The Guardian Shadow

Chapters

Chapter 2: I Get Mauled by Yogi
Chapter 3: Scarlet
Chapter 4: Silver Thorn
Chapter 5: Do Zebra's Dream of Striped Sheep
Chapter 6: The Journey Begins
Chapter 7: Jade
Chapter 8: To Trottingham...AND BEYOND!
Chapter 9: More Fighting
Chapter 10: Healing
Chapter 11: Training
Chapter 12: Games and Revelations
Chapter 14: Dreams and Premonitions
Chapter 15: A New Mission
Chapter 16: A New Ally?
Chapter 17: Bridleburg
Chapter 18: Death and Betrayal
Chapter 19: Revenge
Chapter 20: Next Move
Chapter 21: Answers
Chapter 22: Strategies and Nightmares
Chapter 1: Off to Equestria
Chapter 13: Cakes, Music, and Battle

Chapter 2: I Get Mauled by Yogi

Chapter 2

I Get Mauled by Yogi

Hurtling through that vortex was probably the worst thing I've ever experienced, and I've had some really bad experiences. My body felt like it was being torn apart, burned, flattened, and deflated all at once. I could feel my bones shrinking, hair growing rapidly all over my body, and something I've not felt for a long time, true fear. True fear that I would die, that I would meet my end in this swirling vortex of chaos and misery, this unimaginable hell. I closed my eyes, resigned to my fate, when I realized that there wasn't anymore noise, no more pain, no more vortex, just silence.

I opened my eyes to find that I was in a forest, surrounded on all sides by nothing but trees. The air felt dark and heavy, like in a swamp. I could hear various cries from the creatures in the forest, hoots, howls, and any other type of cry you can think of. There was also something else, something I didn't expect, a feeling

I tried to stand up only to immediately fall on my ass. Looking to see why, I discovered that I no longer possessed my hands or feet, but rather I had front and back hooves. You'd think this would freak me out, but after my ordeal with that strange woman and traveling through the vortex, I was kinda tapped out on freak out energy. Instead of freaking out, I decided I needed to examine the rest of my new body. I tried standing up again, finding it much easier now that I knew I was quadrupedal and not bipedal. I walked for a bit until I found a lake that I could see myself, and what I saw surprised me a great deal. When I saw my hooves, I thought that weird woman screwed me over and made me a pony, but when I saw my reflection, I found that instead of a pony, she had turned me into a zebra.

I examined my reflection in the water, letting my new appearance soak in. I had a white coat with gray stripes going along my entire body, a two-toned mohawk that matched my coat color, and a tail. One thing that struck me as odd was that I had no cutie mark, or emblem I guess since I'm a guy, but I didn't take much notice of this. The most surprising thing was my eye color, which back on earth were a dark brown, but when I looked at my reflection, I saw that my right eye was an emerald green and that my left eye was blood red.

“Huh, well, this is.....different” I said out loud

After looking myself over a couple more times, I finally said “Well, that's enough looking at myself, time to get down to business. First, I need to find out where I am”

I scanned my surroundings once again, to find that the forest looked like a cross between a temperate and tropical forest, with vines and tropical plants wrapping around the tree trunks and growing on the ground. The trees had fruit hanging from their branches, some I recognized, and others I didn't. I decided to search around to see if anyone was living here, and if they could tell me where I was.

I searched for what felt like hours, only coming across trees, trees, trees, and, you guessed it, more trees. I was beginning to get scared that this forest went on forever full of nothing but trees and rocks. This thought kept running through my head as I walked, permeating through my every thought whenever I tried to get my mind off the subject.

After a few more hours of walking, I figured it was time to make camp and rest. I had no supplies to make a shelter, so I thought of trying to make something out of vines and twigs, but when I went to get them, I was reminded of two things. One, that I had no hands or fingers, I think that speaks for itself. Second, I was in a strange place, full of dangerous creatures, some of them no doubt carnivores, and I had no weapons, natural ones or otherwise, that would help me defend myself if say a wolf decided to make me a midnight snack. This thought made me decide to keep going for a while longer, but I knew that I was gonna have to rest at some point.

I finally reached my limit, so tired that I was surprised I was still standing. I thought I would just pass out in the middle of the woods and let luck keep me from getting eaten, but that's when I saw the cave, a perfectly good cave just staring me in the face. When I saw it, my first thought was 'WOOHOO, shelter!' and ran towards it with gusto, but that's when a second thought crept into my head 'This cave may look harmless, but this is a forest in an alternate dimension, be on your guard, you don't know what could be lurking in this cave'

This thought in my head, I turned my run into a creep, suddenly aware of the danger I could be facing. Making sure to make as little noise as humanly, my bad, zebra-ly possible, I crept into the cave. It looked pretty much like any normal cave, lots of rocks, water dripping from the ceiling, and stalactites and stalagmites all over the place. After searching through the place, I figured it was safe, so I laid down and closed my eyes, glad that I was finally able to rest after all the shit that I've been through that day.

I dreamt that I was surrounded by nothing but shadows, nothing but black for as far as I could see. I had had this dream before, and the fact that I was having it now scared me more than anything else, because I knew what this dream meant, it meant I was in danger. I'd had this dream many times before, and each time I woke up to find danger around me. Tornadoes, earthquakes, robbers, basically any sort of danger you can imagine. I also knew that the danger was always immediate,always right about to get me, and that's when I woke up.

My eyes shot open, aware that danger was close, and I took as good a defensive stance as I could in this new body and scanned my surroundings, and when I did, I found out what the danger was, and it chilled me to the bone. Standing in front of me was the biggest bear I'd ever seen, and I'm not talking Black Bear or Grizzly Bear big, I'm talking 20 stories tall with big, sharp teeth and even sharper claws, a translucent pink body with constellations on it's fur, and the ugliest face I had ever seen, and I immediately knew what this bear was, I was staring at an Ursa Major, and it was staring back. After a few seconds, it took full notice of me and let out a roar so loud all of Equestria could hear it. I did the only logical thing, I RAN THE FUCK OUT OF THERE! I bolted out of that cave so fast I could've given Rainbow Dash a run for her bits. But that damn bear chased after me, with surprising speed given it's size

I started really putting on the gas, but I knew it was pointless, this thing was so big and fast I could've had the combined speed of the entire Wonderbolts and I still wouldn't have been able to outrun it. Knowing that, I had two options:
1. Keep running and hope I found a place that I could hide
2. Stand, fight, and go out with a blaze of glory

I chose Option 2, because I wasn't gonna die like some coward, if I was gonna die, I wanted to go out in a blaze of glory and blood. I took an offensive stance and waited for the beast to charge. I didn't have to wait long, seeing as how the damn thing was right on my tail. When it finally caught up, I yelled as loud as I could

“BRING IT ON YOU BASTARD, I'M NOT SCARED OF YOU!”

Hearing me, the beast let out an even louder roar than the last one, bared it's teeth, extended it's claws, and barreled down on me with blood lust in it's eyes. I stood there and waited, and that's when it happened, the same thing that happens every time I fight, it was like I was looking at a split-screen on a video game, except it was the same screen, with the same video playing, but one a little faster than the other. I saw what the Ursa was gonna do and dodged, my body coursing with adrenaline. My mind was racing, going through hundreds of different scenarios, most of them ended with me as a grease spot, but there was one, a crazy, dangerous, stupid scenario that ended with me as the victor. I figured being dead would suck, so I put my plan in action. I waited for the Ursa to take a swipe at me, then I did the stupidest thing ever, I let the hit connect and grabbed on to one of it's claws. Once I had a good hold on it's claw, I pulled with all my strength and tore it's claw right out of it's hand, the Ursa screaming in pain as I did so, and then I got thrown far enough in the air to reach the moon. Perfect, just like I planned, cause now my plan really got fun. Using the speed of my fall, I glided down, the claw clenched firmly between my hooves, and drove it straight into the Ursa's head.

For a few moments there was silence, then the Ursa Major let out a roar, but this wasn't an angry roar, it was a sad roar, the kind a creature only makes when it knows it's dead. The Ursa finished it's mighty roar, and fell over, dead. Thankfully I had the insight to jump off it's head before it hit the ground, landing just a few yards away from the body and getting slammed by the shock wave it made when it finally fell. After recovering my senses, I surveyed my kill. The Ursa still had the claw sticking out of it's head, glowing blue blood dripping from the wound, it's eyes closed in death. Even though I had only killed it to avoid getting killed myself, I couldn't help but shed a few tears for the creature. Truth be told, I didn't like fighting, much less killing, and try to avoid it whenever possible, because this is the kind of thing I'm capable of, killing my enemy in the most brutal way possible. I went up to the Ursa's head and pulled the claw out, letting the poor creature have some dignity in it's death. After I pulled the claw out, I whispered in it's ear:

“I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry. Please know that I took no pleasure in taking your life, and I pray you find peace in the next life”, shedding tears as I said so

That's when it happened, the moment that changed me forever. The Ursa began to glow, a glow so bright it would make even Celestia have to look away. When the glow faded, I saw that the Ursa had dissolved into stardust, dissipating and going in all directions, some going to the heavens, some going into the claw I used to kill it, and some of it going into my body. When the dust finally dissipated, I looked down to see that the claw was glowing, a pale blue light the same color as the dust. I picked it up, and when I did, the claw glowed even brighter, getting so bright that I couldn't bear to look at it, and for a few seconds it felt like I was going through the vortex again, but only for a few seconds. When the glow finally died, I found that I was outside of the forest.

“Huh, what the, how did....” I never got to finish my sentence because that's when the pain began.

“Ugh, I guess that fight took more out of me than I....Ugh....thought” my body rocking with an intense pain. The pain was getting worse, at first starting as a sudden jolt, but now becoming more frequent and more painful with each wave. I couldn't stand it anymore, I yelled out:

“SOMEONE, ANYONE....PLEASE...... HELP. THE PAIN WON'T STOP!” , my throat hurting with every word.

Apparently my yelling worked, because I could see a figure running toward me, my vision getting blurry from the pain. The figure stopped just a few feet short of me, surveying my injured body.

The figure finally said “Oh my goodness, your hurt, we need to get you to a hospital, oh but that might take too long,...oh what should I do” the figure said in a panicked but soft voice

I contorted in pain once more, this one worse than the others, my vision getting even worse

The figure saw my pain and said “Oh my,...there's no time for the hospital, I'll just have to treat you myself” the figure said, wrapping an arm around me and trying to pick me up

I managed to cough out “Ugh...the claw...bring the claw...it's....important...I ...Agh” I blacked out, the last thing I heard being the figure's cries of concern

Chapter 3: Scarlet

Chapter 3

Scarlet

After being brought to Equestria by some crazy witch lady and nearly getting killed by a 20-story tall Ursa Major, I was happy to get some sleep, I just wish the sleep hadn't come so abruptly and with enough pain to make the toughest of men cry for mommy.

I woke up to find that I was no longer in the forest, but rather in some kind of cabin. I tried to get up to inspect my surroundings, but something heavy was keeping me to the bed. I looked to see what it was, and saw a unicorn mare lying next to me, sleeping peacefully. Now I'd like to say that I reacted calmly, but when I saw the mare lying next to me, I jumped so high that I hit the ceiling and tumbled to the other side of the cabin. This, not surprisingly, woke the mare up.

Confused and sleepy, she asked “Huh,What's going on?”

“You....you...why were you sleeping next to me, and please tell me nothing happened”

It took the mare a few seconds to process what I had said, and when she finally put it together she blushed a deep red “I...I'd never do something like that, especially not with some strange zebra I found half dead on the outskirts of the forest.” she said, the deep red blush not disappearing the entire time she was talking.

“Okay, then why were you sleeping next to me” I said, my face feeling hot, no doubt I was blushing too

“As I said, you were half dead, I brought you here to get treated. I gave you some herbal remedies for your wounds, and I noticed that you were cold as ice. I tried heating you up with some blankets, but they didn't work, so I decided to use my body heat to help you. I wasn't planning on falling asleep, but it was late, I was tired from treating your wounds, and I just...” I held up a hoof to stop her

“Stop, I think I've heard enough, now if you'll let me get in a few words please.” I said in a polite tone

“Okay then, go ahead.” the mare said, the blush disappearing from her face.

“Thank you, now first off, I apologize for reacting the way that I did, it's not often that one finds a mysterious mare lying to next to him now is it. Secondly, thank you for treating my injuries, I have no doubt I'd be dead without your help. Third, where's the claw I had with me when I passed out?”

“Oh, well, it's right here” she said, her horn glowing a bright gold as she lifted the claw up with magic.

Seeing the claw, I stood up and rushed to the bed to retrieve it, making the mare jump back a bit as I plucked the claw out of the air.

“Thank goodness, I thought I had lost it” I said excitedly

The mare looked offended “Of course you didn't lose it, you said it was important, so I picked it up when I was saving you, no small feat I might add, that thing must weigh a ton” she said, slightly insulted that I doubted her

“Really, it doesn't feel heavy at all to me” I said, swinging the claw a bit for emphasis

“Where did you even get that thing anyway?” she asked

“Oh, an Ursa Major tried to kill me, so I tore out it's claw and stabbed it through the head” I said, a look of sadness on my face as I remembered the creature whose life I had taken.

The mare just stared at me “WHAT! You killed an Ursa Major, but that's..just..impossible.”

“Well, I guess you can't say that anymore.”

“ But....but...how did.....who are you?”

That was a surprisingly tough question. I mean, I knew who I was back on earth, but I wasn't on Earth anymore. Back on earth, I was a boring average nerd, but here I was an Ursa Major slaying zebra with no idea where I was.

“I don't really have an answer, sorry” I said, confusion in my voice

The mare wasn't happy with this answer “Oh come on, that is not an answer, at least tell me your name”

Another difficult question, I had a name back on earth, but I don't think that name would work here. I needed a new name, a new identity, a new life. I thought for a few moments, trying to figure out what I should call myself.

The mare was getting a bit annoyed “Oh come on, if your gonna ignore me, at least step out of the shadows.” she said, her voice sounding ever more annoyed.

A light bulb immediately popped up in my head, knowing what my new name would be, I stood up and said “Shadow, my name is Shadow”

“Okay, Shadow it is then”

“And what pray tell is your name madame” I said as politely as I could

“I'm Scarlet Breeze, just call me Scarlet” she said, getting out of bed

After sorting out all the craziness, I was finally able to get a good look at Scarlet. She was a unicorn mare, with a light green coat, a scarlet mane, and a red cross wrapped in vines for her cutie mark.

“Well, now that all that's sorted out, I need to ask you some questions, like where am I?”

“You're in Hoofton, a small village bordering the EverFree forest, now I have a question for you”

“Okay, what is your question?”

“What were you doing in the EverFree Forest, nopony goes in there without a very good reason, so what's yours?”

This mare was beginning to sound like a police interrogator, she was asking me all the questions I didn't have proper answers, and therefore have to lie about. She knows I'm hiding something and is asking the right questions to get the truth out of me. I could see this mare wouldn't stop asking me all these tough questions unless she either got the truth, or an extremely ridiculous lie, which in my case can be one and the same.

Putting on the best poker face I could muster, I said “You've got me Scarlet, fine here's the truth, I'm not actually from this world, I'm from a planet called Earth, dominated by a race of tall hairless monkeys called humans. We have all manner of advanced technology that makes Equestria look like it's in the stone age. I am one of these humans, brought here to Equestria by some crazy tattooed witch lady, dropped into the EverFree forest, where I had a nasty run in with an Ursa Major, fought it, killed it, got teleported here somehow, passed out from pain, and got saved by you.” I inhaled a long breath after I was finished.

Scarlet just stood there, a look of utter shock and disbelief on her face. Before she could say anything else, I said “Well, if that will be all for you, I'll be on my way, thank you for all your help and I apologize for troubling you.” I bowed before turning to walk out. Hearing my departure must've snapped Scarlet out of her shocked stupor, because when I had just opened the door, she used her magic to close the door. “You're not going anywhere, you 're still my patient and until you're fully healed, I'm not letting you out of my sight.” she said, an unexpected fire in her voice.

“Look, I appreciate you treating me and all, but I can't stick around for long, I have a lot of things I need to figure out, plus I don't like owing people, so if you don't mind I'll be going now.”

I reached for the door, only to have my hoof be encased in gold energy and hurled against the wall hard enough to make my head spin. When the spinning stopped, Scarlet was in front of me, glaring at me with a fiery stare. “YOU. WILL. STAY. PUT! You are my patient, and while you are in my care, you will listen to me and do what I say.” she said, a sort of sad anger in her voice, the kind that only comes when you've lost too many people to bear it anymore.

Hearing the pain in her voice, I gave in “Fine, I'll stay, but only until my wounds are healed, then I have to leave, we clear.” I said as calmly as I could, letting my body relax.

Seeing me giving in to her demands, she looked at me, a few tears forming in her eyes and said “Oh, well, good, in that case lie down so I can change your bandages and check your wounds.”

I did as she instructed, not noticing the bandages around my body until now. I lied down, letting Scarlet change my bandages without a word of protest. She had a completely new look on her face, a look of fierce focus, blocking out everything except the task at hand, which I have to admit was a little cute. When she had finished taking off the last bandage, she inspected my wounds, and a look of utter surprise spread across her face.

“What, that's not possible” She said, looking at my wounds in utter shock.

“What, what's wrong, are my wounds infected or something” I said, worry invading my voice

“No, they're not infected, they're....healed.” she said

“Healed, how is that possible!?” I said, a look of confusion and shock now plastered across my face

Before we could ponder how my wounds had miraculously healed overnight, there was a loud crash outside that made us both snap out of our shock. Screams could be heard from the outside, as well as a roar that sent a chill up my spine. I jumped out of bed, tied a string around the Ursa claw and slung it on my back , and bolted for the door. I was once again stopped by Scarlet, who grabbed my tail with her teeth to try and stop me.

“Wait, you can't go out there, it's too dangerous, and you promised you'd stay put until your wounds were healed” she said, her words coming out muffled from still having a grip on my tail

“As I recall, you said my wounds WERE healed not a few seconds ago, did you not?”

She let go of my tail, thinking over my question “Uh, I suppose so, yes.”

“Well then, if you'll excuse me, I have something to fight, bye” I said, bolting out of the cabin before she could protest any further and ran off to fight whatever it was that was causing all this trouble.

Chapter 4: Silver Thorn

Chapter 4

Silver Thorn

I ran out of Scarlet's cabin to find the town in a state of utter chaos. Fires were burning everywhere, ponies were running all over the town in sheer fear and panic. I stopped a blue stallion who was running by me and asked him “What's going on, what is everyone running from?”

The stallion was so scared that all he could manage to produce was something that sounded like baby speak and the ramblings of a mad man, so I did the only sensible thing and slapped him across the face a couple times, which was strange considering I had hooves.

Seeing him back to reality, I asked “Now, are we okay?”

He nodded

“Good, now tell me what's going on, and do make it quick” I said, my voice calm but urgent

My question was met with the stallion screaming “MANTICORE!!!!”

The stallion ran off, still screaming his head off, leaving me with a terrible ringing in my ears. I looked to see if what the stallion had said, or screamed I suppose, was true. Sure enough, there it was, destroying the town and causing mass panic, a manticore. I'd seen a manticore on the show before, but this one looked worlds different than the one in the show. This one was bigger, I guessed about half as big as an Ursa Major, with silver fur, black wings, a barbed scorpion tail, and claws about as big as I was.

The moment I saw this creature, my mind and body went into battle mode, my mind racing with different scenarios, adrenaline pumping through my blood. I assessed the situation carefully, since it wasn't just my life at stake here, but the lives of an entire village. From what I could tell, the village looked just like your average farming settlement, which meant any military help was out of the question. A few villagers were trying to hold off the manticore with pitchforks and farm tools while others were just throwing rocks at it. The rest of the village were running around screaming like headless chickens, some of them at least trying to be useful and put out the fires. Lastly, I assessed my own advantages and disadvantages. I had my brain power, my speed, a fair level of physical strength, and my Ursa Major claw, which didn't amount to much against a creature which had any number of ways it could use to kill me. Killing this manticore would be much more difficult than killing the Ursa. I could tell there was something different about this about the manticore apart from the obvious, like this thing is radiating some kind of evil aura. I thought about every possible way to beat this thing, and a thought occurred to me, maybe I should try talking to this thing, that's how Fluttershy was able to beat the manticore in the second episode, albeit that one was smaller and less scary than this one.

I was about to put this plan of kindness into motion, three arrows sprouted from the manticore's body, causing the creature to roar in anger, swiping a few of the villagers away and throwing them into the remaining houses. I looked to see who fired the arrows to see Scarlet levitating a bow with her horn and notching another arrow.

Seeing me, she yelled “Shadow get back, I'll handle this thing.”

My eyes were wide with shock “Scarlet, you can't, let me talk to it, maybe I can get it to leave peacefully” I pleaded with her

“Reason with it!? That's an Elder Manticore, a creature almost as old as the princesses, it's pure evil, the only thought in it's head is to kill and destroy” she pulled the arrow back with magic “and I won't let it destroy this place”

“Scarlet, please, give me a chance” I was almost begging by this point.

Something in my words must've reached Scarlet, cause after a few moments she lowered her bow, looked at me and said “You've got one chance, if you can't get it to leave, I'm gonna have to kill it, understood” a stern look on her face.

I let out the breath I'd been keeping in “Thank you, you won't regret this” I said, thanking her

“Villagers, lower your weapons and step back, let Shadow handle this” said Scarlet, with an air of authority about her.

The villagers stepped back, I could hear them murmuring, no doubt wondering how a strange zebra was going to save the day. I approached the manticore with the greatest caution, not wanting it to think I'm an enemy. The manticore simply stared at me as I approached, looking me over and pulling out Scarlet's arrows. I stopped just a few yards short of it, giving myself a sizable space in case I needed to run.

I used the most calming voice I could and said “Hello, how are you?”

The manticore just stared at me, no doubt trying to decide the best way to eat me.

I kept up my calm tone “Can you speak? Can you communicate in any way?”

Hearing this question, the manticore closed it's eyes, extended it's tail, and placed the stinger just above my head. I saw Scarlet raise her bow, and a few of the villager raise their weapons. I quickly held up a hoof to stop them “Wait, let's see what it does” the same air of authority Scarlet had in her voice earlier now in my tone. They lowered their weapons, all but Scarlet who still had her bow levitating with her magic “Scarlet, please” I said, a pleading tone in my voice. She lowered her bow, though she looked like she could still use it at the drop of a hat.

Seeing this, the manticore touched the main stinger on it's tail to my head, a feeling like electricity flowing through my body. I suddenly felt...connected to the manticore, like we were one mind in two bodies. The manticore looked me in the eyes, and then it spoke in my mind, an anicent voice that I could tell had seen much in it's years.

“You are very kind young zebra, most would have just let the archer girl kill me and let me rot”

“Yeah, well, I don't like seeing anything die, and couldn't just stand by and let the villagers kill you, and vice versa”

The voice sounded a bit offended “ I was merely trying to ask for help”

“Well, you sure have an interesting way of asking” a bit of humor in my tone.

“They were the ones who attacked first, I was merely defending myself” anger rising in the manticore's voice.

“Okay, okay, I believe you, why did you need help, are you sick, cause I think the archer girl can help you if you do this whole telepathy thing and explain it to her”

“I cannot”

“Why?”

“This is an ancient skill, a power lost among the rest of my kind. It can only be used with someone whom we have the greatest trust in.”

I couldn't help but feel honored that he, I assumed it was a he, trusted me “Well thank you, but I can ask her for you, she can show me what to do if you don't trust her treating you.”

“The kind of help I require is not medical”

“Well what kind of help do you need then?”

“I need help in dying”

I was extremely shocked by this “Help in dying? I don't understand, can't you just...you know....die?”

“Death is different for manticore's, especially an Elder Manticore such as myself. We cannot die on our own, we must die with the assistance of a trusted friend or family member. Elder's are feared for our size and power, left alone by our fellow kind, to live forever in pain and solitude.” a single tear falling from the manticore's face as it finished.

“ That sounds awful! How could any creature let another of it's own kind live such a horrible life.”

“I should think someone who consorts with the pony folk should know, your princesses suffer as we do, except they have the love of their people to keep them from despair.”

I couldn't help but stop and think about this for a moment. The princesses always seemed so cheery and happy, I never would've imagined that they could feel sadness.

“ I....I never imagined that...”

“ It is alright, most do not think of this sort of thing when they consider immortality.”

“I'm sorry, I'm so sorry” I could feel tears in my eyes, overcome by the realization the Elder Manticore gave me.

“Will you help me?”

I wiped a tear from my face “Help you die?”

He nodded

I had tears streaming down my face now

“Yes....I will help end your life.”

“Thank you young one, you are very kind, and you have such a respect for life. I am sorry for asking you to do this, but I just cannot bear this pain any longer.”

“I understand, I'll try and make it as painless as I can.”

“Thank you”

“Can I ask just one thing?”

“Of course”

“What is your name?”

“Why would you need to know that?”

“ If I'm going to kill you, I at least want to know your name, please”

“My name is Silver Thorn, fifth descendant of the Grand Elder Manticore Black Thorn”

“ I shall never forget you Silver Thorn, know that I take no pleasure in taking your life.” I said, sobbing.

“ I know.” and with that he lifted his tail off my head, and stepped back, preparing himself for death. I looked around to see that the villagers had made a circle around me and Silver Thorn, curious as to what was going on. Scarlet had moved closer than the others, almost breathing down my neck. Silver Thorn growled at the crowd of people, but an upheld hoof from me stopped him. I turned to the villagers, the tears coming down even more now.

“Get back, all of you” no one moved, I was getting angry “I SAID GET BACK, NOW!!”

Everyone immediately stepped back as far as they could, obviously scared by my angry tone, even Scarlet stepped back, albeit not as far as the others. I turned back to Silver Thorn, preparing myself for what I was about to do. I took the claw off my back, held it firmly between my hooves, and drove as far as I could into Silver Thorn's chest, piercing his heart. He roared in pain, and fell over, accepting death at last. He was still breathing, short, haggard breaths, the last breaths of a dying creature. I could hear his voice in my mind, speaking in short, fractured sentences.

