “SO YOU’RE THE ONE WHO GOT THAT BRAT THE SCOOTER! SHE RAN INTO ME WITH IT, AND I’M NOT A BIG FAN OF ANNOYING BRATS BUMPING INTO ME! I DON’T CARE HOW BIG AND BAD YOU ARE BACK HOME! HERE, I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT!” He plowed his massive hoof into Shadow, but it stopped hard as it hit his chest. The Rockskin waved his hoof in pain, then turned back to Shadow even angrier than before, “YOU WANT THIS SCOOTER BACK IN ONE PIECE, THEN BRING ME STONY!” With his last words still echoing throughout Shadow’s mind, the Rockskin stormed off with the scooter levitating beside him.

“He is not like any Rockskin I’ve met, and of course i thought of the worst possible thing at the worst possible time,” Shadow mumbled to himself as he reentered Sugarcube Corner.

Scootaloo was hugging Rainbow Dash, whimpering, “Please. Please get my scooter back. It’s the only thing that’s truly mine.”

Shadow approached Stony after gesturing everyone to calm down and return to what they were doing, “Stony, I need you to let me use your house, and to convince that asshole to meet you there. Of course, you won’t be meeting him, I will. Alone, if you would be so kind.”

Stony looked confused, “What asshole?” Shadow explained to him what the Rockskin looked like, “Oh, Coke-E. Wait, why do you need my house?”

Shadow was already making a plan in his head, “Just trust me, okay. And keep our friends entertained for a while.”

Stony shrugged, “Okay man, it’s the big ass grey building at the edge of the road, keys under the mat. Oh, and I have this thing with messes. Please, like, try to keep the house clean, and put everything back where it came from. Okay?”

Shadow was already walking away, “Don’t worry. I won’t make that big of a mess.”

Stony looked worried, but turned away, “Hey spike can you send a letter for me.”

Shadow strolled to the big, plain, rectangular, grey, house. Shadow grabbed the key from under the mat, and entered the horrendously organized house. The entire house looked like it was straight out of a magazine targeting creatures that liked the color grey and symmetry. He found the living room, which had a couch with a single chair across from it. There was a nightstand on either side of the couch, and a table in between the couch and chair. He waited on the couch, uncomfortable with how clean the place was. Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long before the massive Coke-E opened the door gently and walked into the living room, “Oh, Shadow. I didn’t know Stony had invited you here as well. I'm sorry for my outburst earlier; I'm just going through some withdrawals.” He rubbed the back of his head as he spoke, trying to look as sorry and innocent as possible.

Shadow cocked his head, “That’s okay; I’ve been waiting here so long, I’ve forgotten why I came here in the first place. What kind of withdrawals might you be going through?”

The Rockskin sat on the chair across from Shadow, “After Stony fired me, I kinda, got addicted… to meth.”

Shadow looked shocked, “He sells meth?!”

Coke-E shook his head, “No. he only sells weed.” As Coke-E finished speaking, Shadow lunged across the table and stared into Coke-E’s eyes. Shadow’s eyes turned blood red, “Yoarnounmyco.” Coke-E’s closed his eyes, but when he opened them he saw Shadow still sitting across from him with a curious stare on his face, “Are you okay?”

Coke-E looked around; he must have just had a short hallucination or something, “Yeah, just saw something weird.”

Shadow reached into his hoodie’s pocket, “Look, Coke, I probably shouldn’t feed your addiction, but we do both have the same problem.” This piqued Coke-E’s interest, “I’ve got some… well you know, on me. It’s a lot stronger than what you’re used to, but after this, no more addictions. You still get the high, but none of the down.” Shadow pulled a black crystal from his pocket. It pulsed with a red glow, but that only seemed to make Coke-E want it more. Shadow tossed it to him. Coke-E began levitating the strange rock. He looked at it for a moment, and then walked out of the room. When he entered again his eyes were swirling with black and red. Shadow shrugged, “Now for the fun part, stranger.”

This time Coke-E looked confused, “Stranger? We met earlier, don’t you remember?” Suddenly, static overtook everything Coke-E saw. It filled his entire mind, exploding his eardrums with the violent noise.

Shadow looked up and shook his head, his voice piercing into Coke-E’s mind, “But I do remember why I came here now.”

The static finally stopped, “M-my ears!” He reached for his ears and felt his thick blood seeping out, “Wh-What is going on? What did you do? WHY?!”

