Shadows

Rainbow returned right past the finishing line. In her wake lay a trial of pure rainbow seeming to go on for miles. There was a massive explosion in the distance and it seemed to sweep across the land. It hit mannehatten, it hit canterlot, it hit cloudsdale, and everywhere else.

“Maybe I over did it a little?” She tried to voice, but found there was no one to talk to.

“Where is that other Pegasus…” She tried to find where the little pink and yellow thing had gone but she had vanished. She then had a sinking sensation and looked down. There was a forest there. She flew down almost as fast as she could, and found upon her arrival that the poor yellow thing had fallen down to earth and she was being carried away by some earth ponies.

“Hey! Where are you going? Bring her back!” She stopped yelling when the turned around and glared at her. It was kinda like they disapproved of her.

“We are carrying her to get help. She fell in case you didn’t notice.” They acted like it was entirely possible that she hadn’t noticed.

“But where are you bringing her?” Dash tried to get more details on her new friends captors.

“Ponyville.” He replied in a straight out sort of tone.

“Where?” Where in all of equestria was ponyville?

“Where we are going.” It was kind of like trying to milk a cloud for chocolate. Nothing productive would happen.

She waited for Fluttershy to recover for a few days, then returned home.

“Death? What a shocking surprise! I haven’t seen you in years! You’ll never believe what just happened!” Celestia in all of her radiant gory was clearly excited about something. Death looked about the chamber he was in and could only find a few words to explain it. Bright, colorful, and open. That last word in particular would have seemed ridiculous, had he not been visited a few hours before for the first time.

“There was a breach.” Death tried to explain but Celestia had taken his silence for granted and cut him off mid-sentence.

“I found my apprentice today! It was during routine magic testing. She seemed weak at first but then after this massive explosion she became supercharged and she accidently turned everyone into plants. Wait I’m sorry did I interrupt?” She didn’t look sorry, she looked bright.

“There was a breach.” Death explained.

“WHATTTTTT!” Celestia almost screamed.

“Did they see anything? If they saw something we might end up having to call down luna and performing a mass purge!” She almost panicked.

“It’s ok I took care of it. That explosion earlier was of a tiny Pegasus performing a Rainboom and getting out of phase with the rest of the world. I helped her out.” He couldn’t help but fell smug about this. He had taken care of a Major disaster by himself. Though Celestia did seem a little out of character.

There was a knock on the door and It opened. Much like how the previous being had been innocent, this one was naïve, and purple. It was a tiny unicorn, probably around the same age as Dash was herself. It had a tiny horn and had a tiny magic signature. Then she spoke.

“Who are you?” She asked in a tone that she probably hoped was without fear but was as wavy as a pond after you threw something in it. She repeated the statement again and would proably have gathered her wits for a third attempt if he hadn’t spoke up.

“I am an acquaintance of Celestia’s. Nothing more nothing less.” He said in a tone that hopefully ended the matter. It didn’t of course, but he didn’t really expect it to.

“He is here to investigate the explosion from earlier.” Celestia lied. Death supposed that there were some things you didn’t tell your apprentice until later in life. He wondered what else there were for a second and then stopped.

“Yes, I heard that you are now Celestia’s apprentice. Good job.” That ended any questions from her as she literally seemed to bask in his praise. It felt good giving out compliments.

It wasn’t until after he left that he realized he hadn’t asked her what Dash’s name not appearing on the list meant.