“ Thank you..Shadow....you have done me...a great favor”

“I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry” my tears coming down like a waterfall.

“Do not be....because of you....I can finally...move on...to the great beyond”

I pulled the claw out of his chest, allowing him his dignity in death.

“ Shadow, I must...ask one..more thing...of you”

“ Anything, what is it?” I said out loud, my voice pained and urgent.

“ I....want you...to use my remains....to do something....good....let my spirit...be with you..in your travels....may it help...guide you..*Cough*” he coughed up blood, his breathing become ever slower.

“ Of course, I will, I'll make sure you're not forgotten, not ever, I promise “ this promise made the dying manticore smile. He closed his eyes, and his chest rose and fell for the last time. Silver Thorn, fifth descendant of the Grand Elder Manticore Black Thorn, was dead. I cried, true tears of sadness and loss, the tears that only come from losing a dear friend. I felt a hoof on my shoulder, and turned to see Scarlet, tears in her eyes as well. She wrapped me in a hug, a comforting hug meant to console. I cried into her mane, not caring who saw me. She stroked my mane with her hoof, rocking me back and forth and trying to calm me down.

“Shhh, it's alright, it'll be okay, just let it out, let it out” I looked up from her mane, and looked straight into her eyes.

“No one touches the body, you understand, I'm the only one allowed near him unless I say otherwise, understand.” my voice was a mixture of pain and sadness, but with a firm tone that said I was serious.

She nodded “I understand, no one goes near him but you” she said, a comforting, sympathetic tone in her voice.

I wiped the tears from my eyes and regained my composure “Good, now, I think it's time for some rest.” I said, turning and walking back to Scarlet's cabin for some much deserved sleep.

Chapter 5: Do Zebra's Dream of Striped Sheep

Chapter 5

Do Zebras Dream of Striped Sheep?

I stepped inside Scarlet's house, finally getting a good look at the place. It wasn't very big, big enough for maybe one or two people to live in no trouble, with the bed pushed up against the far wall next to the window. Shelves full of books lined the entire left wall of the house, mostly medical books by the look of them, with a few novels scattered here and there. To the left there was the kitchen, not very impressive, and a workbench with beakers, test tubes, and all manner of other scientific instruments with notes and papers strewn every which way. I didn't mess with any of it, not wanting to disturb whatever it was Scarlet was doing.

I decided to just grab a pillow and sleep on the floor, not wanting a repeat of what happened earlier. I set my claw beside me, having wiped the blood off in the grass, and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I dreamt I was in some kind of straw hut, lots of strange masks and vials decorating the walls and ceiling. A cauldron was heating a bubbling green liquid, which smelled like garbage that had been left to sit in the sun for a month. The thing that really caught my attention though was the woman sitting in a throne that looked woven out of every kind of plant you could think of, and when I got a good look at the women in the throne, my blood chilled. It was the same woman who had sent me to Equestria, except now she was dressed in a black gossamer gown, still sporting all the gold jewelry and the same hairstyle as before. She had a strange bamboo staff in her left hand with beads and other ornaments hanging from the tip and strange black symbols along the entirety of the staff.

She smiled at me and said “Welcome my champion, you look like you've been having fun.”

“Yeah, if you call nearly getting killed by two giant monsters, going against my code of ethics, and getting into a very awkward bed situation fun, then yes, I've been having a fucking blast.” I said sarcastically.

The woman smiled widely and exclaimed “Fantastic!”

I face-palmed, or face-hoofed I guess.

“Oh come on, I'm just having fun, being a goddess gets boring.”

“Well that doesn't mean you can......wait, did you say goddess?” I asked confusedly

The woman looked at me and said “Oh I just love the look on people's faces when I say that, but yes, I am a goddess.”

I sat there, unsure of how to respond.

“Oh come on, it can't be that surprising.” The goddess said a little annoyed.

“The thought had crossed my mind, but to be honest I thought you were some kind of witch.” I said cautiously.

The goddess looked appalled “WHAT, whatever gave you that idea.”

I raised an eyebrow “You show up in my dimension looking like a punk rock reject, catapult me into a different dimension, laughing a creepy laugh the whole time I might add, and turn me into a zebra, what the hell did you expect me to think you were?”

The goddess just sat there looking utterly dumbfounded. After a few seconds of silence, she finally said “Was my laugh really that creepy?”

I face-hoofed again, not believing that anyone apart from Discord or Pinkie Pie could be this random.

“I am not random, I merely have a good sense of humor.” the goddess said with an annoyed look.

I looked at her “How did you...”

“I'm a goddess, I read your mind, seriously you should really start expecting things like this, many surprises are in store for you my champion.”

“You keep calling me your champion, why is that?”

“Oh that's right, I forgot to tell you about the Game.”

I was confused, “Game, what game?”

“OK, long story short, Discord brought a human to Equestria a while back, and the other gods decided to follow his lead, and now a ….lets call it a chess game, is being played by the gods, with you humans as our game pieces, you follow?”

I just sat there, trying to process what this crazy goddess had just told me.

“Oh dear, too much to process at once isn't it?”

I snapped out of my stupor, shook my head and said “No, it's just...I wasn't expecting other humans to be here, how many are here already?”

The goddess pondered this for a moment “It's tough to say, I'd say at least a hundred.”

I said a silent wow as the goddess said “Any more questions?”

I thought carefully, and then a sobering thought crossed my mind “You said this was a game right?”

“Correct.”

“..and we humans are the pieces, right?”

“Right, what are you trying to say?” The goddess said a bit concerned

“So what happens when the winner is decided, what happens to the losers?”

The goddess just looked at me, a look of pity and sadness in her eyes, she walked up to me and crouched down to meet me on eye level “Do you really want me to answer that question?”

The tone in her voice and the look in her eyes said all that needed to be said 'You'll find out'

“I.....I guess not, I never liked spoilers anyway.” I said, trying to laugh off the whole thing.

The goddess stood and smiled “Good choice, but don;t think this means I won't be helping you along your journey, albeit in small ways.”

“What do you mean?”

Before the goddess could answer, the sound of a bell rang through the dream. The goddess looked at me and said “Our time is up, but before I go I must tell you one final thing, go to Canterlot, talk with the princesses, if the guards won;t let you in, tell them to tell the princesses it concerns the chess game, oh and bring a cake too.” her form beginning to flicker.

I stood there confused “Wait, why do I need to talk to the princesses, and a cake?”

“It will make sense in time, for now I must depart. Good bye my champion, and have fun with the little gift I left you.” the goddess said as the hut began to fill with a blinding light.

“Wait, gift, don't go.” The hut became completely enveloped in light, and the dream ended.

“WAIT!” I yelled, not realizing that the dream was over, and the goddess was gone. Scarlet apparently heard my scream, kinda hard not to, and ran into the house from outside, her bow drawn and her horn glowing with magic.

“What's wrong, I heard a scream, are you hurt?” She asked, concern showing on her face.

I waved a hoof to dismiss these claims and said “No, I'm fine, just a bad dream, sorry for worrying you.”

Scarlet let out a sigh of relief and lowered her bow. She was about to say something when her eyes widened, her mouth hanging open in surprise.

Confused, I asked “Uh, you okay Scarlet, let me guess I have serious bed head right?”

Warily, she said “No, look behind you.”

I did as she said, and my mouth hung open in surprise as well. I now understood what the goddess meant by gift, and hell if this wasn't the best gift ever. The goddess had turned the claw I got from my encounter with the Ursa Major into quite possibly the coolest sword I've ever seen. The claw itself made up the blade, with a gold guard and black and white wrappings on the handle. The sword was massive too, a couple feet bigger than myself. It had a note wrapped around the handle that read:

“Use this gift wisely my champion, for you will face many battles in the future.”

I looked at the note for a solid minute, letting the warning settle in. Finally Scarlet broke the silence and said “Who's it from, someone you know?”

I crumpled the note between my hooves, turned to Scarlet and said “You could say that, anyway, what were you doing outside?”

“I was gathering herbs to mix up some herbal remedies, I used up the last of my stocks healing you.”

“Right, sorry about that, but they must've worked, I'm all patched up, see.” I spun around and did a few poses for emphasis. Scarlet just looked at me, her eyes giving me a blank stare.

“Uh, what?”

“I don't get you”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you show up out of nowhere at the edge of the EverFree Forest, cut and bruised and carrying a claw. Then your injuries heal just about overnight when they should've taken at least a week, and then you have some kind of freaky mental talk with an Elder Manticore, kill it, and then cry like a little baby afterward, who exactly are you?”

This question caught me off guard, I'd pretty much told her who I was last night, but given that my explanation was fast and sounded more like the the ramblings of a mad man, I decided to lie.

“Let's just say I'm complex and leave it at that, sound good?”

Scarlet huffed and said “Fine, you don't wanna tell me who you are, that's just fine, by the way, what are you gonna do with the manticore, it's gonna rot if you leave it in the sun any longer.”

“Him”

“What?”

“Not 'It', Him, and his name is Silver Thorn, just because he's a manticore doesn't mean you can label him an 'It'!” I said, my anger rising with each word.

Scarlet held up her hooves in her defense “Ok, calm down, I didn't mean it like that, sorry.” she said, her voice sounding sincere.

I calmed down, let my anger disappear, and said “Ok, sorry for the outburst, and as for my plans, you'll find out here pretty quick.”

I instructed the villagers to gather as much spare wood as they could manage and build a funeral pyre around Silver Thorn's body. After that was done, I had them shave off his lion mane and gather it together, then had them cut off the top section of his tail. They did as I instructed and placed the fur and tail head in front of me.

One of the villagers, a blue stallion a blonde mane, came up to me, looking scared and said “Uh, excuse me mister...”

“Shadow”

“Right, Mister Shadow, what are you planning on doing with all this.”

I looked at him and said the same thing the goddess had said to me concerning my future “Do you really want me to answer that question?”

The stallion had a look of fear on his face, as well as a few droplets of sweat trickling down the side of his face “No, I guess not”.

“Good answer”

With everything prepared, once night had fallen, Luna's beautiful moon shining high in the sky, I gathered the villagers around the pyre and prepared to light the pyre. I had been to funerals before, back on Earth, and I always cried at them, but this was not the time for tears. Even though I had only known Silver Thorn for a very short while, I knew that he would not want me to weep for him, but rather he would want me to honor him with his final wish, for me to use his remains to help me along my journey, and so I shall. With that, I lit the pyre, the smell of smoke and fire filling the night air. Many of the villagers just stood there watching in silence, but a few were shedding tears, overcome by what was transpiring. Scarlet stood by my side through the whole thing, helping me keep myself together through the event.

After a few hours, the flames finally died down, and the villagers went back to there homes to get some rest. I continued to stand there, watching the last bits of embers burn. Scarlet began to leave when she saw me still staring at the pyre “Shadow, you coming back?”

“I'll be back in a bit, I'd like to be alone right now”.

“You sure, cause I can stay if you want”.

“No, I'm fine, go on ahead, get some rest”.

Reluctantly, she said “Ok” and walked back to the house.

I continued to stare at the pyre, even after the fires had burned out and Silver Thorn's body had been reduced to ashes. I thought about all that had transpired the past few days, getting sent to Equestria, becoming a zebra, fighting an Ursa Major and killing it, meeting Scarlet, meeting Silver Thorn and then killing him, and my dream about the goddess. I didn't know what this whole chess game thing was about, but I sure as hell was gonna find out. I looked at the pyre one last time before I headed back to Scarlet's house, this time with my mission clear in my mind.

Chapter 6: The Journey Begins

Chapter 6

The Journey Begins

I spent the next few days learning as much as I could about Equestria, and believe me, there was a lot to learn. Whatever I couldn't find in Scarlet's books, Scarlet explained to me. First off, Equestria was vastly different from how it's depicted in the show, particularly in the size of the region and the various other countries surrounding it. Scarlet explained that I was currently in Hoofton, a small village halfway between Appaloosa and Trottingham that bordered the EverFree Forest. To the north were the Dragon Badlands, the Griffin Dominion, which Scarlet explained had been struggling for the past 900 years ever since Princess Celestia dissolved their government, Gem Fido which was Diamond Dog territory, and the Changeling Wasteland. To the South was the Great Southern Rainforest, which was also called the Feline Jungle apparently, the Volcanic Wastes, and Black Marsh, everything beyond was uncharted. The East and West had the Zebraconian Isles, which as you might have guessed is where the majority of zebras reside.

There was one subject I was more than eager to learn about, and that was magic. Scarlet had given me a basic explanation, that all creatures had magic in their bodies, but that only a few species were able to access it at will, such as unicorns, alicorns, zebras, and dragons, and others like pegasi, earth ponies, griffins, and diamond dogs used it unconsciously, like with pegasi and being able to move clouds.

“That's all that I know really, never really needed to know much more apart from levitation and a few medicinal spells, sorry Shadow”.

“Don't be sorry, you've been a great help, but are you sure you don't have anything else you can tell me?”

Scarlet thought for a moment “Well, I might have a few books on it, but I don't really know, check for yourself”. She said, going to her workbench to finish making some medicine.

I went to the bookcase and searched for any books I could find on magic, only finding a few guides for basic unicorn magic, which didn't help considering I'm a zebra. I was about to give up when I looked down to see that I had missed a book on the very bottom shelf. I picked it up, which baffled me since I had hooves and all, and looked at it. It was an old leather bound book, easily a century old judging by the wear on the weather and the yellowing along the edge of the pages. The thing that struck me as weird was the big circle that was embossed on the front. I blew the dust of the book to get a better look, and after looking at it one more time, my blood chilled, because I recognized the circle on the front, it was a transmutation circle.

I turned to Scarlet and said “Scarlet, where did you get this book?” confusion evident in my tone.

Scarlet looked up from her workbench at me and said “Oh that, don't know, it came with the house, the previous owner must've left it here, why do you ask?”

I just stared at the book and said “No reason, just curious”.

Scarlet shrugged “Well, if it can help you, by all means use it” she said, turning back to the medicine she was making.

With that, I began studying the contents of the mysterious book. The beginning of the book explained the basic laws and sequences of Alchemy, like the transmutation sequence and equivalent exchange, which I already had a working knowledge of given that I watch Fullmetal Alchemist almost as much as I watch MLP. After that, it gave an explanation of the best way to construct a transmutation circle, like which symbols to place and how to place them. I decided to try out the basic circle used by the Elric brothers as children. I went outside Scarlet's house, since this could go very wrong if I did it incorrectly, and drew the circle in the dirt with my sword. The book said that there were three steps to a successful transmutation
1. Comprehension – Understanding the molecular and atomic makeup of the material to be transmuted.
2. Deconstruction – Use energy to break down the material to it's base elements to make it malleable enough to reshape.
3. Reconstruction – Reshape the elements into the desired form.

I thought very carefully so as not to have the transmutation rebound, which from what I've seen is not pretty. Step 1: Comprehension, I had soil, made up of sand, clay, and humus. Step 2: Deconstruction, I placed my hooves on the circle, and focused, tapping into the energy of the earth as well as my inner magic, after a few seconds, the circle began to glow green and sparks flew from the circle, and the soil began to break down into it's base elements, becoming malleable enough for me to initiate Step 3: Reconstruction. The book said to just envision what you want to shape the substance into and use the energy to shape the elements into that form. I envisioned something very simple, a ball, a simple, regular ball. I kept the image and willed the materials to become the image in my mind. After a few seconds, the light grew so bright that I had to close my eyes. When the light had finally died down, I opened my eyes to see that in the middle of the circle was a ball, a simple ball. I tentatively picked it up, it was brown, like soil, but hard and sturdy like stone, and it was also lightweight. Needless to say, I WAS FUCKING STOKED, I HAD JUST PERFORMED ALCHEMY! I jumped for joy, giddily happy that I had successfully performed a transmutation. I would've continued jumping up and down like Pinkie Pie on a sugar high, but I sensed a presence behind me. I turned to see Scarlet with a look of utter shock on her face, her mouth hanging open in disbelief.

I picked up the ball and said “Pretty cool eh, not bad for my first time”. Scarlet just stood there, a shocked look still on her face “You know you should close your mouth, bugs could nest if your not careful”.

This seemed to jolt her from her shock. She shook her head, looked at me and said “Shadow, what the buck did you just do, I've never seen that type of magic before”.

“Neither have I, at least not in actual practice before”.

“Where'd you learn to do that, from that old book?”

I thought about that for a moment before saying “Yes and no”.

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is, yes I learned how to do it from the book, but no in that I already knew about it, just never done it before”.

“What was that?”

“Alchemy”.

Scarlet looked confused “Alchewhat now?”

I set the ball on the ground “Not important, I....” That was all I could say before I passed out.

I woke up to Scarlet screaming for me to wake up, even shaking me. My eyes fluttered open, seeing Scarlet with her hoof raised, obviously about to slap me awake.

“Woahowoahwoahwoah, I'm awake Scarlet, I'm awake!” I said quickly, not wanting to get slapped. Scarlet lowered her hoof, only to raise it again and slap me clear across the face, leaving my head spinning.

After the spinning stopped, I practically yelled “What was that for?”

Scarlet looked at me, tears forming in her eyes, then did something completely unexpected, she wrapped me in the tightest hug ever and cried into my chest.

“I thought you were dead you bastard, don't scare me like that!” She said still crying. I just sat there, in utter shock at what was playing out before me. Scarlet never seemed like the type to cry over anything, or anyone for that matter. I did the only thing I could think of, I let her cry and stroked her mane, trying to calm her down.

“Shh, It's alright Scarlet, the transmutation just took more out of me than I expected, I'm fine, really”.

Scarlet lifted her head from my chest, her eyes tear stained. She suddenly realized what she was doing and jumped from the embrace, her face as red as her mane “That was....I didn't mean..”

I held up a hoof to stop her “It's cool, you don't have to explain” I grabbed Scarlet and hugged her again “I'm sorry I scared you, I didn't realize that using alchemy would take so much out of me”.

Scarlet pulled herself out of the hug and said “It's...it's fine, I guess I just overreacted a little”.

“It's all good, now what do you say we go back inside for some much deserved rest, we both could use it” I suggested. Scarlet nodded and with that we both went back inside for some much deserved rest.

After Scarlet had gone to bed, I was wide awake, thinking about the past few days, and also about my future. The goddess said that I would face many battles in my future, and from her tone about my future, it looked like they were gonna be some very tough battles. I looked at Scarlet sleeping peacefully in her bed, her mane slightly ruffled from tossing and turning in her sleep. I thought about all she had done for me, healing my wounds, wanting to defend the town from Silver Thorn, and letting me stay at her house. I thought about her reaction to me passing out after my alchemy attempt earlier, crying, screaming, shaking for me to wake up, the desperation in her voice was something I'll never forget. Scarlet had done so much for me, and I knew I'd never be able to repay her. To be honest, I was hoping she would join me on my journey, but after today, and the earlier warning of my future battles, one thought wouldn't escape my mind “If Scarlet comes with you, she will get hurt”.

With this thought in mind, I gathered my belongings, which consisted of my sword, the bag of Silver Thorn's fur, and the tail stump, and prepared to leave. Before I left though, I wrote Scarlet a note saying:

Dear Scarlet, as you read this note I will be long gone, please do not look for me. I cannot give you an explanation that won't sound crazy, so I'll say only this: my future will not be a peaceful one, it will be riddled with danger and despair, and I just can't bear to put you through all that, especially since you have shown me such kindness and generosity. I'm deeply sorry that I won't be able to repay the kindness you have shown me, but this is for the best. Please accept my apology, and know that I am thankful for all you have done for me.
Your friend, Shadow

After walking for a considerable amount of time, I stopped to rest and pulled out the map I had taken from Scarlet's house, since that was the only map there and I was lost to the geography of this place, I had no choice but to take it with me. Since the goddess had told me to go to Canterlot, I had mapped a route from Hoofton to Trottingham, then to Ponyville (Yeah, like I'm gonna pass up a chance to go there) and finally on to Canterlot. I had no idea how long the trip was going to be, so I gathered some provisions from Scarlet's house before I left (What, where else was I gonna get supplies this time of night), some food, a canteen of water, a small cooking pan, and a piece of flint to start a fire. I also took along the Alchemy book, since leaving it at Scarlet's could be dangerous. I was about to set out again when, suddenly I heard rustling coming from the forest. I immediately went for my sword, only to have it knocked out of my hooves by a net that came out of nowhere. My battle sense kicked in, and I was able to dodge a vial of some kind of chemical that missed my face by only a few inches, shattering on the ground behind me.

My attackers came out from the darkness and stood in the light of Luna's moon. I couldn't get a very good look at them, but I knew what they were, diamond dog slavers. Scarlet had explained that diamond dogs sent out groups like this to capture unsuspecting people to use for slave labor. The one I assumed was the leader, judging by the fact that he carried a belt with vials of blue liquid attached to it and carried a massive spear, stepped forward and said

“Hmm, zebra, not often we see zebra's in pony territory” he said in a gravely voice that sounded like metal scarping on stone.

After getting a better look at them, I saw that there were at least four of them that I could see, the leader with his spear and vials, and the other three carrying crude spears and clubs made from what looked like stone, all of them carrying swords at theirs sides.

“He look strong, he will make good slave” one of the other dogs said in a broken sort of speech.

“Yes, Alpha will reward us with lots of gems” said another dog, this one carrying a net launcher.

The leader barked at them “Shut up and capture the slave you fools” the other dogs complied, two drawing their swords and the one with the net launcher preparing another net. I was never good at fighting multiple enemies, even with my battle sense in full gear. The best plan I could think of was to fight off the three lackeys and try and fight the leader, which would be especially hard considering I didn't have my sword. I put my plan into action, going for the one I dubbed the weakest, the smaller one wielding a sword and spear. He was caught off guard, which helped me greatly, I rushed him and bucked him square in the head, sending him flying headfirst into a tree. The one with the net launcher fired the net at me, but I had anticipated this and pivoted so that the other sword wielding dog was caught in the net instead of me. I grabbed his fallen sword in my mouth and slashed the dog with the launcher across the face, sending blood flying as the dog fell. As I watched the dog fall, the leader threw his spear at me, which I was able to dodge, but not without getting a nasty slash along my side. I fell to my knees, the blood flowing rapidly from the wound, my vision getting blurry. The leader stood over me, drawing one of the vials of the strange liquid.

“You will make good slave zebra, alpha will be pleased” he said, raising the vial.

I closed my eyes and prepared myself for capture, when I heard a sound I didn't expect, the sound of an arrow making contact with flesh. I opened my eyes to see that that the leader had been struck right in the eye by an arrow, and lay dead in the grass, the vial still clutched in his paw. The other dogs all had similar injuries, an arrow sticking out of each of their skulls. I shakily stood up to see who had shot the arrow, only to have a hoof make contact with my face and knock me back down.

After the pain subsided, I looked to see that the one who saved me was Scarlet, her bow and quiver slung across her back. Her eyes had that look that said 'You're in deep shit'. I carefully stood back up, wincing from the pain in my side but also from the new slap mark on my face.

I looked at Scarlet and said “Scarlet, I...” but I was stopped by Scarlet giving me a matching slap on the other side of my face.

I shook my head and held my hoof to my face “Ok, I may have deserved that one, but was the first slap really necessary”.

Scarlet looked at me with anger in her ayes and said “I should think so, considering that you not only left without telling me, but also stole some of my stuff, and nearly got yourself killed, again”.

“You think I plan for this stuff to happen, you think I like getting hurt?”

“Well considering you've been injured more times in one week than most ponies do in a year, I'd say yes” she said with a smug look on her face.

I let that one slide and said what was really on my mind “I told you not to come after me, didn't you read my note?”

“Yes, so what?”

“So what, so why did you come after me?”

“Well for one, slap you for leaving without telling me”.

“Yeah, got that”.

“And secondly, to say that your stuck with me, so you better get used to it”.

“Look Scarlet, I appreciate this, I really do, but it's just too dangerous, I can't...” Scarlet got right up in my face and said,

“Listen Stripes, you can try and get rid of me all you like, but the cold fact is your stuck with me, so you better get used to it” she said.

“Did you just call me Stripes?” I asked confused and just a little bit insulted.

Scarlet smiled and said “So where we heading Stripes, from the direction I'd say Trottingham, right?”

“You sure there's nothing I can say to make you go back?”

“Not a damn thing Stripes” she said with a mischievous grin.

I sighed and said “Ugh, fine, but could I ask just one favor?”

“And what would that be?”

I motioned to the big slash across my side “Would you mind patching me up, I've been bleeding for the past while and I'm starting to get dizzy” I said.

Scarlet smiled and said “What am I gonna do with you Stripes, fine, get over here so I can patch you up”.

I walked over, sat down and said “Oh and one more thing”.

Scarlet looked confused “What?”

I looked at her, and only half seriously said “Don't call me Stripes”.

Scarlet just laughed at my comment as she bandaged up my wounds. I looked up at Luna's beautiful moon, thinking that maybe having someone else one this journey wouldn't be so bad after all.

Chapter 7: Jade

Chapter 7

Jade

After Scarlet had finished cleaning and dressing my wound, we decided that we'd travel a bit more and then set up camp for the night. Before we left though, I had Scarlet help me dig graves for the dead diamond dogs.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow at me and said “Why would you do that, you do know they were trying to enslave you right?”

I looked at Scarlet and said “I know what they were trying to do, but since they didn't succeed and lost their lives in the process, they at least deserve a proper burial”I said sadly.

“Why, they were bad guys, why shouldn't we leave them to rot?” Scarlet said rather coldly.

“Because all creatures, regardless of allegiance to good or evil, deserve to have honor in death” I said, my tone as serious as I could make it. Scarlet just blinked , dumbfounded by my sudden philosophical statement.

“Now if that's all, I'll dig the graves while you prepare the bodies, sound good?”