Shadow licked his lips, “Hunger.” His blue eyes became blood red again. Black chains rushed from the shadows around the room, sliding through Coke-E’s thick scales and attaching themselves to the bones of each of his limbs and tail. They lifted Coke-E into the air, and pulled so tight that Coke-E couldn’t move. The Rockskin was in too much shock to focus on speaking telepathically. “It’s been such a long time since I've had a chance to see a Rockskin’s blood.” He grinned as he watched the thick, red, paste; ooze out of the wounds on the Rockskin’s various limbs. He sat down and pulled off his hoodie, tossing it to the couch. Once again, he stared at the blood, “You know, it’s been such a long time since I’ve eaten meat,” as he spoke, he undid his wing bindings and tossed them at Coke-E. They hit his ribs and a bloodcurdling ‘crack’ rang through the house. He stretched out his dragon-like wings, which made the chains pull on Coke-E’s limbs.

“Ooh, yeah. That feels great,” he walked toward the stretched out Coke-E. He stared at his tail, “You know what, in my experience, the tail taste’s best first.” Shadow swung his tail down and the chain connected to Coke-E’s tail was ripped from his body. Tears streamed down Coke-E’s face, but that made Shadow grin wider. The thick blood oozed out and started forming a thick puddle on the ground. Shadow grabbed the tail with his claws and wagged his own tail happily, which made the chains on Coke-e pull in various directions, sending the Rockskin into levels of pain he had never known possible. Shadow pulled the spikes from the tail, and opened his mouth. His razor sharp teeth shined in the light, before biting through the thick tail. Blood dripped from the tail, slowly engulfing Shadow’s hands and face in the red mess. Coke-E tried struggling, but that only made his pain worse. Shadow crunched on the tail, chewing through thick scales, muscle, and bone. He finished the tail quickly; blood now dripping down his chin and onto his chest. He swallowed the last bite with a loud gulp, “I just remembered something, only the meat with blood pumping through it tastes good.” Coke-E screamed telepathically, hoping anyone would get his signal for help, but Shadow began laughing, “You think anyone can hear you? You think I’m stupid?” He began climbing up the Rockskin’s body; digging his razor sharp claws deep into Coke-E’ body. When he made it to the top he looked deeply into Coke-E’s eyes. For a second, Coke-E saw the room they were in, only there was no blood, only officers. The vision was soon destroyed as Shadow dug his claws into each of Coke-E’s eyes. As vitreous fluid oozed from Coke-E’s eyes, the screaming became much quieter.

Shadow hopped down, and waited a moment to see if anyone would knock. When no one did, he began licking the blood and vitreous fluid from his claws. The taste made him shiver, “I haven’t had this taste, in such a long time.” The quiet screaming was fused with crying and screams for help which made Shadow laughed maniacally, “Oh you are such a treat!” He walked behind the Rockskin and grabbed his lowest spike. He slowly twisted it until it popped out, squirting more blood onto Shadow’s face. His forked tongue slid from his mouth, licking up as much of the blood on his face as he could. He continued twisting of spikes until he got to Coke-E’s neck spike. He grinned and his eyes filled with blood lust. He ripped the spike off, and took a deep bite into the back of his victim’s neck. He let his mouth fill with blood before ripping off the skin and falling to the ground. He slowly chewed and swallowed the meat, savoring every second of this delicious moment as he heard his victim’s quiet sobs.

He crawled back up and looked at the line of dots on Coke-E’s back, “Let’s play connect the dots.” He dug his tail deep into Coke-E’s lowest spike hole, and sliced upwards. He moved it slowly so Coke-E could feel every agonizing second of it. Finally he reached the hole on his neck and stopped, “Well that’s stupid, it only makes a line. Let’s make it prettier.” He grabbed several of Coke-E’s spikes and dug his tail into Coke-E’s back. He pulled himself up, suspending himself by his tail. Coke-E’s skin held under the very light Shadow, but blood oozed from the wound, coating Shadow’s tail. He put one spike on Coke-E’s back and twisted it, until it was completely in, blood poured from the new wound in a thin stream. He repeated this with all the spikes, “There, now it looks like the night sky. Isn’t it beautiful?” Shadow looked at the mural of blood holes and spikes that he made in the back of another living creature, and fell to the floor laughing.

He rolled under the Rockskin and stared up at him, “Oh. I dismember you. Tell me where Scootaloo’s scooter is, and I’ll let you go.” Coke-E filled Shadow’s mind with the location of the tree he tossed the scooter into, before having a sudden realization.

The sound was almost silent, just as silent as Fluttershy, “D-D-Don’t Y-Y-You m-m-m-ean r-r-r-r-remem-em-em-ber?”

Shadow laughed as he pointed his wings up at Coke-E, “NOPE!” He slammed his open wings to the ground and the chains pulled apart. Coke-E’s limbs went flying across the house, and Shadow was soaked with blood. Coke-E was now hanging by his front left leg. Again Shadow let out crazed laughter as his now crimson wings turned black as night. Twelve blood soaked hooks shot from each of his wings, and latched on to various parts of Coke-E.

