Harmony and Courage

Fluttershy ran to her bedroom door as a loud bang echoed downstairs. The pegasus rechecked the lock on her door before falling back onto her bed.

“Oh, I hope everypony’s okay!” she whimpered as Angel stared the door down. The bunny hopped into Fluttershy’s hooves and nuzzled her reassuringly as more bangs rattled the door. There were cries of surprise from downstairs, but no fear or pain. Whatever was down there (probably) didn’t have bad intentions.

A few of her birds landed beside the pegasus, chirping worriedly. Fluttershy smiled at them nervously as a loud bark came through the door.

The dark figure grinned as the final bug shrivelled up, granting them the last Tear of Light. Still smiling, they left the house and padded back towards the forest. The creature on their back leaned back again, and this time the figure allowed it. They deserved some rest after that. The figure let their smile drop as they reached the spring, leaping into the hollow and sitting patiently beside it.

Twilight gasped as the dark walls shimmered again. The bugs had seemingly disappeared, so she flung the door open and rushed outside. The alicorn looked up in shock as the walls cracked.

“Twilight, what’s happening?” Spike asked, coming up beside her.

“I… I think the walls are breaking!” she gasped.

Sure enough, the cracks on the walls met up before suddenly shattering. The sunlight hit Twilight hard, making the alicorn wince as she was momentarily blinded. All the same, it felt nice to have the warmth of Celestia’s glory on her coat.

The purple pony took another step forward as the last shards of darkness burst into dark energy. She attempted to reach out with her magic – she had to find out what this stuff was! – only for a sharp pain to run up her horn. She dropped her magic abruptly, resting a hoof gently against her horn and wincing.

“Twilight, are you okay?” the baby dragon asked, running forward.

“Y-yeah, I’m f-fine. Just, a little… magic shock. What is that stuff?” she panted. The alicorn very carefully channelled a little bit of magic, gasping as a jolt of pain shot through the magical appendage. “Whatever it is, it’s fried my magic for a while.”

“Uh oh. Last time this happened was when you first got your magic back from Starlight.” Spike frowned.

Twilight grinned sheepishly. “Heh. I probably shouldn’t have used so much magic right after getting it back. Too much exertion. Speaking of which, where is Starlight?”

“You sent her off to Sugarcube Corner right before the walls appeared.” Spike explained.

“We have to find her!” Twilight gasped. “My other friends can handle themselves in bad situations, but Starlight’s never seen anything like this!”

The dark figure stretched, yawning lazily as the Twilight wall fell. He’d seen it three times already; he didn’t need to watch again. The imp on his back spoke in her weird language before turning to dark energy and retreating to his shadow. The figure rolled his eyes before padding towards the town.

Rarity sighed as the needle pierced the fabric of her ruined dress. She already knew it was doomed, but if she could stitch it up a little she might be able to save some of the fabric.

“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle suddenly called from the window. “The sun’s back!”

The unicorn quickly stood and trotted to her sister. Sure enough, the shadow walls were gone, leaving nothing behind. The sunlight was streaming in again, lighting up the streets and drawing terrified ponies from their homes. “Oh, thank Celestia!” the fashionista sighed with relief, unlocking the door. It opened easily, allowing the unicorns to rejoice in the returned sunlight.

“Can I go looking for the other crusaders now?” Sweetie begged.

Rarity hesitated. “I suppose. Just… be very careful. Who knows, there could be some of those horrid bugs left!”

“I will!” Sweetie hugged her sister before fleeing towards Sweet Apple Acres.

The white unicorn stared after her sister as she disappeared. She sighed softly before stepping back into the boutique.

The dark figure watched with a smile as the horses rejoiced in the sunlight. Soon the humans would realise the sun was back, rein in their horses and clear the streets. The figure had usually returned to his normal form by now, but he was willing to wait. His shadow muttered something in her odd language, to which the figure simply rolled his eyes. They could wait as long as need be.

Starlight flinched backwards as the crazy pink party pony flew past her hooves. She let out a groan and reached out with her magic, lifting the pony into the air and stopping her rampage.