Scarlet blinked and said “Uh, sure, I can do that”.

“Thank you” I said, and went to dig the graves.

Before we buried the dogs, we stripped them of anything valuable we could find. The three dogs I had fought didn't have much on them apart from their weapons, a few gems, and collars made from rope. The leader however had a belt of glass vials filled with a strange liquid, which Scarlet explained was a knock out gas the diamond dogs used to capture slaves, and a leather collar with a ruby hanging from it.

The graves were simple, just holes in the ground big enough to accommodate the size of each body, with their weapons being their grave markers. I had no idea what kind of god or gods the diamond dogs prayed to, or if they had any gods at all, so I closed my eyes, bowed my head, and said a silent prayer that they have safe passage to the afterlife. After I had finished my prayer, I saw that Scarlet was doing the same, her lips moving in silent prayer, and her hair covering most of her face like a scarlet veil.

She lifted her head and looked at me “You ready to go?”

I nodded and said “Yeah let's get going, but first I think....” just then a branch snapped behind us. I drew my blade and turned to the source of the noise “Who goes there, show yourself!?” I barked, getting into a fighting stance as Scarlet readied her bow. The source of the noise came into view, revealing an injured diamond dog with a bloody bandage wrapped around it's head and numerous other injuries riddling it's body, shackles on it's wrists. The dog limped toward us, wincing with each slow step, it's paws raised in defense.

The diamond dog wheezed and shakily said “Please..I....I mean you..no harm” a feminine sound to it's voice.

Scarlet pointed her bow at the I assumed female dogs head “Who are you, state your name” Scarlet said.

The female dog wheezed again and said “My name is...Jade....I was..captured by..the dead ones.” Her voice sounding weaker with every word.

I lowered my sword and asked “Are there any more captives?”

She shook her head slowly, wincing with each shake and said “No...I am...only one..I escaped from..mines but they...found me...were bringing me back.”

Scarlet still had her bow pointed at Jade “Yeah, like we're gonna believe that. Stripes, she's just trying to trick us, we should kill her now and bury her with the rest. She's probably got a whole other group waiting to strike as soon as we let our guard down” Scarlet said, her bow not leaving it's position.

Jade held up her paws and said “I speak truth....I am only...one..give word” her pain becoming more evident with every word. Jade stepped more into the moonlight, allowing me to get a better look at her. She was at least two feet taller than both Scarlet and I, with a wolfish face and a matted brown and white coat, blood slowly trickling from her open wounds, a green choker around her neck with a claw hanging from it. She looked like she was about to say something when she began to cough violently and fell to one knee. I stuck my sword in the ground and ran to her side to help her.

Scarlet saw me do this and yelled “Are you out of your mind Stripes, she's just trying to trick us and make us slaves in their gem mines” Scarlet said coldly, still not lowering her bow.

I got to Jade's side, her coughing getting worse as I drew closer. I got a better look at her injuries, to find that she was in worse shape than I had first thought. The bandage around her head was almost completely stained red with blood, her other cuts much deeper than I had thought and bleeding more profusely.

I turned to Scarlet and said “Scarlet, come quick, she's seriously injured, she needs help now!” I said, my voice urgent.

Scarlet blinked once before saying “You cannot be serious?”

Jade coughed more violently, this time blood coming up with it. I turned to Scarlet and screamed “Damn it Scarlet, she needs help, now get your flank over here and help her, NOW!” I ordered rather than asked.

Scarlet flinched at my sudden change of tone, before swapping her bow for her first aid kit and trotted over muttering something like “I'm gonna regret this” under her breath, and set to work on healing the injured Jade.

While Scarlet was busy tending to Jade's wounds, I set to making camp for the night, which was more like early morning by this point. I gathered some stray bits of wood and used the flint to start a fire. I looked through my rations and saw that what I had wouldn't feed three people, especially considering two of those people, me included, were heavily injured. I went to Scarlet's pack, which I didn't notice until just a while ago, to see if she had any food to eat. As I was about to open her pack, I was met with an arrow whizzing past my face and embedding itself in a tree. I looked over to see Scarlet releasing her bow from it's levitation spell, not even looking up from healing Jade, and said to me “If you even think about touching my stuff I'll pin your soft parts to a tree faster than you can say wonderbolts, got it?”

I shook my head rapidly and squeaked out “Got it.”

“Good” she said, not even looking up from the task in front of her.

After another hour or so, Scarlet walked over and sat next to me, her hooves clean of blood.

“How is she?” I asked, concern present in my voice.

Scarlet sighed and said “Not good, she's got massive head trauma, some broken ribs, and multiple lacerations and puncture wounds all over her body. She's fine for now, but we need to try and get her to a hospital soon.”

I thought for a moment and said “Ok, she's stabilized that's good. We can get her to a hospital tomorrow when we reach Trottingham.”

Scarlet went wide eyed and said “Whoa whoa whoa, we're taking her with us?”.

I cocked an eyebrow and said “Yes, was that not clear?”.

“You can't be serious, you can't be seriously considering taking this mutt with us?” Scarlet asked with a mix of confusion and anger.

“She's injured, you said she needs a hospital, so we're going to get her too one, end of story.” I said matter-of-factly.

“But Stripes I..” I cut her off by grabbing my sword and sticking it into the ground with so much force the ground cracked.

“She's coming with us and that's that, if you don't like it, then you're free to leave, I'm not stopping you.” I said, my voice serious and angry.

Scarlet looked at me with a combination of fear and shock, and after a minute or so of trying to come up with a counter argument, she harrumphed and said “Fine, but you're carrying her there!” as she trotted over to her pack

I pulled my sword out of the ground and said “Fine. Now, I think it's time you got some rest, I'll keep watch.”

Scarlet just ignored me as she got out her bedroll and went to sleep. I couldn't help but think about why Scarlet was acting this way. What was her problem with diamond dogs? From the way she was talking she made them out to be monsters, which I could see given that only a few hours ago I was almost made a slave by four of them, but that's still no excuse. I could tell Scarlet had some kind of grudge against diamond dogs, but I could also tell whatever it was had to pretty bad for her to be acting this way. I wouldn't ask her about it though. If she wants to tell me, she'll tell me in her own time.

I sat against a tree with my sword against my shoulder, simply listening to the sounds of nature and the rhythmic breathing of the sleeping Scarlet and Jade, and thought about what kind of adventures and dangers I would have in this strange and wonderful world.

Chapter 8: To Trottingham...AND BEYOND!

Chapter 8

To Trottingham...AND BEYOND!

I must have fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing I know the sun's shining down on me, forcing my eyes to open. I stretched out and cracked my neck, a habit I picked up back on Earth. I looked around to see that Jade was still sleeping, muttering something in her sleep. I stood up and cracked my neck, an old habit that I wish I could break. Scarlet was still sleeping on the other side of camp, tossing and turning in her sleep, muttering something about a parasprite taking her money. Weird. I decided to let her sleep a little longer given how much work she did last night, so I dug the alchemy book out of my bag and studied it.

I tried to figure out why my first transmutation had taken so much out of me when I noticed a small footnote at the bottom of the page explaining basic transmutation. It read “Transmutation works differently for each species. With species that have a natural well of magic, such as unicorns, the alchemic reaction will draw on their magic reserves instead of the energy of the world around them. If this occurs, it could severely injure or in extreme cases kill the alchemist. If you are a user with natural reserves of magic, focus on drawing the power from the earth and the the world around you instead of your inner magic".

With this information in mind, I walked away from the camp so as not to disturb my sleeping companions and drew the same circle as before in the dirt, this one smaller so as to burn less energy. I went through the steps again, this time taking the book's advice into account, and placed my hooves on the circle. The circle began to glow and blue electricity crackled as the transmutation started, the ground beneath slowly starting to shift into the form I desired . After a few more seconds, the glow ceased and my finished product was revealed, a simple ball like last time, except this time I had my name inscribed on it. I slowly stood up afraid I'd pass out like last time, but found that I felt no dizziness or fatigue at all. Now that I had figured out how to do alchemy correctly, it was time to have a little fun.

After about an hour, I had made a miniature statue of myself in a heroic pose, a model of the solar system (or at least the one back in my dimension), and a scaled replica of both Ponyville and Canterlot. Why? Because I can. The drawback, however, was that even though I was able to do transmutations without passing out, I find out quick that doing multiple transmutations one after another will wear you out. By the time I was done, I was exhausted. I walked back to the camp, which was a great feat given how tired I was, to find Scarlet cooking something in a skillet.

She looked over her shoulder to look at me “Where'd you run off to?”

“Nowhere, just working on a little experiment” I said honestly.

Scarlet cocked an eyebrow and said suspiciously “What kind of experiment?”

“All in good time my dear Scarlet. Now, on to more important things, like what are you making there?” I asked, the smell of the food invading my nostrils as I spoke.

Scarlet shrugged and said nonchalantly “Eh, just a little breakfast”.

After breakfast, which was a gods-send given how tired and hungry I was, me and Scarlet discussed the plan from there.

“Ok, here's my plan for right now. First, we get Jade to Trottingham so she can get some proper medical treatment and stock up on supplies. Second, we keep going from Trottingham to Ponyville. From Ponyville, we can catch a train to Canterlot, sound good?” I asked Scarlet.

Scarlet had a puzzled look on her face “Why do we need to go to Canterlot, I mean I know it's Canterlot and all, but why do we need to go there?”

“I have some business I need to conduct there. That reminds me, while we're in Ponyville I need to get a cake.”

“A cake?”

“Again, business matter. So, sound good?” I asked, confident in my plan.

Scarlet tried to hide a sneer “I still don;t like the idea of us taking that dog with us, but the rest of the plan sounds solid, very strange and mysterious, but solid.”

“Good then we can get going as soon as...” I never got to finish my statement, because just then I heard a scream so horrible it chilled my blood to icicles. Me and Scarlet whipped around to see Jade thrashing in her sleep, screaming and yelling someone's name.

“CHRONO, CHRONO, PLEASE, LET HIM GO, CHRONO!!!!!!!!!” Jade yelled in her sleep.

I ran up to her and tried to shake her out of her nightmare “JADE, JADE, WAKE UP, JADE!” I screamed, trying in vain to awaken the shrieking diamond dog. Scarlet ran up with a bag of something levitating beside her “Move, I've got this” she said waving the bag under Jade's nose.

“What is that?”

“Smelling salts, they should wake her up” and as if on cue, Jade sat bolt upright, extending her paw, as if she was trying to grab at someone. She blinked once before she realized she was having a nightmare. She looked around to see me and Scarlet, her muscles tensing in fear. She scooted back, raising her paws in defense “Please don't hurt me, I mean no harm” she said, her voice quaking in fear.

I raised my hooves and said “Relax, we're not here to hurt you, we actually helped you out. We healed your injuries. You were having a nightmare, yelling about someone named Chrono” my voice calm.

Jade looked at me like I was crazy, then looked at her paws and arms to see the bandages wrapped around them. She looked back to me and said “You healed me?”, she said in disbelief.

“Well, technically Scarlet here healed you” I said indicating mare in question.

Jade looked at Scarlet and said “Thank you.”

Scarlet looked away and said “Whatever, it was nothing”, a rude tone to her voice.

I walked up to Jade and said “That must have been some nightmare, you were screaming louder than a banshee, mind telling me who this Chrono person is?” my voice sincere and caring.

Jade's paw went to her neck, wrapping it around the claw hanging from her choker. A small tear came to her eye “No one, just.....”She never finished, because she proceeded to burst into tears. They weren't regular tears either, they were the kind of tears you only shed when you've just seen someone you love killed right in front of you. I went up to Jade and wrapped my arms around her in a hug, making sure to be careful of her bandages. She was surprised at first, but then cried into my chest, giving in to her sadness. I stroked her fur and shh'd her, trying to calm the weeping dog.

“Shh, it's all right, you don't have to tell us, just calm down” I said in the most comforting tone I could muster. Scarlet stood by, silent as the scene unfolded before her. Scarlet may not particularly like diamond dogs, but she still had respect for emotion, and something in her eyes told me she knew where Jade was coming from.

After a while Jade stopped crying and calmed down. We introduced ourselves, Scarlet still sounding a bit rude but nicer after earlier. Scarlet explained that her injuries were healed for now, but she had some internal injuries that would require a professional hospital.

“I am...unsure, ponies no like my kind, what if they hurt me? She said in that broken way diamond dogs spoke.

I looked at Jade and said “You saw what me and Scarlet did to those dogs last night correct?”.

Jade nodded nervously

“Well if anyone, pony or not, tries to hurt you, we'll do the same thing to them.” I said, my voice serious.

Jade had a shocked look on her face “Why you do that?” she asked.

“Do I need a reason?”

Jade looked shocked, as if someone had just plopped a case of gold in front of her and told her she could keep it. “Well, if that will be all, let's get ready to go shall we” I said with finality.

Scarlet, who had been silent up till now, piped up “Wait, before we do anything else, I need to check yours and the dog's wounds” she said. I didn't complain, but Jade pulled her paws closer to her body, obviously she didn't trust Scarlet. I put a hoof on her shoulder to comfort her “Relax, she won't hurt you, she's the one who healed you, I highly doubt she'd want to ruin her good work. If it makes you feel any better, I'll go first to show you have nothing to fear, sound good?” I said with a smirk.
Jade nodded, and Scarlet set to work checking my wounds. As scarlet unwrapped my bandages, she kept glancing at Jade, still wary of her. When she finished unwrapping my bandages, her eyes widened in surprise “What the hell!”

“What?”

“It's healed, overnight, again!” Scarlet said completely dumbfounded

“You can't be serious” but sure enough, where my nasty spear wound once was, there was nothing. Scarlet and I both looked at each other. After a few seconds, Scarlet stood up and started pacing around, muttering to herself as she did so.

“This is not possible, a wound like that, even with my best medicine would still take at least a week to heal” she turned to me “so how is it that you healed up overnight, for the second time I might add? You're not using some kind of magic to screw with my head are you?” She asked accusingly.

I shook my head “No, the only magic I know is what I learned from those books back at your house” I said defensively.

“Then how is you can recover so quickly from such grizzly wounds?” Scarlet asked still confused.

I shrugged and said “Your guess is as good as mine” I said

Scarlet just sighed and said “Whatever, we'll figure this out later” she said and set to work changing Jade's bandages. Jade was still wary of Scarlet, but after a while she just laid back and let Scarlet do her job.

Once Jade's bandages were changed,we gave her some of the gems we recovered from the dead dogs to eat, gathered our stuff and set off for Trottingham. I offered to carry Jade on my back, but she insisted on walking, even with her injuries. After some arguing, we agreed that she could walk, but only if she used some crutches I made from a couple tree branches.

After about ten hours of walking, stopping periodically so Jade could rest, we finally reached Trottingham. The town was pretty good sized, probably the same size as a medium-sized city back on earth. Ponies walked through the streets going about they're everyday business. Pegasi moving the clouds and delivering the mail, kids playing, shop owners selling their wares. It seemed like a pretty nice place to live. As we walked into town, all eyes turned to us, and it was no surprise why. It's not everyday one sees a unicorn, a zebra with a giant sword on his back, and a diamond dog on crutches just waltz into town. Scarlet noticed the stares and looked very uncomfortable, but I gave her a reassuring look and she relaxed.

When we finally got to the hospital, getting more stares from the patients and staff, we finally got Jade some proper medical treatment. The doctor said Jade would have to rest for a couple days while her injuries healed. They gave her some medicine to help speed up the process, Scarlet suggesting they use some of her own herbal remedies as well.

“Scarlet, I'm gonna go out an run some errands, you stay here with Jade, okay?”

Scarlet ground her teeth in frustration and said “Fine”.

“Please try and get along with her Scarlet,” I said and headed off to run my errands.

My first stop was a leather shop to get a sheath made for my sword, which the sales pony agreed to quickly once he saw my gems. Secondly, I dropped off Silver Thorn's fur at a tailor so he could make me a cloak, which cost me a bit extra considering it was shaved fur but I didn't really care.

My final stop was at the blacksmith, who looked more than happy to be getting some business.

“What can I do for you sir,” the tan earth pony stallion said with a grin.

“Can you make bracers?” I asked

He beamed “Sure can, want any special design or just regular?” he asked enthusiastically.

“Actually I do have a request” I grabbed a piece of paper from my bag with several transmutation circles drawn on it “I need these symbols etched into each bracer, if you can that is” I said.

The blacksmith stared at the paper for a moment before saying “Uhh, any particular reason?”

“Not important, can you do it?”

“Sure I can, and how will you be paying for all this.”

I emptied a few gems out of my bag “Will these do?”

He stared at the gems for a moment, a big smile playing across his face “Definitely, shouldn't take me more than a day or so to complete. What's the name on the order?”

“Shadow, and what is your name?”

He held out a hoof “Bruiser,” he said.

I shook his hoof “Pleasure doing business with you Bruiser,” I said and walked out of the shop. Just as I was about to head back to the hospital, I heard a loud scream coming from the town square.

I sighed “Geez, I can't get a moments piece can I?” I complained and ran towards the square to see what the problem was.

Chapter 9: More Fighting

Chapter 9

More Fighting

I had no idea what to expect when I got to the town square, but when I got there I immediately thought of about twenty things that I would've rather seen than what was there. In the town square were ten diamond dogs, all carrying weapons and all looking very mad. The leader wore a gem encrusted breast plate, bracers, a helmet, two bandoliers of those chemical vials strapped across his chest, and a spear and sword strapped to his back. The other dogs wore simple breast plates and had simple spears and clubs, two of them also armed with net launchers. They had five ponies, two pegasi, an earth pony, and two unicorns, tied up at their feet, one of the pegasi bleeding from a head injury. The townspeople were cowering in fear, and they had good reason too. These dogs were obviously angry about something, what that was I didn't know.

I found out quick though, because the leader stood up on a box and yelled “Give us the stripe pony and the arrow pony. They killed our brothers, and they must die for it. If we don't get them, we will kill these five here, and then burn the town to ashes. You have one hour.” his speech surprisingly clear for a diamond dog.

So that's it, these dogs must be part of the same pack as the dogs from last night, but how'd they know me and Scarlet killed them. They must have had someone hiding nearby, and when he saw how strong we were, he ran away to get reinforcements. I had to think of a way to beat these guys. I could go get Scarlet, but that would leave Jade vulnerable, plus I couldn't risk Jade getting hurt. She may be good with that bow, but something tells me they'd capture her before she could fire off the first shot. That left me with only one option, fight them alone. I thought of my assets, my sword, my alchemy, and my preflex (Author's note: preflex is what I'm calling Shadow's power to see slightly into the future in a fight and react). My alchemy was getting better, but not good enough to take on ten dogs at once. I'd need some way that I could either take them out all at once or find a way to separate them so I could fight them separately. After running through about thirty plans, all of which ended in unnecessary death or destruction, I got an idea. It was crazy, but then again crazy saved me with the Ursa Major, so I thought it could work. I slipped into an alleyway and set my plan in motion.

The dogs were where I left them, the hostages and townsfolk even more terrified since the hour was almost up. Luckily no one knew that Scarlet was one of the people they were looking for, and I had made myself scarce while I prepared my plan. The dogs were getting antsy, the majority sharpening their weapons for the inevitable bloodshed. Five minutes before the hour was up, I set my plan in motion.

Step 1, surprise the enemy. The dogs were probably expecting me and Scarlet to be brought to them in chains, but they got the biggest surprise ever when I stood on the top of the town hall and yelled “So I hear you've been looking for me!” in a sarcastic tone. The dogs all turned, their eyes wide at my entrance.

The leader pointed a claw at me and yelled “Where is arrow pony, we demand you bring her out!”.

“She's of no concern to you, now let the townspeople go and surrender, and maybe you'll get to leave here with your heads still attached to your shoulders” I said, my voice mocking and arrogant.

The leader drew his sword and retorted “Let's see you back those words up, stripe pony”.

I gripped my sword “Fine, but first you gotta catch me,” I yelled as I jumped into the alley and ran.

The leader drew his sword “After him, fifty gems to whoever brings me his head!” he said, the rest of the dogs running over each other to try and catch me. They split up to cover more ground to catch me, but I had a little surprise for them. I had made duplicates of myself, not to real but enough to trick the dogs into believing they were real. The dogs tried to get their allies to aid in my capture, but when they heard the chorus of “He's over here,” that's when my plan got a bit evil. Along with my duplicates, I had also placed the same transmutation circle by each one, and when the dogs were all placed by the duplicates, I set step 3 in motion, take out the enemy. Using an example from episode one of FMA: Brotherhood, I used a circle far away from the others to create a mass transmutation. I activated the circles and used them to create multiple spikes from the ground, skewering the dogs all at once. I could tell my plan had worked from the chorus of screams I heard as the dogs were killed. I could tell their leader had heard them too, 'cause from where I was hidden I could still keep sight of the leader and the hostages. When the dogs were killed, his ears pricked up and he looked all over to see where they were coming from. That's when I began Step 4, take out the leader and free the hostages.

I called from my hiding place “Now, what was that you were saying about taking my head?”

The leader looked around confused “Where are you, show yourself?” he said, a twinge of fear in his voice.

I stepped out of the alley, the townspeople making way for me as I did so. When the leader saw me, his eyes showed a mixture of fear and hatred.

“I'm right here, and unless you wan to meet the same fate as those other dogs, you'll release the hostages and leave immediately,” I said gripping my sword.

The leader wavered for a moment, trying to decide.

“What's wrong, you scared little pup,” I said, my voice mocking.

As soon as I said that I wish I hadn't, because the leader's look lost all it's fear, now replaced with hatred and rage.

He lifted his sword “You will pay dearly for that insult stripe pony!” he said and lunged at me.

I drew my sword and parried his strike, only for him to grab his spear and hit me square in the face. OK, I may have underestimated this guy, but that didn't mean I was gonna lose. Thanks to that last blow, my preflex had finally kicked in. He was gonna lung with his spear and then slash downward with his sword. With this in mind, I ducked to avoid his spear and rolled to the side to dodge his sword. After avoiding his attacks, I took my sword and slashed his spear in half, leaving him with just a hunk of splintered wood. He tossed aside the spear and gripped his sword with both paws, giving his strikes added strength. His strikes were getting faster too, his eyes murderous and bloodthirsty. If not for my preflex, I would've been killed quickly. I may have been dodging his attacks, but I could only dodge for so long. I needed to end this quickly or someone was going to get hurt, either me or one of the townspeople. I waited for him to lung at me with his sword, and that's when I cut of his arms at the wrists. His sword clattered to the ground as he screamed in pain. I placed my sword against his throat as he fell to his knees. He eyes still had that look of hatred and anger, but that fear from before had returned.

I pushed my sword a little harder against his throat “You have lost,” I said, my voice tired from battle.

“Go on then, finish the job, kill me like you did my brothers,” he growled, his voice cold and angry.

The feeling I had when I heard those words directed at me was like getting the wind knocked out of you. I had already killed nine diamond dogs, and was about to kill a tenth. I may have killed them to defend the town and Scarlet, but that didn't excuse the fact that I killed them. It seemed like death was following me around like a lost puppy. First the Ursa Major, then Silver Thorn, then the dogs from last night, and then now. Apart from the dogs last night, who Scarlet took care of, I had killed them all. I refused to become a murderer.

I removed my sword from his throat “No, there's been too much death today,” I said somberly as I went to cut the hostages out of their bonds.

The leader dog yelled at me “Where are you going you damn coward! Get back here and finish me off! KILL ME DAMN YOU!!!” He screamed.

I turned to him and said “No,” my voice sad as I turned back to help the hostages.

The leader dog screamed and someone from the crowd yelled “Look out!”.
The leader dog had tossed his sword in the air with his foot, grabbed it in his teeth, and was charging at me. I slung my sword off my back and stabbed him through the gut. His sword fell out of his jaws and clattered to the ground as he fell. I slung the blood off of my sword and cut the hostages out of their bonds, the uninjured pegasus rushing towards the one with the head injury. The earth pony stallion captive walked up to me and said “You saved us, thank you,”.

I looked at him somberly and said “Killers don't deserve praise,”.

I took one last look at the leader dog before I left, a pool of blood now surrounding him. I thought about how much more death I would see before my journey came to an end, and judging by today and the goddess' earlier warning, I guessed I was gonna see much more.

I turned to the earth pony and said “Can you do something for me?”.

He nodded and said “Sure, anything,”.

“Gather up the bodies and bury them,” I said.

He hesitated for a moment, but then said “Right away, uhh..”

“Shadow,” I said.

“Yes, right away mister Shadow,” he said, and called a few more ponies over to help gather the bodies. I walked back to the hospital, the fight weighing heavy on my body and my mind.

When I got back to the hospital, Scarlet bombarded me with a million questions

“Where were you? What happened? Why are you covered in blood? Why….” I held up my hoof to silence her.

“Remember those dogs from last night, well a few of their friends came here looking for revenge. They took some of the townspeople captive, but they’re safe now”.

“What happened to the dogs?” she asked.

I hung my head “They’re dead, I killed them”.

“You killed them?” she asked a little shocked.

I nodded “Yes, I….” I couldn’t hold it anymore, I broke down in tears right there.

“Shadow, what’s wrong?”

“I killed them Scarlet, I killed them. They were living creatures, and I killed them.”

Scarlet tried to comfort me “You had to; ponies could’ve gotten hurt if you hadn’t”.

“THAT DOESN’T EXCUSE IT” I yelled.

“Shadow….”

“I’m a murderer, a filthy disgusting murderer” I whimpered. I probably would’ve continued like that for hours if not for Scarlet giving me a good smack across the face.

“Ow, what was …” as I got up Scarlet got right in my face.

“Listen Shadow, you did what you had to do. If you didn’t ponies could’ve gotten killed, you could’ve gotten killed. You are not a murderer, do you hear me. If I ever hear you call yourself that again I swear to Celestia I will slap you clear to the moon, got it!” She yelled at me, her eyes serious.