Like all Rockskins, Coke was durable enough to still be alive through all this torture, “PLEASE, DEAR ETERNAL PLEASE! YOU SAID YOU’D LET ME GO! PLEASE!”

Shadow’s face was crazed and his eyes were filled with hunger, “YES, I SAID I’D LET YOU GO! SO GO STRAIGHT TO HELL!” The hooks pulled back into Shadow’s wings, and tore what was left of Coke-E to shreds. Blood and entrails spilled over Shadow. Shadow pulled various bits of meat and entrails to his mouth and savagely ate them.

Shadow closed his eyes, and began laughing even harder. When he opened his eyes, crimson flames shot out, and spread across the ceiling. The flames died down until only Shadow’s eye sockets were swirling with fire. The fire from the ceiling quickly spread across the entire room, and Shadow began rolling in the entrails. When the fire grew closer to Shadow he looked around, still laughing, and found Coke-E’s skull. Just like most decapitations, the head was still sentient, but that would only be for a few more seconds. He crawled over to it, smearing blood across the floor, “Hey buddy, looks like I came out A-HEAD IN THIS SITUATION!” his laughter grew darker. He stood upright, “What’s the matter buddy, NO NEED TO LOSE YOUR HEAD!” His laughter was now high pitched, echoing, and pure evil. He swung his tail down crushing the skull of Coke-E, and licked up the chunks of brain and skull. He chewed them slowly, savoring the mouthwatering flavor. Then Coke-E woke up.

He surrounded in a magic bubble with sever Unicorns in police uniforms stared angrily at him. He looked down the street and saw a trail of carnage, ending with Stony’s house. The building was surrounded by firefighters, attempting to put out the raging fire. He saw Shadow across from the house, still clothed, and smiling at Coke-E. Coke-E looked to the guards and pointed at Shadow, “It was all him, I swear! Over there!”

The officers couldn’t hear him through the bubble, but Shadow approached the lead officer, “I’m sorry this one caused all this damage. I truly am, but worry not. He will be punished to the fullest extent of the law… in Drakonia of course.” The guard looked more than happy that this monster wouldn’t be staying in Equestria much longer, “I already sent a letter to the Drakonian Force to pick this useless waste of space up. They’ll be here shortly, just hold him for a minute.” The officer nodded to Shadow. Shadow looked to Coke-E once more, and smiled. Coke-E tried screaming out. He tried telling them it was all Shadow, but in truth, he had actually done it all. He didn’t know he was doing it, but he still did it. Shadow’s smile faded, and he walked away. The police would believe he was on a drug fueled rampage, the Force would believe he had killed five Ponies, but only Shadow would know the truth. Shadow had been controlling Coke-E the entire time. He forced horrendous images into Coke-E’s mind, he made Coke-E feel all the tremendous pain ten times stronger than it would really have been, and when Coke-E went on his rampage, Shadow was already across the street ordering coffee. Since Coke-E was actually sending out his telepathic messages, Shadow knew exactly where Scootaloo’s scooter was. Of course, he had to finish his spiked coffee first.

He left when his drink was finished, and two a brilliant flash of light signaled Coke-E’s departure. He slowly made his way towards Scootaloo’s scooter, taking time to enjoy the scenery along the way. When he finally got to the park where it was, he picked it up and carried it with his tail. He paused and smelled the many flowers in the park, before leaving it to find Scootaloo.

He made his way back to Sugar Cube Corner, hoping she would still be nearby. By now the party was over, but he saw the distraught Scootaloo walking down the road, “Hey Scoots!” the young filly turned around with watery eyes, but when she saw her blue and red scooter, she screamed with happiness. She ran up to Shadow and hugged him. Shadow smiled and looked down at the filly, “Hey kid, I thought I warned you about bumping into people?”

They both laughed, “Hey Shadow, you’re my new hero, but don’t tell Rainbow Dash or I’ll deny the whole thing.” With that, she hopped on her scooter, and dashed away.

Shadow’s face returned to its usual blankness as he watched her zoom away, “Glad that’s all over with.”

He heard Stony’s voice from behind him, “Hey Shadow!” Shadow turned to talk with Stony face to face, “So how’d it go bro?”

Shadow thought he should avoid answering this question, “I guess I should offer to let you to stay at my place for a while.”

Stony looked confused, “Nah, I'm fine. I got my place still. You were just there, right?” At that moment, another fire truck sped by them with its sirens wailing. Stony looked to Shadow worried, “Please tell me you didn’t.”

Shadow turned around and began heading home, “I didn’t, but Coke-E did.”

Stony looked furious, and shouted at Shadow, “That mother fucker! Where is he!?

Shadow wanted to lighten the situation with a joke, “He’s headed to a nice cell, but if anyone else asks, tell them I’m a stone pone killer.”