“Starry! Lemme go! I need to warn everypony about the shadowy monsters that wanna eat us all!” Pinkie cried, flailing madly in the magic aura.

“Pinkie, there are no monsters aside from those bugs.” Starlight sighed.

“But there are more!” Pinkie gasped, suddenly breaking free from the magic. “They’re always watching! Always!”

“Stop trying to freak me out.” Starlight huffed, trotting to the window. “Twilight will sort this out– Oh. I guess she already has.”

“What?” Pinkie tilted her head impossibly far, suddenly appearing beside Starlight. “Yippee! Now I can throw a party to celebrate!”

Starlight facehoofed. “Just seconds ago you were saying there were monsters out there trying to eat us!”

“Of course there are!” the party pony answered cheerfully.

“But now you want to go out there?”

“Yep!”

“Pinkie Pie, are you insane?”

“Maybe so maybe not!” Pinkie giggled before flinging herself out the door.

The figure knew something was wrong. He had been waiting for much longer than usual and he still hadn’t turned back. His only choice was to enter the town full of pastel-coloured talking horses. His shadow giggled at his misfortune, eliciting a growl from his lips. The figure stood grumpily and began padding into the town.

After about an hour, ponies were once again panicking. Twilight recoiled as Ponyville residents streamed by in front of her, screaming madly. The alicorn grumbled and quickly flew over the river of ponies before resuming her mission - she had to find out what had everypony panicked. The dark walls had disappeared and nopony had been hurt. So what was the problem?

The purple mare paused and looked upwards. A lone cloud was drifting above her. Twilight lit her horn for a teleportation, only to cry out as her spell backfired. She growled in annoyance at her magical shortage and made a mental note to never acknowledge that shadowy magic again.

The alicorn settled for flying up to the cloud. She landed a little ungracefully and began to look around. She went through a quick mental checklist of places in Ponyville and ran through each of them. From where she was watching she could see Rainbow Dash clearing other parts of the sky, Pinkie Pie bouncing around outside of Sugarcube Corner and Starlight Glimmer slowly going insane from being near the pink mare.

Finally she found something. A dark figure was prowling down an empty street. Any ponies who glanced down the street immediately fled, screaming in fear. From afar, Twilight couldn’t see the details of this creature, but she could tell it was a little taller than a regular pony, and was around Princess Luna’s height. They seemed to radiate a dark aura, similar to that of the shadow walls.

Twilight took a deep breath before gliding towards the creature. A thousand possibilities rushed through her mind. What if this creature was hostile? What if it attacked her? What if it turned out to be nice? What if it didn’t? What was that chain on its foreleg?

Twilight stopped mid-glide and stared. She was just a few feet from the ground, and the creature had noticed her. The creature’s blue eyes fixed on her with an odd curiosity. The chain on its left foreleg clanked against the cuff as they took a tentative step towards her.

The alicorn bit her lip and lowered little by little, waiting for the sharp-toothed creature to attack. She touched down but kept her wings spread in case she needed to flee.

The dark creature flicked its tail and took a few more steps forward. Muscles rippled under their dark coat. The thick mane about their neck was bristling. Their ears twitched, displaying a blue ring in one ear. Scars ran along the sides of the creature.

“Um, h-hello?” Twilight said nervously.

The creature recoiled, hackles raised. They drew their lips back, revealing sharp teeth. They dropped into a crouch, tensing for a jump.

Twilight recoiled in fear, her wings flaring. The creature responded with a growl. The alicorn got the idea that this creature wanted to be left alone. The alicorn flapped her wings and fled into the sky, hiding atop a cloud. She peeked over the edge and watched as the creature walked down the emptied street.

The creature passed by a pony who hadn’t been scared into fleeing. The pony watched in fear as the creature strolled past them. Twilight sat back up, confused. The creature had acted hostile when she had approached it, but it hadn’t reacted at all when it walked past somepony.

With a last glance at the creature she dropped from the cloud and travelled back towards her castle.