I sniffed and said “Y-Yes Ma’am” my voice cracking.

She backed away from me “Good. Now, let’s get you cleaned up, you reek of sweat and you’re covered in blood.” She said, her voice taking on a mocking tone.

“Okay and Scarlet,”

“What?”

“Thanks,” I said.

Scarlet blushed a little and said “S-Shut up and go clean yourself up stripes before I smack you again,” her voice embarrassed.

“Right,” I said as I went to clean off the grime and blood from the days events.

After I had finished cleaning myself up, it was almost night, the sun almost ready to set and make way for the moon. Since I didn’t want to leave Jade alone at the hospital, we were allowed to stay there until she recovered. When I got back, Scarlet was passed out on the couch, mumbling something in her sleep. I grabbed a blanket and pillow the nurse had left out and lay down on the floor, my sword lying next to me.

I didn’t get much sleep that night; every time I managed to fall asleep I was met with horrible nightmares. After three tries I gave up and just lay there staring at the ceiling. The day’s events still haunted me. Despite Scarlet literally slapping me out of my earlier breakdown, the guilt of what I had done stayed with me. I never liked killing, even though I knew that it was sometimes necessary for survival. However, killing for survival is far different than what I did, what I did was cold, calculating murder. I may have been doing it to protect people, but that still didn't excuse it. I picked up my sword and just stared at it, the blade clean of the leader dog’s blood. Ever since I got this thing it’s been nothing but fighting.

“Maybe I should get rid of this thing,” I thought out loud.

“Not a wise decision young one”, a voice suddenly said.

Hearing the voice I wheeled around the room, my body placed in a fighting stance.

“Who's there?” I said.

“Uhh, down here,” the voice said. I looked down, not seeing anything.

“Down where?” I asked, not sure where the voice was coming from.

“The sword you foolish boy,” the voice said.

I looked down at my sword, and saw that it was glowing so faintly that you would've never noticed it if you weren't looking for it.

“Ahh!” I yelled and dropped the sword.

“Ow, is that any way to treat a friend?” the voice said annoyed.

“Friend?” Scarlet snorted behind me, I changed my voice to a whisper so as not to wake her or Jade “What do you mean?” I asked, still struggling with the fact that I was talking to a sword. Then again, I was a human turned zebra in a land inhabited by magical talking ponies. I guess anything goes in this world.

“Come now Shadow, surely you haven't forgotten me already,” the voice said, starting to sound very familiar.

I thought for a moment about the sword's voice, the way it spoke, how it knew my name, and how it said we were friends. Suddenly the pieces all came together, tears coming to my eyes as I realized who the voice was.

“Silver Thorn?” I asked, tears coming down my face.

“Yes Shadow, it is I,” said Silver Thorn.

“But I thought you died, I...killed you myself,” I choked up, still sore over having to kill the Elder Manticore, tears forming in my eyes

“You did, and I thought my spirit was to go the great beyond, but somehow my soul wound up bound to this blade,” he explained, clearly as confused as I was.

I wiped the tears from my eyes “How do you suppose that happened?” I asked.

“I've no idea, a soul being bound to something is a rare occurrence even here in Equestria. It's extremely rare and powerful magic, magic I've only seen present in those with the Ursa's Blessing,” he said.

“What's that?”

“It is a power given to those who can slay an Ursa Major. You see, Ursa Majors are creatures of immense magic and strength, which is why all creatures try their best to steer clear of them. So whoever can slay an Ursa Major gains the Ursa's magic and strength,” he said.

I stared at the sword, unable to believe what I had just heard.

“Shadow, are you okay?” asked Silver Thorn.

Suddenly everything strange about my powers started to make sense. I was able to swing my heavy sword so easily and heal so quickly because I was imbued with the magic of an Ursa Major. I knew killing one was an impressive feat, but I never knew it could grant me such power.

“Shadow, snap out of it!” snapped Silver Thorn.

I snapped back to reality “Silver Thorn, what you just said explains everything. Before I met you, I faced an Ursa Major in battle and killed it. When it died, it dissipated into light, some of which went into my body and some into my sword. That must have been the Ursa's Blessing,” I said.

It was Silver Thorn's turn to be in stunned silence.

“Silver Thorn, maybe that's how you got bound to the sword, it must've been the Ursa magic,” I suggested.

Silver Thorn snapped out of his shock “That's certainly a possibility, but for now we can not be sure. Regardless, the truth will show itself in time,” said the Manticore.

“We can only hope,” I said. I sighed, my mind wandering back to the earlier. Man, I'm starting to sound like a broken record.

Silver Thorn spoke up “Shadow, are you all right? You seem troubled,” he asked in concern.

I looked at the sword “Nothing, just thinking,” I lied.

“You're thoughts dwell on your fight with the diamond dogs,” he said, almost reading my mind.

“How did you...” I said.

“I'm your sword remember, I was there,” he said annoyed.

I blushed in embarrassment “Oh, right,” I said.

“Shadow, I know you feel immense guilt for what you did, but you must learn to forgive yourself,” he said.

“I know, it's just....”

“You fear your own abilities,” he said.

The Manticore hit the nail right on the head. I still felt guilty about killing the dogs, the slap from Scarlet helping to alleviate me some, but there was still something I couldn't shake. My problem was I had killed them like I was getting rid of a pest. I pulled a Vlad the Impaler with the lesser dogs and made the leader suffer before I killed him. I wasn't myself, it felt like something had taken control of me, like a primal instinct.

I answered the Elder Manticore “Yes...” I said somberly.

“Shadow, you have been granted a great power. Not just the Ursa's Blessing, but you're alchemy as well. Power is not something to take lightly, it can corrupt even the most pious of creatures. The important thing to remember is not to let the power control you, you must control the power,” he said.

“I don't know if I can,” I said.

“Shadow, in the short time I have known you you have proven yourself to be a most remarkable person. You have shown honor, courage, kindness, and a high respect for life. I have no doubt in my mind that you can control the powers which you have been granted,” he said.

Silver Thorn's words resonated in me like a cleansing bell. No one had ever believed in me like this before. People back on earth had always scoffed at me and told me I would never amount to anything. Who would of thought I'd finally get such praise from the soul of an Elder Manticore trapped in a sword.

I wiped a few tears forming in my eyes “Thank you Silver Thorn, I promise I won't let you down,” I said with determination.

“I know, but for now rest,” he said.

I yawned “I think you're right,” I said. I laid the sword down where it was before and lay back down on the floor.

“Good night Silver Thorn,” I said.

“Good night Shadow,” he said.

I closed my eyes and went to sleep. No nightmares. Just sweet, blissful sleep.

Chapter 10: Healing

Chapter 10

Healing

My peaceful sleep was interrupted by the sound of Jade screaming. Scarlet and I shot out of our beds and ran to her side, Scarlet grabbing her bag of smelling salts. Jade must’ve been having the same nightmare she had last night, because she was screaming that same name, Chrono.

“CHRONO, PLEASE DON’T GO, THEY’LL KILL YOU, CHRONO!!!!!!”

Scarlet waved the bag of smelling salts under Jade’s nose, her eyes shooting open as she suddenly sat up in her bed. She had tears in her eyes as she came back to reality. Scarlet and I plopped down and sighed. The doctors and nurses ran into the room.

A blue unicorn doctor said “What in Celestia’s name is going on in here?” he said panting.

“Nothing. Jade just had a nightmare,” I explained.

They all let out a sigh of relief, but the blue unicorn doctor was glaring at me.

“You call that screaming nothing, we thought someone was dying,” he yelled.

Jade hid her face in the covers; Scarlet just shook her head and face-hoofed.

“I’m terribly sorry, we’ll try and keep the noise down,” I said as politely as I could.

He scowled and said “Make sure that you do,” as he left with the other doctors and nurses.

I let out a sigh and turned to Jade, her face still hidden by the covers. I pulled them down and
looked her in the eye.

“Look Jade, I'm not usually one to pry, but this is twice now you've woken up screaming. I'm
worried about you, so please, tell me what's going on, who is Chrono?” I asked as seriously and
sincerely as I could.

Jade hesitated for a moment, but finally said “Chrono is.....good friend,” she said.

“Go on,” I said. Scarlet had sat down on the couch, surprisingly interested in what Jade was
saying.

“I was born in mines. Parents die when I was very small. Was flogged for moving slow during work. Would have died if not for Chrono. He weak like me, but he smart. He sneak gems for me and knew how tunnels were connected. He also know how to fight, he teach me when no one else around. Chrono lost parents too. We become each others new family,” she said, a smile playing across her face and her paw idly playing with the claw hanging from her neck. Scarlet and I had become engrossed in Jade's story, Scarlet having a look on her face that said she knew how Jade felt.

I finally asked the question I was dreading “What happened to him?”

Jade stopped playing with the claw and hung her head low, tears beginning to fall from her face “Jade, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to,” I said quickly.

Jade wiped her eyes “No, I'm fine,” she said.

“Alright,” I said.

“Chrono always talk about escape, seeing surface. I help him secretly dig tunnel to surface for many months. After we finish and ready to leave, guards find out and attack us. I try to fight them off, but Chrono make me go. He use wings to propel me to surface and seal tunnel. I try digging back but more guards chase me, so I run. I run for many, many moons, barely stopping to sleep or eat. Eventually they catch me and try to bring me back, that when I meet you and get saved. I wish freedom didn't,” she started choking up “ cost Chrono his life,” she said and started crying tears of true sadness. I had been so engrossed in her story that I hadn't noticed that Scarlet and I had both started to cry as well. We both walked over to Jade and wrapped her in a consoling hug. Jade stopped crying for a moment, a confused look on her face, and just cried into our shoulders.

When Jade stopped crying, I looked her straight in the eye and said “Jade, I'm gonna make you a promise. Chrono may still be alive, and if he is I promise on my life and my honor that I will find him and bring him back safely, and I'll destroy anyone who tries to get in my way!” putting as much power in my voice as I could.

My sudden show of tenacity surprised both Jade and Scarlet. Jade sat awestruck with tears still coming down her face, and Scarlet simply stared at me, a smirk playing across her face.

“Any objections to that?” I proclaimed.

Jade simply shook her head, a smile replacing her tears.

“Good, now you just focus on getting better, because as soon as you're okay to travel,” I picked up my sword and slung it on my back “we head to Ponyville, and then onward to Canterlot”.

After we learned of Jade's past, things started to calm down. Jade looked more cheerful, a smile almost always on her face. Scarlet started warming up to Jade and talked with her more, which made me happy that she was, hopefully, starting to get over her prejudice. Silver Thorn and I began training to figure out how to use the Ursa's Blessing. The first thing we did was figure out what powers it granted me. We already knew it granted me a healing factor, but the extent of which we didn't want to test. When Scarlet told me my sword was heavy, I figured I must've gotten a boost in my physical strength. To test this, I made stone blocks of varying weights and tried to lift them. After about five hours, I found the max I could lift was somewhere around two-thousand pounds. After that, I tested my punching strength and was able to smash through a stone block with ease. Ok, so my physical strength was at almost Hulk levels, but my magic prowess didn't go as well. I tried for hours to try and conjure up some magic, but all I got was a massive headache.

I decided to leave the magic alone for now and focus on other things. After I defeated the dogs, the townspeople started taking a bit of a shine to me. They still had a little fear of me, but this time because I killed ten diamond dogs almost effortlessly. Despite that, things started to look up. After my training, I went to go pick up my bracers from Bruiser. When I walked into the shop, Bruiser was asleep at the counter with his hoof holding his head up. I tried to be polite and use the bell, but when that failed I just pushed his hoof out from under his chin and let his head smack against the counter. He woke up in a hurry and turned his to see who woke him. When he saw it was me, he rubbed his head and said “Haha, very funny,” wiping some drool from his face as he did so.

I chuckled a little bit “Sorry, couldn't resist, are my bracers ready yet?” I asked.

He smiled and said “Oh yeah,” he reached under the counter and pulled out a cloth wrapped package “ and I gotta say there some of my finest work,” he said and unwrapped the cloth. He wasn't kidding, this was some of the best metal work I've ever seen. I was expecting just some regular bracers with my transmutation circles etched on, but this was far better. The metal was inlaid with gold filigree in the design of curling vines. The transmutation circles were inlaid with gold as well, and arranged with four outside and one inside all connected with lines. Bruiser also included some silver cloth to keep the bracers from chafing my hoofs. Needless to say, I was in awe. Bruiser had a smug look on his face.

“So, they look good or what?” he asked, that smug look still on his face.

I shook myself out of my awe and said “Very good, worth every bit.”

“Oh yeah, that reminds me,” he reached under the table again and brought out the gemstones I had given him “this one's on the house,” he said and pushed the gems and bracers towards me.

“Bruiser, this is a nice gesture, but I wouldn't feel right not paying you for this masterpiece,” I said as I pushed the gems toward him.

He pushed the bits back towards me “Please, I insist, you've already paid me more than enough.”

“What do you mean?” I asked confused.

He pulled out a picture frame from under the counter. Geez, what is that counter a TARDIS. In the picture was an earth pony stallion with a tan coat and brown mane. It took me a few seconds, but I recognized the stallion in the picture as one of the hostages from the other day. I looked at Bruiser with a look of shock and confusion. He looked at the picture “He's my son. He was on his way here for a visit when the dogs captured him. But then you saved him. If not for you, my son..” his voice faltered “well I don't want to think about what could've happened. You saved my son's life Shadow, for that I will forever be in your debt, so please take these as a token of my thanks,” he said, pushing the gems and bracers back towards me.

I just stood there taking all this in. I knew saving those ponies was the right thing to do, but I never realized what effect it would have. I grabbed the bracers and strapped them onto my front hooves and stuffed the gems in a saddle bag I borrowed from Scarlet.

“I'll wear these with pride Bruiser,” I said. Bruiser extended a hoof, which I accepted in a hoof-shake.

“Stay well Bruiser,” I said.

“Stay well Shadow, good luck on your journey,” he said.

After I left Bruiser's shop, I stopped by the leather shop and the tailor to pick up my sheathe and cloak. The sheathe was simple, but the cloak was awesome. Now I'm no fashion expert, and don't really care about it in the first place, but this thing was down right awesome. It may have looked like a simple cloak, but the silver coloring of the fur made it look like it was liquid fabric. I payed the tailor an extra gem for his good work and headed back to the hospital.

Now, I've dealt with a lot of surprises lately, getting sent to Equestria by some goddess, finding out I'm a piece in some godly game, and seemingly non-stop fighting, but nothing prepared me for what was waiting for me at the hospital. When I got back to the hospital room, I found that there was more than just jade and Scarlet inside. Two pegasi ponies were sitting on the couch, a mare and a stallion. The stallion had a light blue coat with a yellow and green streaked mane and a stick of dynamite for a cutie mark. The mare had the same light blue coat but had a light green mane and a quill and scroll for a cuite mark. The stallion had a bandage on his head and the mare was apparently trying to talk him out of something. Scarlet was sitting in a chair reading a book and Jade was cowering under her covers. When I walked in the two pegasi fell silent. Scarlet and Jade looked up from there respective places and looked awestruck at my appearance. Honestly, I couldn't blame them. With my bracers, silver cloak, and giant sword slung across my back, I looked pretty damn awesome. Scarlet whistled “You know, most ponies can't pull off the barbarian look, but on you it works,” she said, her voice mocking and sarcastic.

I rolled my eyes and said “Haha, very funny, but I think there's a bigger matter at hoof right now. Who are these two?” my tone serious.

The stallion got up from the couch pretty quick, which made him stumble and have to be caught by the mare before he fell to the floor. He regained his composure and trotted up to me “You're Shadow,” he asked.

“Yeah, what of it?” I asked, my voice questioning and a little annoyed.

I was expecting a rude comment, but the stallion did something that really surprised me. He got down on his knees and bowed in front of me saying “Please, teach me how to fight!” he asked. I just stared at him dumbfounded at his request. Scarlet rolled her eyes and closed her book while the pegasus mare face-hoofed and shook her head.

After a few moments, I said “Uh, excuse me,” my voice as confused as ever.

The stallion raised his head and said “Please, I want to learn how to fight, teach me “ he asked again.

The mare spoke up “Nova, I'm begging you, stop this nonsense,” she said, like she had heard this before.

Nova turned to the mare and said “Nonsense? This isn't nonsense Nebula, I'm serious,” he said.

Nebula was about to say something when I interrupted “Would someone please explain to me what's going on, I've had enough confusion lately,” I said aggravated. As I got a better look at the two, they looked strangely familiar. That's when it finally hit me “Wait a minute, you're two of the hostages from the other day,” I said.

They both turned to me and nodded, Nova saying “Yeah, although I was unconscious for most of it,” he said.

“Right, but why do you want me to train you, and please don't give me a stupid reason,” I said slightly annoyed.

Nova cleared his throat “Well, me and my sister Nebula were heading home from running some errands when the dogs came into town. They were waving their weapons and screaming for blood. They started taking hostages, and by a twist of fate they decided on us and the three others. When one of those dogs tried to grab my sister, I tried to fight back and got a club upside my head. After that everything's blurry. The last thing I remember was seeing you defeat the leader and save us,” he said.

It still stung thinking about the fight, but I let that slide and said “That still doesn't explain why you want me to teach you how to fight,” my voice serious.

Nova looked at me and said “Please, I never wanna be that helpless ever again. I tried to protect my sister and I failed. If you hadn't saved us, some very bad things could have happened. I don't want to be some helpless captive or bystander, I want to be able to protect the things and people important to me,” he bowed again “So please, teach me how to fight. Teach me how to be strong so I can protect others, please,” He pleaded. I was silent for a while, taking in all he had said. Scarlet and Jade had become engrossed in the story as well. I looked at Nova's sister, Nebula was it, and she looked at him kind of shocked.

“Nova,” she said.

“Okay, I've heard your story, and while your intentions are admirable, you've forgotten one important thing,” I said.

Nova looked up and asked “What's that?”

“What does the person you're trying to protect think about all this?” I said.

Nova looked at me shocked and turned to Nebula, who looked equally shocked.

“Me?” she asked.

“Yeah, what do you think about all this, and don't be afraid to be honest,” I said.

She thought for a moment “Well, if I'm being honest, I don't Nova to fight,” she said.

“But Nebula,” he said.

“Don't interrupt,” I said. Nova complied and continued to listen to Nebula's argument.

“Continue,” I said.

“Well, Nova's always been a bit of a hot head. He has good intentions, but his rash nature always gets him in trouble. I don't like seeing Nova get hurt, it breaks my heart. When I saw Nova get clubbed by the dog, it felt like my world cracked into a million pieces,” she said, tears starting to flow from her eyes (Man, I seem to be attracting more tears than I do danger.). She wiped the tears from her yes and continued “I thought we were gonna die, but then you came along and rescued us, and I'll be forever grateful to you for that. I could tell what Nova was gonna do after he woke up, and I knew he wouldn't give up. Answer me on question mister Shadow, if Nova goes with you will he be safe?”

I let the question sink in for a moment. I thought about what the goddess had told me about my future battles. I also thought about all the fighting I'd been doing the past two weeks. My answer was clear.

“No,” I said.

Nebula looked down somberly “I thought as much,” she said.

“I'm sorry, but it's true. In the past two weeks, I've been attacked by giant monsters, diamond dog slavers, and nearly died multiple times,” I turned to Nova” Nova, if you come with me your life will be in constant danger, and I can't guarantee if you come with me, that you'll ever see your sister again, are you prepared for that?” I asked, my serious.

Nova looked down for a few moments in thought. Nebula looked like she was about to cry. When Nova was done thinking, he raised his head “No, I don't think I could handle that. Moreover, I wouldn't ever want to have to put my sister through that,” he bowed and said “I'm sorry for bothering you, let's go Nebula,” he said and began to walk out of the room.

Before he was all the way out the door, Nebula yelled “Wait,” she turned to me “Mister Shadow, I know I said I don't want to see Nova get hurt, but seeing him like this is even worse,” she trotted over to me “I've changed my mind, please, train my brother to fight.” she asked.

Nova came back into the room and just stared at his sister in shock. I scratched my chin with my hoof in thought. I went over to a fruit bowl on the bedside table and picked up an apple.

“Nova,” I said.

“Uh, yes,” he asked.

“Do you still wished to be trained?” I asked.

Nova thought for a moment before saying “Yes, more than anything,” he said.

I turned to him and said “Fine, I will train you,” my voice serious.

Nova simply said “Thank you,” and turned to his sister “Nebula, I....” he choked up. Nebula wrapped him in a bear hug and cried into his shoulder. They probably would've stayed like that for a while if not for me saying “What's with the tears?”

They both turned to me in confusion “What?” Nova said.

“You're both coming with us,” I said and took a bite of my apple.

They both let out a loud simultaneous “WHAT!?”

“Did I stutter, you're both coming with us. Look, neither of you wants to see the other go, so if you both come along that solves the problem,” I said

Nebula protested “But, I can't fight,” she said.

“So, you'll learn along with Nova,” I said.

She tried to stammer out a reply but was interrupted by Nova “You'll seriously train both of us,” he said.

“Yeah, provided you don't screw up too bad,” I turned to Scarlet, who had returned to reading her book “Sound good to you Scarlet?”

She closed her book and said “It's fine by me, so long as they pull they're own weight.”

“How about you Jade,” I said.

“I...I have no problems,” she said.

“Good then it's decided, Nova and Nebula, welcome to the family,” I said turning to the two shocked pegasi.

They tried to make an argument, but they just sighed and said “Okay.”

Nova walked up to me “I swear, if anything happens to my sister, I'll drop you from the highest cloud I can find,” he threatened.

I smiled and said “Is that really any way to talk to your new teacher there Nova,” I mused.

Nebula spoke up “Um, are you really gonna train me too?” she asked.

I walked up to her “Absolutely, you've got spunk, besides, I think I'm gonna need some help keeping Nova out of trouble, think you can help?” I asked.

She blushed slightly and said “Uh, sure, I can do that,” she said.

Nova was getting irritated “Hey, I don't get into that much trouble,” he protested.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just make sure you guys are ready for some tough battles ahead,” I said.

Nova and Nebula looked nervous, but eventually they agreed to my terms.

“Now, you two go settle any affairs you have, 'cause once Jade's healed up, we're heading out,” I said. They both nodded and left. Scarlet walked up to me and said “Do you really think those two have what it takes to fight?” she asked me.

“Well, we're gonna find out now aren't we,” I said.

Scarlet rolled her eyes and said “You're impossible.”

“Always,” I said with finality.

Three days later, Jade was completely healed. After getting some more supplies we needed, Me, Scarlet, Jade, Nova, and Nebula left Trottingham and proceeded on our way to Ponyville.

Chapter 11: Training

Chapter 11

Training

Ponyville was a three day trek from Trottingham, so I decided I should go ahead and start with training. After everyone had gotten some rest and some breakfast, I called a group meeting.

“Okay guys, today is when training begins, and not just for Nova and Nebula, for all of us,” I said. This got a raised eyebrow from Scarlet and a confused look from Jade.

“Wait, you're gonna make us train too?” Scarlet asked confused.

“Yes. If we're gonna be traveling together, that means at some point we're all gonna end up having to fight together. So to help with that, we're going to be training to fight as individuals and as a team, understood?” I asked. Everyone looked a little confused, but eventually they agreed.

“Okay then, first up lets assess everyone's fighting abilities. I think it's a pretty safe bet that you've all got a pretty good idea what I can do correct?” I asked. They all nodded. “Okay then, so who wants to volunteer to be first up?” I asked. Everyone suddenly got really interested in their hooves/paws and the ground. Getting a little frustrated I said “Scarlet, thanks for volunteering.”

Scarlet was surprised but eventually got up and walked into the circle I had drawn that would act as the training arena.

“Ok, to start we're going to be doing hand- to....I mean Hoof-to-Hoof Combat,” I looked at Scarlet “whenever you're ready,” I said. The second I said that Scarlet charged at me and swept at me with her back legs. Since this was training, I was trying to suppress my preflex to give them a fair chance, so Scarlet's attack was a surprise. I jumped out of the way of her attack and landed a safe distance away and got into a modified fighting stance to fit my new body. Scarlet charged at me again but this time she launched herself over me with her fore legs and landed behind me, giving me a swift buck to my head. The kick sent me reeling, which gave Scarlet the opening she needed to pin me to the ground. I tapped out and she let me go. Okay, so I would need to work on my unarmed combat skills.

I wiped some sweat from my brow and said “Good work Scarlet, you can rest.” As she went to go sit, I surprised her by sweeping her legs and knocking her off balance and pinning her.

“Lesson one, never let your guard down, even if the match looks won,” I said and let her go. She stared daggers at me and probably would've beat me down right there, but she just huffed and flicked me in the nose with her tail. I composed myself and looked at the others “Okay, so who's next?”

The rest of the matches went pretty easily. Nova and Nebula were beaten pretty easily. Jade was a little more difficult, but I defeated her too.

“So, now that that's done, let's move on to Armed Combat,” I said and proceeded to make some training weapons, some wood some metal. Swords of varying types, bows, arrows, staffs, knives, and various others. I also made a few training dummies of various species with vital spots marked. They all stared wide-eyed at my display of alchemy. It just occurred to me that this was the first time I'd actually used alchemy in front of them all. Scarlet had seen me use alchemy before, but not on this scale.

“Oh right, I forgot, you guys don't know about alchemy, sorry,” I said and scratched my head embarrassed.

Nova blinked, his eyes becoming star struck “That is so COOL, are you gonna teach us that too?” He asked a little too enthusiastically.

I looked at them and said “I'm going to say this now, this power that I have is strong but also very dangerous. The things alchemy is capable of is frightening. Take alchemy too lightly, and you will surely meet a horrible fate. So know this, if I decided to teach you alchemy, it will only be after you've earned my utter and complete trust, got it?”

They all gulped and nodded “Good, and with that said let's continue with arms training,” I said.

Weapons training went a little better than I expected. Scarlet was an obvious expert with her bow and arrow, and while her sword skills were okay they wouldn't really do her much good in a fight. Jade really surprised me when she was able to hit the targets in the center of the vital target spots with throwing knives. Jade also showed promise with a sword, but she would still need training.

Nova and Nebula on the other hand did not do so well. Nova was barely able to make one arrow hit a target and that was way far off from the vitals. Nebula did a little better, but not by very much. The sword training was a complete disaster since it was obvious neither of them had ever held a sword in their lives much less knew how to fight with one. After another couple hours of this I called it.

“Okay guys, I think that's enough for now, let's take a break,” I said.

Everyone plopped down tired and sweaty from training. I had mostly been supervising so I wasn't that tired. Overall it didn't go bad but at the same time it didn't go great either. Scarlet and Jade had shown the most promise, but Nova and Nebula would need the most training. Scarlet's archery skills were unquestionable, but she would still need additional training in other areas. Jade had surprised me with her skills with throwing knives, so I guessed she would just need some additional help in unarmed combat. Nova showed a lot of enthusiasm, but he would still need a lot of training in pretty much everything. Nebula was a complicated case. It was obvious she was trying, but her nature just didn't seem suited for fighting. She did a little better than Nova, but she was still lacking. I racked my brain trying to think of a way I could train them when Silver Thorn spoke in my mind.

“Having trouble Shadow,” he said.

“What was your first clue?” I asked in my mind, not wanting it to look like I was talking to myself.

“Your new members show promise, but your forgetting something,” he said.

“And what would that be?”

“Your not playing to their strengths, you're merely using simple training methods. You need to find how they fight best and help that grow while still helping them with basic fighting,” he said.

I thought for a moment and said “That's brilliant.”

“Of course, now what do you say we put this plan in action,” he said.

“Right,” I said.

I turned to my tired team and said “Okay guys, we've got one more bit of training left.”

They all grumbled their distaste for this, but were silenced by my raised hoof “Quit the groaning, this is a different type of training. Now I know up till now we've been doing pretty basic fighting, but this is going to be a bit different,” I drew my sword off my back and stepped into the training arena “I want you guys to attack me with whatever method of fighting you're most comfortable with,” I said. They looked at me a little confused.

Nova raised a hoof and said “Uh, what exactly do you mean by that?”

“Just that, I want you guys to attack me with whatever method of fighting suits you best. A sword, an axe, whatever. You can use whatever makes you feel like you can beat me,” I said. They all looked at each other and nodded. Scarlet grabbed her bow and quiver of arrows, while Jade grabbed a belt of throwing knives and a staff. Nova went to his bag and grabbed a belt of vials filled with various liquids and some red sticks that looked like dynamite. Nebula stumbled trying to find something to use, when she finally settled on a sword.

I tightened my alchemic bracers and settled into my fighting stance “You guys ready?” I asked.

They all nodded yes “Good,” I griped my sword “then let's do this, and remember I won't be holding back, so neither should you,” I said.

They scattered and charged. Scarlet took a spot near the outside firing arrow after arrow at me, which I managed to dodge or cut in half. Jade came at me with surprising speed and pulled a couple knives from her belt. She held them backhanded, assassin style and lunged at me trying to get inside my guard. I jumped back and knocked the knives out of her paws with the back of my sword. She was surprised but regained her composure quickly and threw a dagger at me, which I was only barely able to dodge, a small cut appearing on my face. I wiped the blood off my face and was about to lunge at Jade when I heard a sound coming from behind. I turned to see Nova lighting one of his red sticks, which I was damn sure now was dynamite and pulling the cap off of one of his vials, which he proceeded to throw at me. I was able to get out of the way before they exploded, which sent me flying into a tree. I pulled myself together and got back into my fighting stance. I was expecting another explosion or an arrow or knife to get thrown at me, but nothing came. I cleared the smoke away with a swing of my sword and saw that everyone was huddled close together. Nebula looked like she was telling them all something while everyone else was listening and nodding. I used my alchemy to break up their huddle with a crack in the ground.

I pointed my sword at them and said “You didn't forget about me now did you?”

They looked at each other and smirked. Nebula spoke up “On the contrary, we're just getting started,” she said. She gave everyone a look and said “Now!”

They all scattered into different directions. Scarlet stayed at the back firing arrows, which were easy for me to deflect since I now had my preflex going full throttle. While I was dodging arrows, Jade starting throwing knives at me. Trying to focus between the two made it rather difficult and I was getting tired.

“Ok, that's it!” I yelled and swung my sword with a lot of force. The force from my swing created a shock wave of air which knocked Jade and Scarlet over. I took a moment to reevaluate the situation, but it was cut short with the ominous sound of a fuse being lit. I turned to see that Nova had tied three of his dynamite sticks to one of his glass vials. He threw the vial at me and jumped for cover, as did everyone else. I was able to deflect the vial without breaking it, but it did no good. The fuses burned down and exploded, creating an explosion that sent me flying through a few trees. When my head stopped spinning, I tried to stand up, but found the point of a sword at my throat. The smoke cleared away to reveal Nebula holding the sword to my throat.

“So how'd we do Shadow?” she asked. Jade, Scarlet, and Nova walked up behind her with grins on their faces.

“I would say you did pretty well, except for one thing,” I said.

They all looked confused, Nebula pressed the sword a little harder against my throat “Oh, and what would that be,” she asked.

I smirked “You forgot I can do this,” I said as I used my alchemy to create tendrils out of the ground, which ensnared them all and left them dangling a fair height above the ground. They struggled to break free of the tendrils, but they had no weapons and I had pinned them so they couldn't fly away or anything. I looked up at them and gave them a smirk.

Scarlet struggled and said “Damn it Shadow, let us down!”

I put a hoof on my chin and made a pondering face, then said “No, I think I'm just gonna leave you guys up there for a little bit.”

This elicited some yelling and anger from my team.

Scarlet yelled “Shadow!!”

I doubled over laughing, then wiped a tear from my eye “All right, all right calm down I'm just kidding,” I said as I deconstructed the tendrils and set them all down.

“Well guys, I have just one thing to say,” I said. They all looked a little nervous. But this was replaced with confusion as I clapped my hooves and said “Excellent, that was amazing work everyone.”

Nova raised a hoof and said “Uh, wasn't the point for us to beat you?”

I waggled my hoof and said “No no no, the point of this little exercise was not for you to beat me, the point of this was for me to see what areas you guys work best in in a fight. For Scarlet it's archery, for Jade it's swift movements and assassin style tactics, for Nova it's.....making things explode, and for Nebula it's strategy.” They all looked at each other and smiled.

“You've all done very well, but don't let this go to your heads. We're going to be training everyday to sharpen our skills and make it so we can fight at a moments notice, understood?” They all nodded with smiles on their faces.

I smiled “Good, now what's say we all get some rest and tend to your wounds if you've got 'em,” I said as I picked up my sword and sheathed it. They all nodded and went back to the camp to rest.

Silver Thorn spoke in my mind “Well done Shadow,” he said.

“Thank you my friend,” I said.

“It seems to me they really trust you,” he said.

I thought about that for a second. Trust. I had earned their trust, but I still haven't told them I'm human. Well, I did try to tell Scarlet, but she didn't believe. If I was gonna keep traveling with them, I would have to tell them eventually. But even if I did, they wouldn't believe me. If I was gonna tell them, I would need proof, but what that proof is I don't know. I sighed in frustration.

“Are you okay Shadow? You seem troubled," Silver Thorn asked.

“I'm fine, just got a lot to think about,” I said.

“Okay, I'm here if you need to talk,” he said.

“Thank you Silver Thorn, I appreciate that,” I said. With that, I walked back to camp, the thought of telling my team about my true identity still weighing on my mind.

Chapter 12: Games and Revelations

Chapter 12

Games and Revelations

When I got back to camp, Scarlet was finishing bandaging one of Nova's forelegs. Jade, Nebula, and Scarlet herself were also bandaged in various places. When I entered, Scarlet glared at me.

“Next time you say you're going all out on us in training, please be lying,” she said

I rubbed the back of my head and said “Hehe, sorry, guess I'm still getting used to having all this power.”

She finished Nova's bandages and walked up to me “That reminds me, where'd you get those powers anyway?”

“Uh, what do you mean?”

“Well, I was there when you discovered that weird magic you use, but how do you heal so quick and have such freak strength?”

Nova spoke up “Yeah, I was wondering about that too,” he said.

“Me too,” said Nebula.

“I curious too,” said Jade, whose speech was beginning to get a little less choppy.

I sighed, there was no way I was getting out of this one.

“Ok, sit down and I'll tell you guys the story,” I said.

They all sat down, as did I “How do I explain this?” I asked out loud.

“Just start from the beginning,” said Nebula.

I cleared my throat and began my story. I didn't tell them I was human just yet, making up some story about being a traveler from the Zebrican Isles visiting Equestria. I told them I got lost in the EverFree Forest and got attacked by the Ursa Major, which elicited some disbelief, shock, and some annoying fanboying from Nova. After that, I told them how I got saved by Scarlet, fought Silver Thorn, and so on and so on until I got to the present.

After I was done, everyone was awed and shocked by my story. After telling it, I found it a little hard to believe myself, and I had lived it.

“Wait, something still doesn't make sense,” said Scarlet.

“What doesn't? I've told you everything,” I lied, a little sweat forming on my brow.

“When you first used alchemy, you said you saw it in practice but never actually used it before that time. How can that be? If you'd seen it in practice, that means where you came from had people who use it,” she said. She got up and began walking towards me.

“Well, uh,” I stuttered.

“Moreover, I've never read anything about that kind of magic coming from the Zebrican Isles,” she said.

“First off it's not magic, it's a science,” I said.

“Even so, that still doesn't explain how nopony in Equestria has ever heard of it. If alchemy is as powerful as you say it is, then surely the princesses would've taken an interest in it,” she said.

“Uh, you see, about that,” I stuttered.

“There's something you're not telling us Shadow, and I wanna know what it is,” she demanded.

Without my realizing it, I had backed up against a tree. Scarlet's questioning had made everyone stand up and begin walking towards me as well.

“Shadow, what are you not telling us, why are you lying to us?” she asked. Everyone began converging on me. I began to panic. I did not like being backed into a corner. They all started asking the same things Scarlet was asking. Their voices began ringing in my head, invading my very mind. Finally, I couldn't take anymore.

“ENOUGH, ENOUGH!” I yelled. They all backed up, surprised at my outburst.

I caught my breath “Sorry, I don't like being crowded,” I said.

Scarlet spoke up “Shadow, please, just tell us whatever it is your not telling us. If we're gonna be traveling and fighting with you, we deserve the truth,” she said.

I sighed “You're right, I'm sorry. It's just, the things I'm keeping back are gonna make me sound crazy, and I didn't want to scare you guys off,” I said.

Scarlet frowned and said “Shadow, everything you've told us sounds crazy.”

Everyone else nodded. Silver Thorn spoke in my mind.

“I too would like to know what your holding back Shadow,” said the Manticore.

I thought for a moment, and finally said “Okay, you've twisted my arm, I'll tell you guys everything, the whole truth.”

They all sat down again “Okay, well to start, I'm not actually from the Zebrican Isles,” I said.

“Yeah, gathered that much,” said Scarlet.

“It's more than just that,” I took a deep breath and said “I'm not even from this planet, or this dimension for that matter. I'm from a planet called Earth, inhabited by a race of bipedal hairless monkeys called Humans. I used to be a human, but then some crazy goddess sent me here to be her pawn in some godly chess game, where the players are other humans brought here by various gods. I woke up in the EverFree Forest as a zebra, and everything else is history.” I said. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding in and looked at my friends. They all had there mouths open in disbelief and shocked looks on their faces.

“I knew you guys wouldn't believe me,” I said and turned away from them.

“I wouldn't blame you guys if you left,” I said, a tear forming in my eye. I heard silence for a bit, and then I felt a hoof on my shoulder. I turned to see Scarlet and the others smiling at me.

“Shadow, while I admit your story is......difficult to believe,” said Scarlet.

“More like impossible,” said Nova, who was silenced by a glare from Scarlet.

“While it is difficult to believe, we believe you,” she said.

Her response caught me by surprise “You do?”

She frowned “Shadow, after all the crazy stuff you've told us do you really think we wouldn't believe you?” she said.

“Honestly, yes,” I said.

“Shadow, we wouldn't have come with you in the first place if we didn't think you were just a little bit crazy,” she said.

I turned to the others “You all feel the same way?” I asked.

They all looked at each other and nodded. I wiped a tear from my eye “Thanks guys,” I said.

“Now, is that absolutely everything?” said Scarlet.

“Should I tell them?” I asked Silver Thorn.

“Might as well,” he said.

“Well, there is one more thing,” I said.

Scarlet sighed and said “Okay, what is it?”

“Well, that Elder Manticore I killed had his soul accidentally sealed in my sword and he can speak to me in my mind and vice versa,” I said.

Scarlet blinked before shrugging and saying “Okay, I'll buy it,” she turned to the others “you guys buy it?” They all shrugged and nodded. “Anything else?”

“Nope, that's it,” I said.

“Good,” she said.

“Okay, so with that all done, let's all get some rest, we've still got a ways to go before we reach Ponyville,” I said. They all agreed and went to rest.

“You've done well Shadow,” said Silver Thorn.

“Thanks, but what about you, are you surprised at all, you've been pretty quiet?” I asked.

“I had my suspicions, but I knew that you would reveal your origins in your own time,” he said.

“Oh, well, thank you, I appreciate your trust in me Silver Thorn,” I said.

“You need not thank me Shadow, but I must ask, what do you plan to do here?” he asked.

“Well, first visit the princesses,” I said.

“And what after that?” he asked.

“I'll let you know when I figure it out,” I said.

After we all rested up and got some food, we set out again for Ponyville. Along the way, everyone kept asking me questions about Earth. Mostly normal stuff like what the people were like, what people do for fun, etc. I made the biggest mistake ever when I told them about the Internet. I kept certain information back for obvious reasons, but it still elicited a million questions, especially from Nova.

“So what's some of the things you can find on this 'Internet' thing?” Nova asked.

“All sorts of stuff, music, recordings of events called 'videos', movies, and certain....unsavory material,” I said, trying to stray away from the subject.

“Unsavory material? Like what?” asked Nova.

“I'd rather not say,” I said with a shudder as I remembered the times I had accidentally ventured to the darker corners of the internet. The horror.

After another days walk, we finally made it to Ponyville. The moment I saw it, I was struck with awe. Ponyville, the place any brony would give an arm or leg to visit, and here it was before my eyes. I broke out into a wide grin “Wow, I can't believe I'm actually here,” I muttered to myself.

“You say something Shadow?” asked Scarlet.

“Uh, nothing, just thinking. Well, now that we're here, let's get down to business,” I said as I lead them into town. Jade opted to stay behind and watch the supplies, muttering something about not wanting to get more weird stares. I tried to argue that everything would be fine, but after a while I agreed and we made a camp in a secluded area near the towns borders. I decided not to wear my cloak into town. Even though it looked more like silk than fur, I still felt like it would be a bit shocking to the locals. I kept my sword and bracers though, just in case anything were to happen.

“Okay, so here's the plan. You guys are free to do what you want so long as you don't cause any trouble. I'm going to be gathering a few things before we go to Canterlot. Let's meet up at the fountain in a couple of hours. Sound good?” I said. They all nodded and we dispersed.

My first stop was going to be the library. Despite all I had learned at Scarlet's, I still knew very little about Equestria. Also, I wanted to see if there were any other information on Alchemy and the Ursa's Blessing. Since the Golden Oaks Library was run by Twilight Sparkle, queen of all bookworms, I figured I'd be able to find some useful information. As I walked through town, I got some stares from the locals. I expected this, but for some reason these stares seemed different than from the ones I had gotten in Trottingham. There, they were scared of me. Here, It was more like they were recognizing me from somewhere. I let this thought slide for now and proceeded to the library. When I got there, I knocked on the door, since the library was also Twilight's home and I didn't want to be rude. After a few seconds, the door opened and I was greeted by Spike the Dragon.

“Hello, welcome to..oh Zecora, what are you doing here?” he asked in an innocent way. Okay, seeing as how Zecora was the only other Zebra around, I would've let this slide. Except for the fact that Zecora was a girl and I was a guy.

I kept my composure and said “Uh sorry, wrong zebra. My name's Shadow, and I'm a guy.”

The little dragon blushed at his mistake “Oh, sorry, we don't get too many zebra's around here, so I just..” I held up my hoof and stopped him.

“It's cool little guy, let's just forget about it. May I come in?” I asked.

“Sure, come in,” he said and stepped out of the way. Looking around, the library looked even cooler in real life. Shelves of books meticulously organized by the library's neurotic librarian, quills and inkwells scattered here and there, and scrolls in a neat stack on a desk near the wall.

“Twilight, we have a visitor,” Spike called. A few seconds later, the lavender mare herself came down the staircase.

“Who is it Spike, I'm in the middle of...” she stopped when she saw me.

“Oh, sorry, I didn't realize it was a customer. Welcome to Golden Oaks Library, I'm Twilight Sparkle, how may I help you .....” she said.

“Shadow,” I bowed “A pleasure to meet you Miss Sparkle,” I said politely.

She blushed at my formality before regaining her composure and saying “A pleasure as well Mister Shadow, how may I help you?”

“As you might guess, I'm looking for some books,” I said.

“Anything in particular?” she asked.

“I need some information on Ursa Majors, more specifically something called the Ursa's Blessing. Secondly, and I'm not even sure if there's any information on it to begin with, a subject called Alchemy,” I said.

“Hmm, Spike get me the Encyclopedia of Equestria's Magical Creatures and I'll search for anything on this Alchemy subject. For now, please have a seat Mister Shadow,” she said motioning to a bean bag chair.

“Just Shadow is fine,” I said, slinging my sword of my back and setting it beside the chair. Spike brought Twilight the book she asked for. She flipped through it and levitated it towards me. The page it was opened to a single page about Ursas. Some stuff I already knew, like how there were Ursa Minors and Majors, how they were largely unstudied, and their known behavior patterns, which was basically the same as a regular bear. Nothing about the Ursa's Blessing. I closed the book and sighed. Twilight heard my sigh and turned toward me.

“Anything?” she asked.

“Nothing I didn't already know, but thank you anyway,” I said setting the book on the floor. Spike came to pick up the book, and stopped when he saw my sword. I saw him staring at the blade and smiled.

“Cool right?” I said.

“Definitely. I haven't seen something this cool since Griffin's sword,” he said.

“Griffin? Who's that?” I asked.

“You don't know who Griffin is, have you been living under a rock for the past two years? Captain Griffin Northwind, Captain of the Griffin Pirates. He and his pirate crew have been fighting to end the slavery in Gem Fido. He wields a sword made of a black dragon scale and uses a bunch of cool and mysterious magic that not even Twilight and the Princesses know,” he said, having an obvious fandragon moment. Twilight grr'd from the other side of the room at the mention of Griffin's magic, though why I don't know.

“Really now, he sounds like a cool guy,” I said.

“There's more,” he said as Twilight came over and handed me a cup of tea. “Not only is he a super awesome warrior, but he's also an alien called a human from some place called Earth,” said the little dragon with enthusiasm. The moment he mentioned Earth and humans I was so surprised I spat my tea out.

“Spike, top secret remember,” Twilight berated her young assistant. Spike slunk down in shame.

“Sorry Twilight, I forgot,” he said. Twilight turned to me and put on a wide grin.

“Don't listen to him, he's got an over active imagination, you know kids,” she said trying to diffuse the situation. Her efforts were in vain, this mention of another human here had thrown my curiosity into overdrive.

I coughed out the last of my tea and regained my composure “Did you say he's a human?” I asked.

“Uh, humans, what are they, never heard of them,” Spike said, trying to act innocent.

“Anyway, I'm sorry, but I couldn't find any information on this Alchemy thing, sorry,” said Twilight.

I had been so distracted I almost forgot about that “Oh that's fine, I didn't really expect there to be much information anyway, thank you though,” I said.

“I searched through everything, but found no mention of it anywhere. What exactly is Alchemy, some kind of magic?” she asked, now becoming a little enthusiastic. I got a devious grin. This mention of humans had intrigued me, but it was obvious they wouldn't give me any information freely. Twilight's interest in Alchemy had given me an idea for how to get the information.

“Miss Twilight, Spike, would you both be interested in a little game?” I asked, a little creepier than I intended. Twilight and Spike looked at each other for a moment before Twilight raised an eyebrow and said “What kind of game?”

I waved a dismissive hoof “Don't worry, it's nothing bad, just a little question game. The rules are we ask each other a question and we have to answer with the utmost truth. Any questions can be posed, within reason of course. The winner is decided by whoever stays in the longest without faltering in their truthfulness. Only one question per round. You two in?” I asked. Twilight thought for a moment before I saw her eyes light up at the implications of my game, she would be able to find out about Alchemy.

“So what does the winner get?” asked Spike.

I thought for a moment and said “Winner gets one favor from the loser.”

“Wait, when you say favor...” she said, the implications of her question obvious.

“Not that kind of favor, and please get your mind out of the gutter Twilight, shame on you,” I said mock berating her for her thoughts.

She blushed and said “I wasn't..” she stammered. I laughed and said “I'm sorry, just teasing, but it's your own fault for implying something like that Twilight. Regardless, are you in or not?”

“I'm in, and Spike will act as judge,” she said. Her horn suddenly started to glow and in a flash, I had a strange helmet strapped to my head that looked like what Twilight had used to examine Pinkie Pie. Twilight also had on a helmet. Spike was in a referee uniform with a whistle around his neck.

“Judge, but I wanted to play too,” he protested, but was silenced by a look from Twilight.

“What are these helmets?” I asked, curious and a little scared.

“Lie detector helmets, the bulb on top will light up green if you tell the truth, and red if you're lying, sound fair?” she said.

“Sounds fair,” I said.

“Ok, now who starts this,” she asked.

“You may have the first question,” I said, though I knew what she was gonna ask.

“Ok, what is this Alchemy thing your trying to find out about?”

I smiled and said “I believe I can best answer your question with a demonstration,” I said walking over to an ink well on the desk. “Now, look closely at the ink well,” I said as I dropped the ink well on the floor, the glass shattering and the ink splattering on the floor.

“Hey! What was..” I stopped her.

“Uh uh uh, only one question per round,” I said. Twilight huffed and stared daggers at me.

“Not to worry all part of the demonstration,” I said as I scooped the glass together.

“Now, watch this,” I said. I clapped my hooves together and placed them over the glass shards. My bracers began to glow as blue electricity sparked from the transmutation. In seconds, the ink well was back in proper condition. The ink was there as well for a little added effect. Twilight and Spike stared open mouthed at my display. I picked up the ink well and placed it back on the desk and turned to them both.

“That is Alchemy. In more detail, it is a science that allows the user, with proper understanding of various scientific fields such as chemistry, to reshape matter into whatever form they desire as long as they follow the rule of Equivalent Exchange, Alchemy's guiding principle. To gain something something of equal value must be lost,” I said. The light bulb on my helmet lit up green.

“Well, seeing as I'm telling the truth, I'd say it's my turn now,” I said.

“Wait a minute, I..” I stopped her.

“One question per round, now It's my turn. What all do you know about humans, and no you may not have another question,” I said. Twilight tried to protest but simply sighed and took a breath.

“Well, I don't know much, but here's what I do know. Humans are from another planet or dimension called Earth. They have been sent here by various gods in a game started by Discord. They have taken the forms of various species here in Equestria, from Griffins to Changelings. Their true form is that of tall, hairless, bipedal primates. They appear to enjoy strange music and many seem to enjoy an act of pranking called 'trolling'. Their home world seems to be riddled with war, greed, and a lack of compassion from what I've been told. Those that I've met are very prone to violence and a lack of respect to those with power. Many of them seem to have had knowledge of this world prior to coming here. Many of them make frequent and confusing references to things called 'memes' from something called 'the internet'. That's all I know,” she said. She took a breath and her helmet lit up green.

I had to admit, her knowledge of humans was astounding. I was expecting some rumors she may have heard, but this was surprising.

“Well, that's quite the answer,” I said.

“Sufficient I hope,” she said.

“Very.”

“Now it's my turn. Why do you want to know about humans so much?” she asked.

“Because I am one,” I said.

“That's a lie,” she said.

“Look at the helmet,” I said. Sure enough, the bulb was lit up green.

“But..”

“Nuh uh, it's my turn. Who are some of the humans you met?”

“Captain Griffin Northwind, Knightmare the Changeling, and a few others,” she said. Her bulb lit up green.

“My turn, why are you looking for information on Ursa's?” she said.

“Well, when I first arrived here an Ursa Major tried to kill me. Fortunately I was able to kill it. My sword used to be the Ursa's claw, which I used to slay it. A week or so later, I found that killing the Ursa had granted me something called The Ursa's Blessing, which has given me immense strength and a healing ability. It also trapped the soul of an Elder Manticore in my sword who I am able to telepathically communicate with. I am attempting to find some more information on the subject to help better understand my new powers.” I said. The bulb lit up green again.

“You killed an Ursa Major?!” she exclaimed so loud it forced me and Spike to cover our ears

“Ow,” I said rubbing my ears “and yes. Also, you broke the one question per round rule, and guess what that means,” I said.

“No, wait, that wasn't a ..”

“I win,” I said removing the helmet.

“But that's not fair!” Twilight whined.

“Oh I love this one, who said life was fair,” I said. Spike bro-hoofed me through fits of laughter at Twilight's frustration.

After some more fuming, Twilight gave up and said “All right, you win. So what favor do you want?”

“Oh right, give me minute,” I said. I thought about what I could do. I'd already had my little fun, so I decided to be civil about this. That's when a thought occurred to me. How the hell was I gonna get an audience with the princesses. Even if I mentioned the Chess Game, that didn't mean they would just let me into the castle, especially considering all the things Twilight said my fellow humans have been up to here. I knew what favor to ask.

“I need an audience with the Princesses,” I said.

“Why?” she asked.

“I have some things to discuss with them. Now, do you think you could pull some strings and get me an audience with them,” I asked.

“What makes you think I can do that?” She asked.

I just stared at her like she just ate and old shoe “You're kidding right? You're the Element of Magic, Princess Celestia's personal protege, technically royalty since your brother married Princess Cadence, and you and your friends have saved Equestria multiple times, how could you not have some kind of sway in this country?” I deadpanned.

Twilight looked at me dumbfounded “How did you? Wait, human, right. Well, those things are true, but I don't like to think of myself having that kind of power. Yes, I have done much and have amazing ponies in my life. But, if I abused the power that gives me, I'd be no better than the villains we fight,” she said.

“Hmm, I never thought of it that way,” I said, speechless at Twilight's explanation. Suddenly I felt like a sleaze for even asking her to do that.

“I'm sorry,” was all I could manage.

“It's fine, most people don't think about that sort of thing. Believe me. I had to have a serious talk with Rarity and Rainbow Dash about abuse of power after we became the Elements,” She said.

“I can imagine,” I said. I picked up my sword and prepared to leave “Sorry for the trouble, I'll take my leave now,” I said and headed for the door.

“Wait, where are you going, what about the favor?” she said.

“Oh, forget about it. It was rude of me to make you play that game in the first place,” I said.

“But you won, I'd feel bad if I didn't live up to my end of the bargain,” she said.

I thought for a moment before saying “Okay, tell the princesses to be expecting a visitor in the next few days inquiring about the Chess Game. Tell her I'll be traveling with friends and to have the guards not give us trouble. Tell them I seek an audience with them both and that I mean no harm.”

“Ok, got it,” she said.

“Thank you Twilight, you've been a great help,” I said.

“So have you, and I must say that Alchemy you're able to do has piqued my interest,” she said.

“It is interesting isn't it, but dangerous as well,” I said.

“What was that?” she said.

“Nothing, good day Miss Sparkle, and you too Spike,” I said and left, thinking about my next objective.

Dear Princess Celestia and Luna,

I met another one of those humans today. He is a zebra named Shadow. He seeks an audience with the both of you to discuss the Chess Game. He will be arriving in Canterlot in a few days. He will be traveling with a group of friends and wishes you to know he means no harm. He has also discovered some new kind of magic called Alchemy. I was not able to study it very well, but he tells me it is a science that allows you to reshape matter. He also has been granted some power known as the Ursa's Blessing, which he himself knows very little about. If at all possible, would you both please help him to better understand this power of his.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Chapter 14: Dreams and Premonitions

Chapter 14

Dreams and Premonitions

I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a monster truck. My eyes were reluctant to open, but after some effort they did. I stared up at a white ceiling, and after further inspection found I was in a hospital bed. I tried sitting up but that proved a fruitless effort as I was raked with horrible pain. I looked myself over and found that I was covered in so many bandages that the only thing that indicated I was a zebra was my mohawk.

As I settled back into my bed, not wanting to injure myself further, I heard a noise to my side. Turning to it, I saw Scarlet with her head on my bedside, the bandage from when I last saw her no longer present. She looked disheveled. Her mane was unkempt and her eyes were red and puffy, no doubt from crying. I heard her mutter something in her sleep.

“Shadow..” she said, a tear falling from her face. The sight of her crying pained me.

“Nice to see you finally awake,” said Silver Thorn.

I looked past Scarlet and saw my sword was sitting against the wall.

“Silver Thorn, it's nice to hear your voice,” I said.

“The same to you. You gave us all quite a scare,” he said.

“What happened? I remember killing the timberwolf, coming back to town hall, and then nothing,” I said. Before Silver Thorn could answer, Scarlet stirred from her sleep and opened her eyes. When she saw me, tears started to well in her eyes.

“Shadow, you're awake,” she said and grabbed me in a bear hug, which would've been great under regular circumstances, but my injuries only made it hurt.

“Owowow, yes I'm awake, and in a lot of pain,” I said. Scarlet released me and flushed red with embarrassment.

“Oh Celestia, I'm sorry, it's..I..” she stuttered.

I chuckled, which hurt, and said “It's good to see you too.” Scarlet pushed some hair out of her eyes, her face still red.

“Scarlet, what happened?” I said.

“Well, I wasn't awake when you were brought in, but the doctor told me you collapsed. You started bleeding from old wounds and stopped breathing,” she said, her voice faltering slightly.

“I woke up a few hours later and got the story from Twilight. She said that you had somehow depleted the magic in your body.”

I thought about the roar I had unleashed. I don't know where it came from, but there was definitely magic behind it.

“How long have I been out?” I said.

“A week,” she said.

“A WEEK!” I yelled, which caused my chest to hurt and forced me to lay back down.

“I'd advise you not to do that, unless you want to hurt your self even more,” she chided.

“Right, good to know” I looked at her, her mane disheveled and her eyes still puffy “Have you been by my bedside this whole time?” I asked.

She started blushing again “Well, uh, not just me, Nova, Nebula, and Jade came by as well, but for the most part yeah,” she said, her blush getting deeper.

I was awed “Wow, I didn't know you cared so much,” I said.

“Of course I care, you're my friend Shadow, why would you think I didn't care?” she asked.

I hesitated for a moment before saying “Nothing, it's just...back on my world, no ever cared about me this much before.”

We sat there in silence for what felt like forever. Finally, Scarlet said “Well, things change, you've got me and the others now,” she put a hoof on my shoulder “and we'll always care about you Shadow, no matter what.”

Tears began to form in my eyes, but I wiped them away and said “Thanks Scarlet, you don't know what that means to me.”

Scarlet smiled, a warm smile that came from the heart. She was about to say something else when the door opened. In stepped Nova, Nebula, Jade, and the Mane Six. When they saw me awake, they ran to my bed.

“Shadow, you're awake!” said Nova

“Thank Celestia, we thought you were never going to wake up,” said Nebula.

“I am glad Shadow okay,” said Jade.

“I'm glad you're awake Shadow,” said Twilight.

“We were ever so worried about you darling,” said Rarity.

“Glad to see you're awake sugarcube,” said Applejack.

“Nice to see you're awake,” Fluttershy said barely above a whisper.

“Took you long enough lazy bones,” said Rainbow Dash, which earned her a glare from Twilight and Scarlet.

“WOOOO, Shadow's awake, waking up party,” exclaimed Pinkie, who proceeded to pull her party cannon out of nowhere and was readying to fire it until Twilight stopped her.

“He just woke up Pinkie, save the party for later alright,”she chided the pink party mare.

“Oh, okie-dokie-lokie Twilight, I'll save it for later,” she said as she made her party cannon disappear, earning a raised eyebrow from everyone, me included.

“Thanks guys, but I'm fine really, just over exerted myself a bit,” I said.

“Over exertion was only part of it Shadow, you collapsed because you had depleted the magic in your body, not to mention the strain from using that alchemy magic,” she explained.

“It's not magic, it's science, and what exactly do you mean I used up all the magic in my body, is that even possible?” I asked.

“Completely. Everypony has magic in their bodies, and when that's used up, it causes extreme exhaustion and strain on the body like you experienced. However, one thing still bothers me,” she said.

'What would that be?”

“Well, two things actually, one, how did you defeat the timberwolf? Two, when you walked into town hall you didn't have a scratch on you, but when you collapsed you started bleeding like you had been put through a shredder, how do you explain that?” she asked.

I honestly didn't know how to answer. I don't know where that roar came from, and I still didn't know how my healing ability worked. I thought for a moment trying to think of an answer. Twilight grew irritated.

“Well, truthfully, I have no idea,” I said.

“WHAT!” she said.

“Just that, I have no idea. When I killed it, I felt this primal power well up inside me, until I let out some kind of roar. As for my lack of wounds and sudden bleeding, you're guess is as good as mine,” I said.

“You roared, that's nothing, I can do that,” said Rainbow dash as she proceeded to do her best impression of a timberwolf. Spot on, but it was so loud that it forced everyone to cover their ears. Fluttershy cowered in her mane. Everyone else shot her a glare.

“Thank you for that display Miss Dash, but this was different. It felt like I was channeling some kind of primal essence from deep inside my body,” I said.

Everyone was silent for a while.

“I'm sorry I couldn't explain better, but I'm still trying to figure out these powers myself. From what Silver Thorn tells me, it's something not seen often,” I said.

“Who's Silver Thorn?” asked Twilight, the others all having confused looks on their faces.

“Not important,” I said.

“Hey!” Silver Thorn protested.

“I didn't mean it like that,” I said.

“The point is, I know as much about this as you all do,” I said, rubbing the sides of my head, feeling a headache coming on.

Everyone looked at each other and Twilight said “We're sorry Shadow, we're just trying to help.”

“I know you are, and I appreciate that, but as things are now I don't think anyone can help me,” I said, hanging my head in defeat.

“Is that our cue?” I heard a voice say. I looked and found to my surprise Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in the doorway. Everyone gasped and bowed. I just sat there awestruck.

“Please everypony, raise your heads,” said Celestia, and everyone did.

“Pardon me your highnesses, but what are you doing here?” I asked.

“We received Twilight's letter and were intrigued about what you had to ask us. We were expecting your visit, but Twilight sent us another letter telling us of your condition, so we decided it would be better to come to you,” said Celestia.

I was speechless “You honor me Princesses, thank you.”

“NO TROUBLE AT ALL, WE GREATLY ENJOY BEING AMONGST OUR LOYAL SUBJECTS,” Luna said in the Royal Canterlot voice, which shattered just about everyone's eardrums, again.

Celestia rubbed her ears “Luna, remember, inside voice,” she chided.

Luna blushed “Oh, sorry dear sister, we forgot,” she said.

“At any rate, may we have a few moments alone to discuss your abilities,” she said. Everyone got the message and left, Scarlet hesitating before leaving.

To say I was nervous would be an understatement. Being heavily injured and in the presence of two immortal goddesses will do that. I tried to think of how to start, but thankfully Celestia took care of that.

“Why don't you tell us what has happened. We already know you're human, but some specifics would be nice,” she said. So I told them about everything that had happened up till then, not leaving anything out. After I was done, they both had contemplative looks on their faces.

“Tis an amazing tale young one,” said Luna.

“Yeah, I still find it a little hard to believe,” I said.

“It is a very intriguing story, but I have some questions,” Celestia said.

“Ask away.”

“You say that sword of yours contains the spirit of an Elder Manticore yes?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Can you prove this?”

I hesitated “Well, that's the thing. Since Silver Thorn only used that mind link spell on me, I'm not sure if I can,” I said.

“I believe I can help with that,” said Luna. Her horn glowed and soon my sword was enveloped in a magical aura. After a few second the light dissipated, Luna sitting down.

“Um, what just happened?” I asked.

“I used a mind link spell similar to the one thou described. If what you say is true, the spirit in thine sword should be able to speak to us no problem,” she said.

Hesitant, I spoke to Silver Thorn in my mind “Silver Thorn, you following this?”

“Not really, but whatever she did tickled,” he said.

“HUZZAH, IT HAS WORKED,” Luna yelled.

“Ow, I don't even have ears anymore and that hurt,” he said.

“I resent that,” Luna huffed.

“Wait, you can hear him?” I said.

“Indeed, as can I,” Celestia said

“Can everyone hear him now?”

“Those he wishes to hear him, yes,” said Luna.

“Well, that's one question answered, now on to the next one. I have been told you use a strange type of magic called Alchemy, what exactly is it?” Celestia asked.

“First off it's not strictly magic, it's more like a mixture of magic and science,” I said.

“How so?” she asked.

“Well, and pardon me for this, but I don't wish to reveal too much about Alchemy,” I said.

“Why is that?” she asked, this time a sharp edge to her tone.

“Alchemy is a very dangerous thing. In my world it was nothing but fiction, but I've seen the things it can do, and they're not pretty.”

“Like what?” she asked.

“It has the power to create artificial beings, fuse creatures together, kill people in the most horrible ways, and twist the minds of even the most intelligent and wise of people,” I said, thinking of all the horrible things I'd seen Alchemy do in the show. I shuddered, realizing for the first time just how much power I held.

The Princesses looked at each other before Celestia said “If it is so dangerous a science, then why have you chosen to use it?”

“Because, while it is capable of great horror, it is also capable of great good. It allows one to reshape matter at will. If I can learn to use it, maybe I can help people. However, one has to have extensive knowledge of science to use it effectively,” I said.

“And you say you found this knowledge in a book here in Equestria?”

“Yes, I don't know how it got here, and I don't really want to. Can we move on to the next question please?” I asked.

They looked at each other before reaching a silent agreement. The next question came from Luna

“You say you have acquired the Ursa's Blessing, what do you wish to know of this?” she asked.

“Anything you can tell me. So far, all I know is that it has granted me great strength and a healing ability. Although, I still don't know just how much this ability can heal me. So what can you tell me about the Blessing?” I said.

The Princesses looked at each other “Unfortunately, we ourselves know very little about this power. We know that it has only been granted to a few people throughout history,” said Celestia.

“Can you tell me who?”

“Well, the only one that I can remember is Starswirl the Bearded, but he was always very guarded about his secrets. I do remember that he lived considerably longer than most ponies, perhaps extended longevity is one of the Blessing's powers,” she said.

“Ugh, I wish I'd never killed that damn bear, all this confusion started with that,” I said, rubbing my head with my hooves.

Celestia frowned“We are sorry we could not be of more help to you Shadow, but there are thing not even we know about,” said Celestia.

“It's fine, I appreciate the help, I really do, I just wish there was a way to find out more, like a spell or something,” I groaned.

Suddenly, Luna stood up and yelled “WE HAVE AN IDEA!”

“Seriously, what is with people today and the yelling?”

Luna shrunk in embarrassment “Sorry, but we just thought of something. You may not know this, but we possess the power to enter the dreams of others. If thou were to sleep, we could enter thy dream and subconscious and look for an answer.” she turned to her sister “What does thou think sister?”

“It's risky Luna, but it's worth a shot. Are you okay with this Shadow?'

“How does going into my subconscious help anything, I don't know anything?”

“The sleeping mind knows things that our waking minds do not, this is why many dreams have deeper meanings to them. Our sleeping minds are helping our waking minds to understand what we can't while awake. Do you agree to this plan?” asked Luna

I thought for a moment. There are thing's I'm not to keen about other people knowing about, but at this point I'd be willing to try anything if it meant figuring out more about the Blessing.

“I'm fine with it, but just don't invade too much of my mind, there are some things I'd still like to keep secret for the time being.” I said.

“We promise, now just lie down and we will enter thy dreams,” she said as her horn started to glow. I could feel my eyelids getting heavier until finally I fell asleep.

I opened my eyes and found myself in a massive corridor that stretched as far as I could see. The corridor had doors lining the entirety of the walls. I rubbed my head trying to comprehend all this when I noticed that I was no longer in my zebra body. I was back in my human body. I was wearing a black t-shirt, jeans, and my favorite pair of leather boots.

“You're probably wondering why you are back to your human form” said a voice.

I whirled around to find Luna standing there. She looked slightly transparent though, like a ghost.

“A little bit, why am I human again, and what is this place?”

Luna walked past me, or I guess I should say through me, which was really creepy.

“This is your subconscious mind. In the subconscious, you take on whatever form is most comfortable for you. Now let's begin searching, we have many rooms to search,” she said and began to walk down the corridor.

“Wait up, what's in these rooms, my memories?”

“Those and other things. Some of these contain your memories of your old world, while others contain your hopes, dreams, and deepest fears. We need to search through as many as we can, hopefully we'll find something,” she said and continued walking down the corridor.

I don't know how long we walked down the corridor, reading the signs that were on the doors and looking through the ones we thought might hold information. We inevitably came to the door with the word FAMILY written on it. Thankfully, Luna walked right past it.

After walking for what felt like hours, we came to a door that wasn't like the others. It looked like a mixture of wood and stone, with a big paw print on the front.

“I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say this is the door we're looking for.”

“Gee, thou think?” she said in a sarcastic tone. Weird, I didn't think she was capable of sarcasm.

Regardless, I pushed open the door, and right away my nostrils were assaulted with the worst thing I've ever smelled. Luna and I both plugged our noses, but ventured forward. The room was sparsely lit, the walls lined with stone and a few torches. I grabbed a torch off the wall and looked around the room. I t looked like an old fashioned torture chamber, complete with chains, bones, and a few blood stains.

“Well, guess that explains the smell. But why would this door be in my mind?” I asked.

“Everyone has some areas of their mind they don't know about, that's why it's the subconscious,” she said. I looked around a little more and saw a stairwell leading down.

“Ladies first,” I said.

“How gentlecoltly of thee,” she said sarcastically and walked down the stairwell. The stairwell seemed to go down forever. However, I noticed something as we kept walking, the smell from earlier was getting even worse. It got so bad that we were barely able to continues, but then we reached the bottom. What was there was a big cage, bones of various creatures littered around, some that looked vaguely human. Before I knew it, I was walking closer. I don't know why I did, it felt like I was being pulled. Thankfully, Luna caught me in a spell before I got too close. Good thing too, because no sooner did Luna catch me did a giant paw swipe at me from the cage. That snapped me out of my stupor and I backpedaled as fast as I could.

“What is that thing?” I asked.

“How dare you address me that way welp!” a voice said. In the cage, out of the shadows came the last thing I'd ever thought I'd see again. The Ursa Major I had killed. I backpedaled so fast I slammed into Luna. After getting whacked on the head for running into her, Luna helped me up and we both looked at the caged Ursa.

“What are you doing here, I thought I killed you?” I said.

“You did you little twat,” the Ursa spat.

“Then how are you here? Were you bound like Silver Thorn?” I asked.

“It's part of the Blessing, whenever we Ursa Majors are killed, our magic is transferred to the one who killed us. That Manticore getting bound was just an effect of the magic,” it said rather bored.

“Most intriguing, what other abilities doth this Blessing give Shadow?” asked Luna.

“I'm not telling,” it said.

“What! What do you mean you're not telling!?” I yelled.

“I'm a spirit living in your head, not a library. I don't gotta tell you shit,” it said.

“Then why'd you explain why you're here?” I asked.

“Did I? Slip of the tongue.”

“We tire of these games,” Luna stepped up to the cage, “As a Princess, we demand that thou tell us more about the Ursa's Blessing and the changes it is causing in Shadow,” she said.

“Wouldn't you like to know,” it said. I ran up to the cage, pushing Luna aside.

“Answer me! Why did you give me these powers? How am I able to heal? What was that roar when I was fighting the Timberwolf? What is the Ursa's Blessing really?” No answer. “ANSWER ME YOU DAMN BEAR!?”

Luna grabbed me with her magic and pulled me away from the cage as the Ursa swiped at me with it's paw “Shadow, control thy self” she said.

“Tch, just what you'd expect from a human, quick to anger when things don't go their way,” it said.

Me and Luna both went silent “How do you know about humans?” I said.

“I've met your kind more times than I care to remember. You keep popping up here in Equestria like roaches, and every time you do chaos always follows. You humans are a parasite in this world, and it sickens me that I was killed by one of your kind, you in particular,” it said.

“What's that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“I'm inside your head kid. It gets boring in here, so I found a way to entertain myself,” a smirk appeared on it's face “Looking through your memories.”

I could feel the fear and anger rising in my chest “You've been looking through my memories?” a dangerous edge to my voice.

“Oh yeah, and I gotta say, you're more interesting than I first thought. Before you two showed up, I had just finished a juicy memory. You remember that day three years ago, you know, the day of the accident,” it said.

I froze where I stood, the memory flooding my every thought “That..that wasn't my fault,” I said.

“That's not what I saw. Hard to think you could be so heartless, just leaving them there like that,”

“Shut up,”

“I can still hear their screams 'Don't go, don't leave us here to die,' classic.”

“I said shut up!”

“And to think, you'd let your own...”

“SHUT UP! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!!” I yelled, falling to my knees and holding my hands to my ears.

“IT WASN'T MY FAULT! I DIDN'T MEAN FOR IT TO HAPPEN! IT WASN'T MY FAULT! AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!” I yelled.

Luna ran to my side “Shadow, what is wrong. Pull thyself together!” But I couldn't hear her. All I heard was my own screaming.

She turned to the Ursa “What did thou do to Shadow?”

“Me? I've done nothing, I've merely reminded him of what kind of a person he really is. A coward!” The Ursa spat.

“That is enough. We will not allow thee to slander Shadow so,” she said, her horn glowing with magic “We shall dispose of thee ourselves.”

“Are you sure that's wise. We're inside his mind, one wrong move and you could break his mind completely, and seeing as how he's currently my host, I simply can't allow that,” it said and swatted Luna aside so fast she couldn't react. It grabbed me with one of it's paws and held me up to it's face, halting my screaming.

“Tell you what, since you and little miss royalty over there went through the trouble of coming here, I'll give you a taste of just what's in store for you little human,” it said. The Ursa lifted it's other paw up and touched my forehead with one of it's claws.

My mind burned. I saw my life flash before my eyes, on both Earth and Equestria. I saw me fighting the Ursa, the Diamond Dogs; meeting Scarlet, Jade, Nova, and Nebula. I'm not quite sure what I saw next. Me flying a dragon in full battle armor, my sword raised. Celestia and Luna fighting side by side, both having various body parts replaced with prosthetics. A group of griffins and diamond dogs fighting. A dragon ripping apart anything that crossed it's passed. A griffin in rainbow armor blasting diamond dogs with fire and lightning. Then I saw something that chilled my blood right to my very core. Me, standing over a bleeding Scarlet in what looked like a human transmutation circle. I screamed, I screamed until my throat burned.

“STOP! WHAT ARE YOU SHOWING ME! STOP IT!”

“I'm showing you what it's in store for you kid. I'm showing you your future,” said the Ursa.

The images didn't stop. I saw Nova falling out of the sky, missing a wing. Nebula surrounded by changelings. Jade bloody and in chains. I saw a griffin with black wings fighting a group of diamond dogs. A dragon burning a city. It was too much, my mind was burning and I could feel my eyes sizzling in their sockets.

“SSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Suddenly, Luna flew at the Ursa, knocking me out of it's grasp and encasing me in her magic. The images stopped, but my screams continued.

“Shadow, pull thyself together. Shadow!” she turned to the Ursa “What have you done beast!?”

“I've only showed him that which is inevitable, and know this human. The day will come when you call on me directly. On that day, you will know the truth behind the Ursa's Blessing.” it said.

“Silence foul beast! Thou shall not harm Shadow any longer,” she said. Her horn glowed and we disappeared, the last sight I saw being the Ursa with a smug smirk on it's face.

Next thing I remember was waking up screaming.

“Shadow, Shadow, it's over, your safe now,” said Luna.

I stopped screaming long enough to see that I was back in the hospital room, my friends, Celestia and Luna, and the Mane Six surrounding me.

“What...what's going on? Where'd the Ursa go?” I asked bewildered.

“It's gone for now, but it's still in your mind,” said Luna.

“So it's still there, looking through my memories?” I said.

“Shadow..” Luna said. I bolted out of my bed and began pounding my head against the wall.

“GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY HEAD YOU BASTARD! GET OUT!” Celestia encased me in magic and threw me back onto my bed.

“Shadow, calm down! You're going to hurt yourself even more,” Celestia said.

“I can't calm down! That damn bear is still in my head, I want it out!” I screamed. Luna stood up and slapped me across the face. Everyone gasped, and I stopped screaming and struggling.

“Shadow, calm down. You're scaring everypony!” Luna chided.

I looked around and saw that everyone was staring at me, concern and fear across their faces. Fluttershy so scared that she was hiding behind Celestia.

“I'm sorry, it's just the thought of that bastard invading my mind both angers and scares me,” I said.

Scarlet walked up to me and said “Shadow, what happened?”

I sighed and told them of what had happened while em and Luna were inside my mind. I left out some of the visions the Ursa had shown me, the ones pertaining my friends and the Princesses.

“It showed you the future?” asked Celestia.

“I believe so. Just remembering chills my blood. What does it mean?” I asked.

“I do not know. Visions of the future are a tricky thing. You can never tell if they're a trick or not. But one thing is for certain, this spirit in your head is dangerous.” she said.

“Yeah, no kidding. He tossed Luna aside like she was a rag doll,” I said.

“At any rate, right now we can't do anything. All we can do is wait and see what happens,” Luna said.

“Great, just great,” I said slumping down in my bed. Everyone looked at each other, the uncomfortable feeling thick in the air.

I sighed “Well, only one thing to do now,” I said.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow “And what would that be?”

“Keep calm and carry on. Nothing can be done, so I shouldn't worry over it, right?” I said.

“I guess,” she said uncertainly.

“Plus, what have I got to fear with friends like you all,” I said.

“Yeah but..” Twilight started, but was stopped by a raised hoof from Celestia.

“Shadow is right, for right now, it is best not to worry. Moving on with things is the wise decision,” she said.

“Glad you agree, now Pinkie, you said something about a party earlier,” I said.

The pink mare sprang into action at the mention of party “You betcha, I've got everything set up at Sugarcube Corner!” she said.

“Well then what are we waiting for, let's head over there and party till we drop!” I said. Everyone cheered uncertainly and were practically dragged out of the room by Pinkie. I strapped Silver Thorn to my back and was about to walk out of the room when he said “Shadow, are you truly not worried about this Ursa inside your head?”

“Truth be told I'm scared shitless, but it's as Celestia said, I can't do anything so why should I worry about it?” I said.

“I will say only this, the Ursa are a proud race, and they do not take defeat lightly,” he said.

“Well, if that thing wants a fight, it's gonna get one. I killed it once, I can sure as hell do it again,” I said and headed to Sugarcube Corner, my mind still weighing on the images I was shown and the events to come.

Chapter 15: A New Mission

Chapter 15

A New Mission

After arguing with the doctors to release me, we made our way to Sugarcube Corner. I was feeling less pain, which was good but also worried me quite a bit. My little encounter with the Ursa still chilled my blood, and not being able to do anything about it made things even worse. I tried to push those thoughts from my mind as we came upon Sugarcube Corner. Everyone made way for us as we passed since the Princesses were with us. My friends and I got a lot of stares, me and Jade especially. Luckily, she didn't looked scared as usual, actually wearing a smile for once.

As we walked into Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie blasted her party cannon and music started blaring. I have to say, even for Pinkie, she outdid herself. Streamers of all different colors hung from the ceiling. All manner of pastries and sweets were laid out on the tables. A DJ, who was surprisingly not Vinyl Scratch, was playing music on a stage. Pinkie herself was dancing wildly on the dance floor.Ponies began to enter from outside, I'm guessing not wanting to miss out on a party with the Princesses, not to mention thrown by the party mare herself.

“Come on, don't just stand there, this is a party SO HAVE FUN!” she yelled as she did a few more dance moves.

Everyone did as Pinkie asked. Rainbow Dash, Nova and Luna went onto the dance floor while Celestia and Twilight went to the snack tables. Fluttershy,Rarity, and Nebula went to the punch table. Me, Scarlet, and Jade stayed behind.

“You guys gonna dance?” I asked.

“Parties have never really been my thing, too loud,” said Scarlet.

Jade just looked away, obviously nervous about being around so many people.

“What about you?” asked Scarlet.

I extended my foreleg, still wrapped in bandages.

“Oh right, sorry,” she said.

“It's cool besides, I never liked parties either....bad memories,” I said, my face growing sullen.

Before the awkward silence could set in, Pinkie came bouncing up to us.

“Shadow, Shadow, Shadow, why aren't you dancing, or eating, or anything?” she asked.

“I'm still injured, there's not much I can do Pinkie,” I said.

She put her hoof to her chin in thought, then smiled widely and said “I know, I know, how about you sing?”

This caught me completely off guard, but before I had a chance to protest, she was dragging me onto the stage. She motioned for the DJ to stop and grabbed the microphone “Hey everypony, we have a special treat today, my new friend Shadow is gonna sing for all of us!” she said.

I stood there like a moron, trying to comprehend the situation. Now, I've said before that I love music and performing. But that's with instruments. Singing on the other hand absolutely terrifies me. Not to say that I can't, just that singing alone is what scares me. Playing in an orchestra or performing in an ensemble in a musical; no problem. But asking me to sing on a stage alone is like asking me to stick my head into a jar of bees. Frightening and unpleasant.

Anyway, I just stood there on the stage like a deer in the headlights. Pinkie noticed my silence and turned to me.

“Shadow, what's wrong?”

I whispered in her ear “I can't sing in front of people, it scares the crap out of me.”

“Nonsense, singing is as natural as breathing. Come on, you'll do great!” she said, pushing me in front of the microphone.

I froze. Everyone looked at me, waiting for me to sing. I could hear some of them starting to whisper. No doubt wondering why I was up there in the first place.

I looked around trying to find something to take my mind of the crowd. Nothing. Everywhere I looked I saw nothing but stares and heard nothing but whispers. I probably would've passed out right there if not for what happened next.

“Come on Shadow, sing. You can do it!” I heard someone yell. I looked around and saw that Scarlet had her hoof raised in the air and was cheering. Soon, the rest of my friends, the Mane Six, and even the Princesses joined in. I did the only thing I could think to do. I spoke into the microphone.

“Thank you everyone, sorry for the delay. But if you could just wait for just a little while longer,” I said and went up to the DJ.

“Hey, mind helping me out here?” I asked.

“That's what I'm here for bro,” he said. After about an hour and a lot of work, we had gotten the music to sound they way I needed it to sound. I stepped back up to microphone.

“Sorry for the wait everyone, hope you're all ready for a real show,” I said and turned to the DJ “Hit it!” The DJ started up the music and I began to sing.

Maji (Magic) ka! ? Majide! ? Majida! ! ! ! Shō taimu!

Maru de tsuki to taiyō kasanaru toki no shōgeki

Dare datte kiseki shinjite mitai

Toki no mama nagareru temoashimodenai...

Demo sore ja iki mo tsuma~tsu chaukara

Kitto hitsuyō fukaketsu no enajī kokoro no tame

Yume to yosō yoi imi de Uragitte kureru mono

(3 2 1 Shō taimu! )

MAGIC taimu torikku janai

Mahō hirō hanpane~e ze! (Maruto hareruya!)

Kioku no rūto mogurikonde kibō sukuidasou (Shō taimu!)

Raifu is shō taimu tobikiri no

Unmei no life mucha shite mo (Maruto hareruya!)

Kinōkyōashita mirai subete no namida o (Shō taimu!)

Hōseki ni kaete yaru ze

Maji (Magic) ka!? Majide!? Majida!!!! Shō taimu!

Utagatte miru yori mo

Chū ni tobikonde mita nochi

Dekiru koto kangaete mireba ī sa

Kekkyoku uraomote hikari abi teru dake

Fuan to iu na no kage to

Tatakai tsudzukeru no sa (3 2 1 Shō taimu! )

MAGIC taimu konkyo mo naku Hattari OK!

Kakko tsuke re (Maruto hareruya!)

Zettai mō akiramezu ni kibō todokeru yo (Shō taimu! )

Raifu is shō taimu nigedasanai

Kakugo no ue mucha shiyou (Maruto hareruya! )

Yari-sugi toka iwa reyouga sekai no zetsubō (Shō taimu! )

Isshun de buttobasou ze

Maji (Magic) ka! ? Majide! ? Majida! ! ! ! Shō taimu!

Risō wa tsuneni takaku menomaede todokanai

Dakedo shō wa matte kurenai

Maku ga agareba yami ni ￮￮ owari made (3 2 1 Shō taimu! )

MAGIC taimu torikku janaku

Mahō hirō hanpane~e ze! (Maruto hareruya!)

Kioku no rūto mogurikonde kibō sukuidasou (Shō taimu!)

Raifu is shō taimu tobikiri no

Unmei no life mucha shite mo (Maruto hareruya!)

Kinōkyōashita mirai subete no namida o (Shō taimu!)

Hōseki ni kaete yaru ze

Maji (Magic) ka! ? Majide! ? Majida! ! ! ! Shō taimu!

My performance was met with thunderous applause. I put the microphone back and stepped off the stage. I walked back to my friends, who all had their mouths hanging open in shock. The Mane Six and the Princesses surprisingly were not as surprised.

“Come one, I wasn't that bad was I?” I asked.

“Shadow..that was....” Scarlet began.

“AWESOME!” Rainbow Dash said.

“Yeah Shadow, where'd you learn to sing like that. I couldn't understand a word of it, but it was so awesome!” Nova said.

“Yeah, what language was that?” asked Nebula.

“It's called Japanese, it's a language from my world. Just something I picked up,” I said with a shrug.

“Well, it was great Shadow. I didn't know you could sing,” Scarlet said.

“You should hear me play. I'm a much better musician than I am a singer,” I said, bragging a bit.

After my performance, I started to enjoy the party. My injuries didn't barely hurt at all, so I even managed what some could call a dance. I got into a cake eating contest with Celestia and Pinkie, which I lost quickly. It was fun seeing the faces of the ponies watching as their illustrious leader stuffed her face with enough cake to feed an army. Luna and Twilight asked me a lot of questions about Earth. I tried to answer their questions as best I could, but when the Internet came up, I changed the subject immediately. Some things are better left unanswered.

After a while, the party started to dwindle down until it was just Luna and Celestia, the Mane Six, and my friends.

“Wow, this was a blast Pinkie, I haven't had this much fun since Comic-Con,” I said.

“What's that?” she asked.

“Not important,” I said.

“Yes this was..” Celestia started, but suddenly a guard burst through the door, panting.

“I apologize for my intrusion your Highnesses, but an urgent matter has arisen,” the guard said trying to catch his breath.

“What has happened Iron Spear?” Celestia asked.

“It is Bridleburg my Lady, it appears there have even more disappearances as of late. Ten in the last week alone. The mayor has requested a squad of guards be sent immediately to investigate,” Iron Spear reported. Jade gasped from behind us.

“What's wrong Jade?” I asked.

“Bridleburg is town close to warren I was slave in. First place I come to after I escape,” she said.

“How close is it?” I asked.

“I do not remember. Memory is fuzzy, ran for long time before I came there though,” she said, looking sadly at the claw around her neck.

“At any rate, this is a very serious matter,” Celestia said.

Luna and Celestia both turned serious. I never really thought about it much, but looking at them now really struck me much weight they both had on their shoulders. Not only were they immortal, which I would consider more of a curse than a blessing, but they raised the sun and the moon, and had to run a whole kingdom. Not to mention Celestia had been going solo for a thousand years. Seeing them now really made me think about just how often situations like this come up, and they have to deal with them.

“We can't spare an entire squad, many of them are out helping with the new colonies,” Celestia said.

“Agreed sister. We've had to take on many new recruits as it is, and many are not fully trained yet,” Luna said.

“I would send Shining Armor, but he's busy with other matters,” Celestia said.

“Then what shall we do Sister,” Luna said. Luna and Celestia hung their heads, trying to think of what to do.

“Send me,” I said. Everyone turned to look at me.

“Pardon?” Celestia said.

“You heard me. Send me, I'll help any way I can,” I said.

“Shadow, are you certain of this. You are still in bad condition,” Celestia said, a confused and slightly worried look on her face.

“Whether I'm fine or not is not what matters here. People are in trouble, and I will not stand idly by and do nothing,” I said with confidence in my voice. Everyone stared at me with a mixture of admiration and disbelief.

“But what about the Ursa inside thy mind. We think you should be more concerned about that."

“I'm not worried about him. Besides,I have more than a couple reasons for wanting to do this.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow “And what would those be?” she asked.

“With all due respect Princess, it's none of your business. I'm offering you my help, you can either take it or I'll handle it on my own,” I said.

Everyone went silent. I had to admit, I was very nervous. It's never wise to back talk to people who can make you a grease spot instantly if you piss them off.

Celestia and Luna spoke for a few moments in hushed tones. Scarlet pulled me aside.

“Shadow, what do you think you're doing. This has nothing to do with you,” she said.

“As a matter of fact it does. I promised to help find Chrono for Jade, and right now, this is the best lead I've got,” I looked into her eyes “and I DO NOT go back on my word. If nothing else, I have that,” I said.

“You know it's really hard to talk you out of doing stupid things when you say things like that,” she said.

“Good, so I can assume you're coming with me then. I wouldn't feel comfortable unless my Medic was there with me,” I said winking.

This elicited a blush from Scarlet “Shut..Shut up!” she said

I laughed and said “Come on, I'm only teasing.”

Scarlet was about to say something when Celestia said “Shadow, could you come here please?”

I walked over to the Princesses. They both had serious yet nervous looks on their faces.

“Shadow, we have agreed to let you handle this matter,” Celestia said.

“Thank you Princess, I...” I started.

“However, because this is a matter of the safety of my subjects, we will be sending a guard with you to help oversee the investigation,” she said. I thought about this for a moment. While they seemed perfectly reasonable, I couldn't help but sense that doubt in her voice. Then again, I can understand why she is doing it. I'm basically an unknown wielding immense power and a strange science they know nothing about. Being monitored didn't make me feel any better, but I understand why it's needed.

“Alright, sounds reasonable. But just one guard. Me and my friends can handle the rest on our own,” I said.

“Of course. Please be in Canterlot in two days for your transport to Bridleburg,” she said.

“Understood,” I said.

“Well, now that all that is taken care of, Luna and I must be returning to Canterlot. Excellent party Pinkie Pie, give my regards to the Cakes if you would,” she said walking to the chariot.

“Okie-dokie-lokey Princess,” Pinkie said.

“We agree, the festivities were most enjoyable. We greatly enjoyed spending time with our loyal subjects,” Luna said following her sister. Soon they were flying away until they were a speck on the horizon.

After the party, my friends and I returned to the hospital to discuss our mission.

“Shadow, doesn't this seem a little crazy, we barely know a thing about what's going on,” Nova said.

“I'm sure the Princesses will brief us when we get to Canterlot. If not, we can just ask the mayor,” I said.

“Shadow, do you really think we find Chrono?” Jade asked. I turned to Jade, who was still fiddling with the claw around her neck.

“It's a long shot, but it's definitely a possibility,” I said. Jade looked down dejected. I walked up to her and lifted her chin “Hey, don't get so down. The second you lose your hope, you lose everything,” I said. Jade stared at me.

“Don't ever lose hope, I will find him,” I said. Jade smiled.

“Thank you Shadow,” she said

“Well, if you're done with your little moment, we still have a problem Shadow. Apart from you, me and Jade, we're barely trained in combat. What if this situation turns ugly?” Scarlet asked.

“Worry not my dear Scarlet, for I have a plan. I do realize that we're barely trained, myself included, but all e have to do is play to our strengths. For example, Nova what would you do if you were surrounded by a group of, let's say twenty and only had a stick of dynamite on you?” I asked the pegasus.

Nova thought for a moment, scratching his head in frustration. Finally, he smiled and said “I got it. Wasting my only stick of dynamite would be foolish, but if I lit it without the enemy knowing, I could surprise them, and escape in the confusion,” he said beaming with pride.

“What if you have no means to light it?”

“Not a problem,” he said and grabbed a candle off the bedside table. Before I could say anything, he bit the candle at the wick, which lit instantly. He set the candle back on the table.

“See, I've learned how to light a wick with just my teeth. I prefer a match, but that works just as well in a pinch,” he said.

“I must admit Nova, I'm impressed,” I stood up and looked at them all “And that's what I'm talking about. If we play to our strengths in a battle, while also being able to fight outside of our element, we can win,” I said. Everyone nodded, but Scarlet was still apprehensive.

“It sounds good in theory, but will it work in a real combat situation?” she asked.

“Won't know until we try, which I pray doesn't happen,” I said. Scarlet stared at me. Finally, she shrugged and said “Whatever, as long as I have my bow, I'll be.....” she paused “Right, my bow got snapped in half,” she said hanging her head.

“That may not be entirely true,” I said and went over to my bed. From under it, I pulled out Scarlet's bow, put back together with a little help from my alchemy.

“My bow!” she said, running up and grabbing her bow, nuzzling it against her face.

“Where'd you find it, I thought I lost it when the Timberwolf threw me,” she said.

“Thankfully, Twilight picked it up after all the fuss. When I saw it, I fixed it up no problem, though you will have to re-string it,” I said. Scarlet looked at me, then set her bow down. Then she wrapped me in the biggest bear hug ever.

“Thank you Shadow, you don't how how much this means to me,” she said.

“No thanks necessary. Think of it as a gift, for all you've done for me,” I said with a smile. Scarlet smiled back at me. Then she frowned.

“By the way, shouldn't you change your bandages, they're pretty filthy,” she said. I looked at my bandages. Scarlet was right. They were covered in dirt, some blood stains, and oddly enough a little cake frosting.

“Huh, guess you're right, would you mind Scarlet,” I said. Scarlet shrugged and helped me get my bandages. When she was done, everyone gasped.

“Let me guess, I'm healed right?” I inquired.

“More than that Shadow, look,” Nebula said, pointing at my flank. I followed her hoof and saw a big surprise. My cutie mark (or emblem I guess since I'm a guy). It was a stylized bear paw inside of a transmutation circle. My jaw dropped.

“When did that get there?” I asked.

“Must've appeared when you were passed out. Guess the nurses didn't bother to notice,” Scarlet said.

I was still shocked. Partly because I now had my mark, but mostly because of the nature of it. The alchemy part was obvious, but the bear paw worried me. I knew it was related to the Ursa, but how exactly I'm unsure.

“Well, that's a nice surprise,” I said.

“I'll say,” Nova said. I shook my head and regained my focus.

“Well, now that that little excitement is over, we should all get some rest. We have a lot to do if we're gonna be heading to Canterlot soon,” I said. Everyone complied.

“We'll be in the hotel across the street if you need us Shadow,” Scarlet said.

“Ok, sleep well,” I said. Scarlet smiled. She hesitated a second, looked at me one more time, and left.

“Well, looks like someone's having fun,” Silver Thorn said.

“I have no idea what you mean,” I protested.

“Oh come now Shadow, surely you've noticed how that mare feels toward you,” He said.

“I.....Ok, I've noticed. But I'm trying to be careful. I can tell Scarlet has had some trouble with trust in the past. Exactly what I don't know,” I said.

“Regardless, you should pursue her. She definitely likes you, and I can tell you like her back,” He mused.

“That's none of your business Silver Thorn, besides, I'll let Scarlet reveal her feelings when she's ready.”

“You've obviously put some thought into this matter.”

“Let's just say I've had some bad experiences in the past and leave it at that,” I said.

“You keep saying things like that, what kinds of things have happened to you in your past Shadow?”

I went silent.

“Shadow?”

“I'll tell you some other time. There's a lot to tell, and now is not the time,” I said.

“Ok, Shadow, I understand. I won't pry further, but I'm here if you need me,” he said.

"Thank you," I said. With that, I settled into bed. My mind still raced with what was going to happen, and other things. My past was something I never liked to think about. One of the things I was happiest about when I came here was being able to leave my past behind me. But after my encounter with the Ursa inside my mind, I realized something. My past is something I can't run away from. At least not for long.

Author's Note

Hey guys. First off, I'm going to try and come out with new chapters more quickly, probably on a bi-weekly basis. Second, I'm looking for a pre-reader and editor. If you're interested, just PM me. That will be all. Thank you for reading.

Chapter 16: A New Ally?

Chapter 16

A New Ally?

After getting checked out of the hospital and saying goodbye to the Mane Six, we headed to Canterlot. Before we left however, I stopped by Sugarcube Corner and got the cakes I had ordered. Thankfully, Pinkie remembered too and had made fresh ones.

We opted to take the train since walking there would be a major pain. Strangely enough, we didn't get any stares from the station attendants. Guess they must be used to unusual travelers. Jade was nervous about riding the train in the first place, so we got a private car to help her relax.

Since the train ride would take little over five hours, while everyone else was enjoying the scenery, I decided to study my alchemy book. Now, I already had a working knowledge of alchemy before I found the book, and have become fairly good at using it since. Still, I had only looked at the first couple chapters, and it was a big book. There was a lot of information in it. Detailed diagrams about the best ways to construct a circle, ways to make a Chimera (put that under the list of things I never want to read again), and even a few chapters about Alkahestry.

As I was reading, I noticed something strange. There were two different types of writing on the pages. The main text and writing in the margins. The writing in the margins said things like “Very useful in a pinch”,”Never use under any circumstances!”, “Great for parties.” At the back of the book was a hoof-written message in the margin style that read:

“To whosoever finds this book, I give a warning. This new magic, Alchemy, is very mysterious. The things contained in this book can be very helpful, or very dangerous if used incorrectly. I still do not know everything about this strange magic, but I do know it is not for the faint of heart. Be too weak or too cocky in its practice and you will be destroyed. It allows one to do things not even the Princesses themselves could do. If you decide to study this magic as I have, remember this. All things come with a price, life flows only forward, never back. Finally, and most importantly, beware of Truth.

S.B.

That last line had me sweating.

“Beware of Truth? He couldn't mean...The Truth? Could he?”.

“You okay Shadow, you're sweating,” Scarlet said. I quickly closed the book shut and tossed it back into my bag

“Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little hot that's all,” I lied. Scarlet lifted an eyebrow but shrugged and went back to her seat.

“There's no way Truth could exist, right?" I asked myself. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. If alchemy exists, then Truth must exist as well.

“What am I worrying about? Truth only appears to people who attempt Human Transmutation, and I'd never...” My mind went to the vision I had of myself, holding a bloody Scarlet in the middle of a human transmutation circle. I shook my head.

“No I refuse to let that happen. No matter what happens, I can't turn to that,” I thought to myself. I looked over at Scarlet, who was looking out the window. Her eyes lit up.

“Shadow, we're here. It's Canterlot,” she said. Everyone got up from their seats and looked out the window. I have to admit, Canterlot is a sight to see. I can understand why people are so fascinated by it. The castle towering in the distance, flags blowing in the wind. It was like looking at something out of a fairy tale.

“Wow, that's amazing,” I said.

“I know. It's even better than I remember,” Scarlet said.

“You've been here before?” I asked.

“Only once, when I was a little filly. I came here with my...” her smile faded and she looked down.

“What's wrong Scarlet?” I asked.

She shook her head “Nothing. I'm fine. We should get our stuff together, we'll be arriving soon,” she said trying to change the subject.

“Yeah, sure,” I said.

“Something's definitely bothering her,” I thought. I looked over and saw Scarlet smiling as she gathered her stuff. My thoughts turned back to the vision of the human transmutation circle.

“I won't let that happen,” I thought as I gathered my things.

After getting off the train, we made our way to the castle and took in the sites. Despite the snooty people, Canterlot is a really cool place. Shops selling everything from groceries to books lined the streets. The streets were so clean it was almost scary. The only downside was the people. Just about every single pony there was dressed in expensive clothes, and spoke in that annoying voice rich people speak in.

Needless to say, we got a lot of stares. Mostly me and Jade. I had my sword strapped to my back and my bracers on my forelegs. Jade had taken my cloak and wrapped it around herself to try and hide. Unfortunately, the cloak only covered her top half and her paws were still visible. It didn't help that the stares we were getting were ones of disgust rather than curiosity or confusion.

I could hear ponies whispering “Why is that thing here?”, “I can't believe they got past the guards”, “Filthy beast”.

I walked up to Jade, who was shivering under the cloak.

“Jade, just ignore them. Only the weak and cowardly pick on others, “ I said. Jade poked her head out from the cloak.

“Why can't they just leave me alone?” she asked.

Before I could answer, I heard someone yell “I can't believe they let that mutt through into the city. I guess Canterlot's really gone to the dogs,” they said. I turned and saw that some rich pony and four others were laughing at the apparent joke he made. Jade covered her face with the cloak.

I lost it. I started walking up to them when Scarlet grabbed my shoulder “Shadow, ignore them. They're just a bunch of idiots. Besides, we don't want to cause any trouble,” she said.

“Grrh, fine! Let's just get to the castle already,” I said. As we began stomping off, the five began shouting more insults.

“Oh, where's the dog going. Back to one of your little holes to cry with your tail between your legs,” one of them said and they laughed.

That's when I did something stupid. I punched a nearby lamppost with enough force to send it flying. Everyone apart from my friends looked shocked and scared.

“Next one I hear talking shit about my friend will be eating through a tube for the rest of their pathetic life,” I said. No one said a word.

“Come on guys, lets go,” I said. They all muttered their assent and we continued to the castle.

When we got the castle, my jaw dropped. Canterlot castle is definitely an awesome place to see. High marble towers, gardens filled with flowers of every kind, and fancy flags blowing in the wind. The whole place seemed to glow with an aura of royalty.

Scarlet bopped me on the head “Enough gawking Stripes, we've got a job to do,” she said.

“Uh, Right, sorry,” I said.

After we got past the front gates, and a rather rude questioning by the guards, we made our way to the main castle. One thing I noticed as we walked into the castle was that the people were less “want to punch in the face annoying” rich people and more scholars and guards. We also didn't get as many weird looks, which I was expecting since the Princesses must get visitors from all over.

Thankfully, the Princesses had sent me a letter telling me where I needed to go when I arrived. They even included a map, which I was grateful for because given the size of this castle, I would've probably gotten lost. The letter said to meet them, or at least Celestia since it was daytime, in the Throne Room. With a little bit of struggle, and some help from the guards, we found our way there. When we got to the door however, I wasn't sure what to do.

“So, should I knock or just go on in?” I asked. Everyone looked as confused as I was.

“Well, might as well just go on in,” I said pushing the rather heavy doors open. Seriously, what is with castles and giant doors. When we walked in, Celestia was in the middle of talking to some rich pony, and she looked bored out of her skull.

“....And so Princess, if you implement my plan, you will be able to ..” the rich pony said. When Celestia saw me and my friends, she perked up.

“Ah! Shadow, so good to see and your friends have arrived. Sorry Lord Twill, I have some other business to attend to, but I will consider your proposal,” Celestia said.

“But Princess I haven't gotten to the part about.....” Lord Twill protested.

“Perhaps another time Lord Twill,” she said, giving him the “GTFO” look.

Lord Twill bowed and said “I'll take my leave then Princess. Please excuse me,” and left. Once he was gone, Celestia heaved a big sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness you showed up. I couldn't stand listening to that self-important snob for another minute,” she said.

“What was he trying to push?” I asked.

“He was trying to convince me to change the kinds of flowers we have in the courtyard,” she said.

“What in the hell for?” I asked.

“I don't even know, I tuned out a while ago,” she said rubbing the sides of her head “Regardless, thank you for coming. I must admit, I was not expecting you till tomorrow,” she said.

“I thought it best if we got here as soon as possible, which reminds me, I have a gift for you,” I said and pulled the cake out of my bag, still in perfect condition thanks to a spell I had Twilight put on it to make sure it stayed intact. The second I pulled out the cake, Celestia grabbed it in a magical aura and brought it in front of her. She was about to bite into it before she regained her composure.

“*cough* Thank you Shadow, this is much appreciated. But, now we need to get down to business,” she turned to a pony in glasses with a clipboard “Please bring me the reports from Bridleburg,” she said.

“Yes your highness,” the secretary said and produced a folder from out of nowhere.

“Thank you, now Shadow. As you've heard, disappearances have been occurring around the town of Bridleburg the past four months. At first it was just a couple ponies, but the disappearances have been steadily increasing. We've tried sending guards to investigate this matter, but their efforts have turned up nothing. My sister and I are greatly worried about this matter,” she said.

“I can see why, do you have a list of the missing?” I asked.

“Of course,” she said. The secretary handed the hefty folder to me.

“How many are missing so far?”

“Thirty,” she said. I looked over the list of the missing. I couldn't see any correlation between them at first glance but I'd take a closer look later.

“Hm, strange. I'm assuming this is where I come in,” I said.

“Correct. You and your friends will be heading there undercover. Once you're there, do everything you can to find the one doing this,” she said/

“So what should I do if I find this guy?” I asked.

“I'll leave that to your best judgment,” she said. That made me nervous. She basically said that if I caught this guy, I decided his fate. Just freaking great.

“Thank you for putting your trust in me Princess, I'll do everything I can to help,” I said, my voice a bit shaky.

“Thank you Shadow, I trust you and your friends can handle this,” she said.

“Wait, what about the guard you said you'd be sending with us?” Scarlet asked.

“Oh yes, almost slipped my mind. You may enter now Iron Spear,” Celestia called. We all turned to see the guard who had burst into Sugarcube Corner yesterday walking into the room. Getting a better look at him, he was different than most of the other guards. He was a unicorn with a light gray coat, a black short cut mane, and a shield and spear for a cutie mark. He was dressed in typical guard attire. He walked up to Celestia and bowed.

“Iron Spear at your service my lady,” he said.

“Rise Iron Spear. You will be working with Shadow and his friends to help find who is responsible for the kidnappings in Bridleburg,” she said in a very authoritative voice.

Iron Spear took of his helmet “My lady, with all due respect, I do not feel that these people can handle this task. I and my fellow guards are more than capable of handling this,” he said. Ouch. Ok, I can see that he's gonna be a problem.

“I have no doubts about your or your fellow troop's abilities Iron Spear. But as it stands, the kidnappings continue and I will stand for it any longer,” she said.

“But my lady,” he protested. Celestia merely stood up and stared at him. You ever have those times where a parent just stares at you when you're arguing with them, and you just know that's the right time to shut up. Think that multiplied by ten.

Iron Spear bowed his head “Forgive me Princess, I will work with them. Forgive my rudeness,” he said.

“It is alright Iron Spear,” She said and sat back down.

“Well, now that that's all over with I say we get going. Thank you for your time Princess, we'll be sure to find this guy,” I said bowing a little.

“I am sure you will. Good luck to you,” she said as we walked out of the throne room.

Once we were out of the throne room, I turned to Iron Spear.

“Well, looks like we'll be working together on this,” I held out my hoof “Let's get along, I'm Shadow,” I said. He looked at me and swatted my hoof away. He got up in my face.

“Listen to me now zebra. I don't know how you got the Princess to trust you, and I don't care. I will not be taking orders from the likes of some random zebra and his band of freaks. Once we get to Bridleburg, I'll handle this on my own,” he said with pure malice. Everyone looked about ready to punch this guy, Scarlet even reaching for her bow. I held up a hoof to stop her.

“Well, someone's got a chip on their shoulder,” I looked him in the eye “Listen, I know you feel resentment to me. I mean, a band of unknowns being sent on an official mission that normally would be handled by guards? Of course you'd be mad. But hear this, I'm doing this not just to help the Princess. I have my own reasons, and I will not have you getting in the way,” I said. He looked at me with increasing anger.

“How dare you speak to a member of Celestia's royal guard that way you whelp,” he said and swung at me. I dodged his hit, swept his feet out from under him, and flipped him onto his back, putting my sword against his neck.

“If you couldn't guess, I'm stronger than I look. Try that again and I won't be nice,” I said taking my sword form his throat. As he got up, rubbing his neck, I turned to look at him.

“One more thing. If you ever call my friends freaks again, you'll get to see just how skilled I am with this sword,” I said with as much as malice as I could muster. He looked at me with a look of pure hatred. He huffed, got to his feet, and walked away.

“We'll be waiting at the train station at five o' clock, don't be late!” I called as he stormed off.

Everyone walked over and Scarlet said “Shadow, I don't like that guy. I say we just leave without him,” she said.

“I'm with her, that guy's a world class douchebag,” Nova said.

“Whether we like him or not doesn't matter. If the Princess says he's going with us, he's going with us. I've already had my fill of talking back to all-powerful deities, and I'd rather just get this over with. Clear?” I said. Everyone mumbled their agreement.

“Good, now how about we all grab some lunch before we head out. I'm starving and we're in for a long trip“ I said. This elicited a resounding agreement. As we headed out to find a place to eat, I couldn't help but feel nervous. This wasn't going to be easy, and having that Iron Spear guy along for the ride wasn't gonna make it any easier.

One thing was certain though. I could not fail. Not only in finding the kidnapper, but also in finding a lead to Chrono. I looked over to see Jade actually smiling and laughing with everyone as we walked.

“ I have to find him. If for no other reason, to make her happy. After all she's been through, she deserves at least some happiness,” I thought as we exited the castle.

“I will not let her down.”

Chapter 17: Bridleburg

Chapter 17

Bridleburg

After getting some food, we headed back to the train station. As we walked back, I noticed that the people had stopped whispering about us. In fact, they looked more scared of me than anything else. Not hard to see why. I did send a lamp post flying who knows how far. Looking back on it, it was very immature. But do I regret it? Hell no.

When we got to the station, Iron Spear was already there waiting for us. He had swapped out his armor for a fedora and vest, making him look like he was from the 1930s. He didn't have much else on him, just some saddle bags and a small dagger. When he saw us, he frowned.

“You're late,” he said. I looked at the clock, and it was still a half hour before five.

“What do you mean we're late? We're thirty minutes early?” I asked.

“I've been here since three o' clock. Punctuality is something we stress heavily in the guard,” he said with a smug grin.

“Listen you pompous..” Nova started before I stopped him.

“Now now Nova, no need to get all riled up. He's probably just mad about me mopping the castle floor with him earlier,” I said with a grin. He looked at me with pure malice.

“You caught me off guard zebra. That's all!” he said.

“Whatever. Oh, and I'd prefer it if you called me Shadow,” I said.

“I'll call you whatever I please,” he said getting up in my face.

“Remind me again who Celestia put in charge of this little mission. Oh right, me! Which means I'm your boss right now spear boy,” I said poking him in the chest. He turned red with anger.

“If you want to keep that hoof you better take it off my chest,” he said.

I poked him again “What'cha gonna do about it?” I said. We probably would've killed each other right there if Scarlet hadn't hit us both over the head.

“Enough! Geez, you're acting like a bunch of foals,” she said.

I rubbed the back of my head “Ow! I'm not the one starting trouble. He's the one being a prick,” I said.

“I don't care who started it. Keep it up and I'll finish it,” she said brandishing her bow.

“Fine, whatever. Can we just get this over with already,” I said.

Iron Spear chuckled. Scarlet looked at him “What's so funny?” she asked.

“Nothing. Just seeing him being pushed around by a mare is pretty damn hilarious,” he said. Scarlet turned as red as her hair and fired an arrow over his head, pinning his hat against a wall.

“This mare will shoot you dead in a second. Clear?” she said brandishing a second arrow. Iron Spear gulped. I made Scarlet put her bow down.

“Now who's being foalish” I said. She blushed and put her bow up.

“Well, if we're all done can we board the train. There's some things I'd like to look over before we get to Bridleburg,” I said. Scarlet and Iron Spear muttered under their breath and we got on the train.

Once we were on the train, I decided to take a closer look at the list of the missing. Using what little knowledge I had of detective work, I tried to find something that linked the victims together. I ruled out gender and hair color almost immediately since the victims ranged so far apart. Age was also eliminated. I thought maybe there occupations would yield something, but no luck there either. I set the folder down and rubbed my temples. Scarlet saw this and walked over to me.

“No luck?” she asked.

“Nope. I've gone through every possible route I could think of. Age, hair color, gender, species, occupation. I've looked at this every way I could think of and I still see nothing,” I said slumping in my seat. Scarlet frowned and put a hoof on my shoulder.

“Come on, you'll figure it out. There has got to be some connection,” she said sitting down next to me.

“I guess. I just keep thinking that if Celestia's guards couldn't figure anything out, what hope do I have?”

“Well, maybe they missed something,” she said.

“Like what?”

“Well, maybe they just didn't ask the right questions,” she said. I thought about this for a moment. That makes some sense. The questions you ask can play a big role in solving a case.

“You might be on to something Scarlet. Iron Spear, come here for a second,” I said. He scowled at me.

“I'm not moving. Just ask your question,” he said.

“Ok. What kind of questions would the guards ask if they were working on this case?” I asked.

“The usual I guess. The victim's name, last known location, relatives, where they lived,” said. That's when it clicked.

“Wait, say that last part again,” I said.

“Where they lived?” he said. I clapped my hooves together.

“Yes that's it!” I said and spread the documents on the floor.

“What are you doing Shadow?” Scarlet asked.

“Where they lived. I don't know how I didn't see it before. Take a look at this,” I said showing everyone the list of the missing.

“Nova, read where the first victim was from,” I said.

“Trottingham,” he said.

“Good, Nebula, the second victim.”

“Um, Cloudsdale,” she said.

“Exactly!” I yelled.

“You're not making a lick of sense Shadow,” Scarlet said.

“What do you mean, it makes perfect sense. Look, out of all these victims, not a single one is from Bridleburg. Why is that?” I asked. Everyone looked at me puzzled.

“Here's why. The kidnapper has only been kidnapping people who aren't from Bridleburg. In other words, travelers. It's easy to notice when a citizen disappears, but travelers come and go. They're harder to notice when they go missing,” I said. I could almost hear the wheels in everyone's head turning as they came to the same conclusion I had.

“So you see. That's this guy's MO. He kidnaps travelers. For what reason I don't know, but at least now we know his pattern. This'll make it easier to catch him,” I said triumphantly.

“How?” Nova asked. I smiled a devious grin.

“You just leave the planning to me Nova,” I said.

After another few hours, we were in Bridleburg. Despite what was happening, the place looked pretty calm. Ponies were going about their business like normal. Shop owners were trying to sell their wares. A mother was scolding her child for something. A couple were leaning on each other happily. Everything looked normal.

But something felt off about this place. I can't quite place what, but something felt off. It felt like the whole town was a sleeping beast that could awake at any moment. I didn't want to be there when it did.

“Okay guys, here's the plan, we'll.....where's Iron Spear?” I asked. We all looked around and sure enough, he was nowhere to be seen.

“That arrogant bastard! He ran off,” I yelled in frustration.

“Why should we care? That guy's a prick. I say we should just let him take care of this and enjoy the sights,” Nova said. Thankfully Nebula smacked him so I didn't have to.

“We're not here for sight seeing Nova, we're here to catch a kidnapper. Though I guess we're one short now,” I said sighing. “Whatever, we'll deal with him later. For right now, here's the plan. We split up and ask around, see if anyone has seen anything. Nova, you and Nebula go together. Scarlet, you go with Jade,” I said.

“What about you?” Nebula asked.

I pointed to Silver Thorn “I've got him,” I said.

“Hey, come to think of it, you said that sword of yours could talk right?” Nova asked.

“Not exactly talk, but something like that. Why?”

“Nothing, except we haven't heard a peep out of it since you told us. I don't think it's true,” Nova said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Finally, one of you asks. I was getting tired of keeping silent,” Silver Thorn said. Everyone jumped in surprise and looked around.

“Who said that?” Nova asked.

“This one's not too bright is he,” he said. I and everyone else chuckled a this.

“Wait, that sword really can talk?” Nova said.

“Quite well I might add. Also, it's not exactly speaking. I'm merely projecting my thoughts into your mind. It used to be only Shadow who could hear me, but Princess Luna has helped remedy that situation,” he explained.

“If that's true then why have you been silent this whole time?” Scarlet asked.

“None of you bothered to ask,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Oh,” they all said.

“Well, now that that's over with, let's get this show on the road. I'd like to get this done as quickly as possible. Let's meet up in the town square in two hours. Clear?” I said. Everyone nodded and we split up. When we were a fair distance away, I finally asked Silver Thorn.

“Were you seriously waiting this whole time for someone to ask you if you could speak?”

“Yes. I didn't want to be rude and scare them by suddenly talking,” he said.

“Ok, that makes sense. But is that seriously the only reason?”

“Ok, so I was also waiting to make my big reveal. I've got to have some fun.”

I let that sink in for a moment. Then I burst out laughing so loud people began to stare at me.

“And that my disembodied friend is why you are awesome,” I said.

“Well thank you. But enough of that, we have a task to complete,” he said. I cleared my throat.

“You're right, let's go,” I said.

So we began asking around for any information we could get. But every time I tried getting info about the kidnappings, the pony I was talking to would change the subject or say they didn't know anything. One shop keeper even threatened to report me to the local police.

“This is weird, no one is giving me a straight answer,” I thought to Silver Thorn.

“Agreed. They know something, but are too afraid to give us an answer.”

“The real question is what they're afraid of.” I heard a clock chime and saw that it was almost time to meet up with my friends.

I decided to take a short cut through an alley way. It was surprisingly dirty compared to the rest of the city. Broken bottles and various garbage littered the alley. I ignored this and kept walking.

As I was walking, I began to feel a presence. I looked over my shoulder and saw no one. The presence began to grow, but each time I looked over my shoulder, I saw nothing but the alley.

“Silver Thorn, can you sense that?” I asked.

“Yes. Someone or something is here. Be ready Shadow,” he said. I kept walking, waiting for my moment. Finally, when the presence grew large enough, I gripped my sword and swung.

“No more hiding!” I yelled as I made contact with nothing. I looked around and saw only the dirty alley.

“What's going on, I could've sworn there was someone there.”

“Shadow, behind you!” Silver Thorn yelled in my mind. I turned just quick enough to slice a club in half, clearly aimed at my head. Holding the now destroyed club was a large earth pony, a stallion by the look of it. He wore a mask so I couldn’t see his face. The rest of his body was obscured by a long black trench coat.

“Hm, so we've got a fighter. Interesting. You'll be fine a fine catch,” the stallion said as he picked up a broken bottle.

“So I take it your the one responsible for the string of kidnappings here lately?” I said placing myself in a fighting stance.

“So you've heard of me?” he said with a slight chuckle.

“Yeah, I've heard of you, and I'm here to stop you”.

“Sorry, can't let you do that. I won't have my fun be spoiled by some zebra”.

“Sorry, but spoiling your fun's kinda my job,” I said and lunged at him. He back peddled and quickly jumped over me with surprising grace considering his size.

“Perhaps another time. Ta-ta for now little zebra,” he said and pulled something out of his jacket and threw it on the ground. A second later the whole alley was filled with smoke. I quickly used my alchemy to clear it away, but it was too late. He was already gone.

“Argh, he got away!” I yelled kicking a crate into splinters.

“Calm down Shadow! At least now we have an idea of who we're dealing with,” Silver Thorn said trying to calm me down.

“Yeah, I suppose. Let's go find the others. We've gotta tell them about this,” I said running as fast as I could to the town square.

Sure enough, my friends were waiting there, all looking annoyed and dejected. When they saw me, their looks turned to one's of concern.

“Shadow, I know you're late, but you didn't need to run here,” Scarlet said.

“That's not it. I was attacked,” I said trying to catch my breath.

“What! By who!?” Scarlet asked looking me over for any injuries.

“We believe it was the person committing the kidnappings,” Silver Thorn said.

“Okay, that's gonna have to take some getting used to,” Nova said shaking his head.

“That doesn't matter right now Nova. What did he look like?” Scarlet said.

“I didn't get a good look. He was wearing a mask and trench coat,” I said.

“Well that doesn't help much,” Scarlet said putting a hoof to her chin in thought.

“Well, it's more info than I managed to gather by asking around. What about you guys, any luck?” Everyone hung their heads.

“Nope”.

“No”.

“Not a damn thing”.

“Nothing. It was weird, it was like they were scared of even mentioning it,” Scarlet said.

“Same here. It's bizarre. Usually when stuff like this happens, people are quick to gossip. But not now. Now they seem terrified to even think about it,” I said pacing.

“What could it be?” Jade asked.

“I don't know. How about the police, did you try there?”

“Not yet, I was about to go there but then I saw it was time to meet up,” Scarlet said. Jade nodded her agreement.

“Same here,” Nebula said. Nova nodded.

“Well, looks like we've got our next stop. By the way, has anyone seen Iron Spear?” I asked.

“Nope, and I don't want to. That stallion rubs me the wrong way,” Scarlet said with a scowl.

“Me too. He's scary,” Nebula said.

“Jade also not like Iron Spear,” Jade said.

“Well let's forget about him for right now,” I said. I looked up at the sky and saw that it was almost dark.

“Let's leave the police till tomorrow. For now, let's get to a hotel and get some sleep,” I said. Everyone yawned their agreement.

Thankfully, the Princess had given us some bits to use for lodging and other amenities. Otherwise we'd have been bunking on the street. I could've made us some tents, but given that we were on an official mission, I figured it'd be okay to splurge a bit.

Unfortunately, when we finally picked out a hotel, who should be there but Sir Asshat himself, Iron Spear. We all proceeded to face-hoof/paw. He saw us and did the same.

“Oh great,” me and Iron Spear said. I walked up to Iron Spear.

“What are you doing here zebra?” he asked.

“I would think that would be obvious. The real question here is this: What the hell is your deal?” I said.

“My deal?” he asked.

“Yeah. I can understand you not liking me, but this is serious business here. We're supposed to be working together on this.”

“Like I told you, I don't need your help. I can handle this on my own zebra. If my fellow guards we're here, the case would already be solved,” he said with a smug grin.

“Oh really? If that's so, then why hasn't this problem already been solved?” I asked.

“What?”

“Yeah. Celestia already sent guards here to investigate and their efforts turned up nothing. What makes you think you could do any better?” I said with a smug grin of my own.

“Mind your tongue zebra. I will not stand to have my fellow guards insulted in such a way,” he said getting into a fighting stance.

“I'm not trying to insult them. All I'm saying is that the guards have already investigated and found nothing. It's obvious that you need help on this. That is unless you want more ponies to disappear to Celestia knows where. You don't want that now do you?” I asked. Iron Spear wavered for a moment, letting my words sink in.

After a few moments, he sighed and said “Fine! You can help. But only until we find whoever's doing this. After that, you stay out of my way! Got it?”

“Got it. Just so long as you understand that this means I'm in charge, and if we want to find this guy we're gonna have to work together. That means listening to what I have to say and not running off on your own. Got it?” I said.

“Yes,” he grumbled out.

I smiled “Good. Now once me and my friends get checked in, we can discuss what we've all learned so far. Sound good?” I said.

“Yeah,” he said deflated. I walked back to my friends, who had mixed looks of anger and annoyance.

“Don't give me those looks. He could be useful in helping us find the guy whose doing this,” I said in my defense.

“We get that Shadow, but I don't trust him. There's something off about that stallion, I just can't put my hoof on what,” Scarlet said.

“You think I trust this guy? I don't trust him one bit, but if we're gonna solve this we're gonna need his help. He may be a major jerk, but he's a jerk with experience in the Royal Guard. He might have some techniques that could help us find this guy. So can we all just play nice at least till we catch this guy. After that, we won't have to see his face ever again. We clear?” I asked.

“Crystal,” Scarlet said sarcastically.

“Ok, sarcasm aside, let's get settled in The Princess is buying,” I said. This elicited lots of cheers from my team as we went off to get some much deserved rest.

Chapter 18: Death and Betrayal

Chapter 18

Death and Betrayal

The room we had gotten wasn't really anything special. Just a simple room with five beds and, thankfully, two bathrooms.

Once everyone had gotten settled, I said “Ok, so let's go over what we know,” I said. Before I could start, there was a knock at the door.

“Who could that be?” Nova asked. I walked up to the door and stood with my back to it.

“Well, it's funny you should say that Nova. We have a guest joining us this evening,” I said pushing the door, revealing Iron Spear on the other side. Everyone grumbled and protested.

“Hey hey hey! I don't like this either, but Celestia sent him along with us to help; and right now we need all the help we can get. So lets try and keep from ripping each other's throats out till after this is done shall we?” I said. Everyone huffed and went silent.

“Okay then. First let's examine what we know,” I said leading Iron Spear in and closing the door.

“We know that the victims are all travelers, and that the people in this town are afraid to give us any information. So knowing that, what else have we found out?” I asked. Everyone was silent.

“Seriously. No one has anything else to go on,” I said.

“Didn't you say you got attacked by this guy earlier?” Scarlet asked.

“Yeah, but I didn't get a good look at him. But from what I could gather, he's treating this like a game,” I said using my hoof to stroke my imaginary beard.

“Iron Spear, were you able to gather anything?”

He chuckled at this and stood up “Yes actually. Unlike you rookies I actually was able to get some information out of the people here,” he said in a pompous tone.

“Really, how?” Nebula asked.

“Let's just say I gave them a little incentive,” he said with a slightly creepy chuckle.

“What kind of incentive?” I asked a little creeped out.

“Well, I might have told them I'd lock them in the darkest dungeon in the Everfree Forest if they didn't tell me what I wanted.”

“Okay. A little unethical but I'll buy it. What were you able to find out?” I asked.

“All the victims disappeared after going to this club,” he said producing a card from his vest pocket. We all looked at the card.

The Silver Griffon

“Sounds like a fun place. Any other info?” I asked. He shook his head and placed the business card on the table.

“So what's our next move?” Scarlet asked. I stood up and donned my cloak and sword.

“Isn't it obvious? We go to this club and find out what's going on,” I said about to head out the door.

“Wait just a minute, we need a plan first,” Iron Spear said.

“Oh right. Well, what should we do?” I said. Iron Spear got up and started pacing.

“We need somepony to go in as bait. Someone who can lure the kidnapper out. Once that happens, we can capture the kidnapper and bring him to justice,” he said clasping his hooves together.

We all thought about this for a moment. On the surface it seemed like a good plan, albeit a risky one.

“It sounds like a good plan, but just one problem. Who are we gonna get to act as bait?” I asked. Iron Spear turned his head and looked over at Nova and Nebula. They looked at him confused. Then they both got what he was saying.

“Wait, us!?” Nebula asked shocked and scared.

“Sweet! We get to help catch the bad guy!” Nova said overexcited.

Nebula smacked Nova upside the head and glared at him “Nova, this is serious!” she chided.

“I know. But come on, we finally get to do something besides just standing around while Shadow has all the fun,” he said.

“Wait just a minute. Iron Spear, are you sure about this plan?” I asked.

“Of course. They're travelers, the main targets, so they'll be the perfect bait. Plus, they look pretty gullible, which will make them the perfect targets for the kidnapper,” he said with a creepy sense of sureness.

“Hey!” they both said. Nova looked about ready to punch Iron Spear, and it's not hard to see why. But given that Nova would've gotten the his ass kicked, I stopped him.

“Calm down Nova. Look, I don't agree with his phrasing, but he does have a point. You two are the best suited for this mission.”

“Why can't we send Iron Spear and Scarlet in. They'd have a better chance in a fight,” Nova protested.

I leaned in close and said “Can you really imagine those two being in a club?” I asked. Nova thought about this for a moment, then nodded.

“You have a point. I can't imagine those two having any kind of fun,” he said laughing. I hate to admit it, but I joined in too. Unfortunately, Scarlet and Iron Spear heard us and clocked us both on the back of the head.

“If you two idiots are done whispering, can we get the rest of this plan sorted out? You were the one who said we should get this done quickly Shadow,” Scarlet chided.

I rubbed the newly formed bump on my head “Right. So here's the plan.....”

The plan was fairly simple. Nova, Nebula, and Iron Spear would enter the club as normal people. Me and Scarlet would work on the inside. Me helping with the band and her working as a waitress. Jade would stay watch on the outside in case anything went wrong. Since the kidnapper knew who I was, I changed my appearance just enough so that I wouldn't be recognized. I had on a beanie, a shirt that hid my stripes pretty well, and a tie.

Now, having never gone to an actual club on Earth, I couldn't make a comparison. But I will say that The Silver Griffon was quite the place. There were two different stages, one for a DJ and another for a live band. There was also a bar, a large dance floor, and tables and booths. The place had loud music blaring every second, either from the DJ or stage. Neon and laser lights lit up the whole place. Ponies, griffons, and even a few zebras partied like there was no tomorrow.

Luckily, the band that was playing had just lost their lead guitar and vocalist, so they needed someone to fill in. I auditioned and they let me fill in for the night.

The plan went into motion once the sun went down. Scarlet and I were already inside waiting for Nova and the others. As I was helping the band set up for the show, Scarlet pulled me aside. She did not look happy.

Not hard to see why. She was dressed in a skimpy outfit by pony standards consisting of a very tight dress with a skirt that showed off her.....biological advantages. Okay, I admit it, I snuck a look when I could. It was even harder not to stare with her standing right in front of me.

Scarlet saw me staring and blushed even more, this time with anger “You're enjoying this aren't you, you little perv!?”

I stifled a laugh “No, not at all. I think you look really nice” I said looking away.

She bopped me on the head “You would say that. Don't think I haven't seen you sneaking peeks at me,” she said.

“I have no idea what you're talking about?” I said playing innocent. She raised an eyebrow at me and got a devious smile.

“Oh really?” she said. She turned around and thwacked me with her tail, giving me an ample view of her flank. Now it was my turn to blush.

“Ok, so I may have peeked once or twice.”

Scarlet just sighed and then punched me in the arm “Whatever. How long is this gonna take? I'd rather not be in this slutty outfit any longer than I have to be.”

“Hopefully not that long. It all depends on how well everyone plays their roles,” I said. The band leader yelled at me to get back to work.

“I gotta get back. Just bear with it for a while,” I said. She sighed and began to walk away.

“And if it's any consolation, you really do like nice Scarlet,” I said giving her a wink. This made her blush again “Sh..shut up!” she said and walked away. I laughed and went back to setting up the band equipment.

After another hour or so, Nova, Nebula, and Iron Spear walked through the door. They were all dressed in what I can only assume is normal club clothes. Iron Spear was still dressed basically the same but had added a blue coat over his vest. Nova was dressed in a red vest and a loose fitting black tie with his hair slicked back. Nebula was dressed a little more modestly. Just some eye liner and a frilly skirt. Iron Spear saw me and tipped his hat, which was the signal that the plan was starting. I nodded and slung a guitar over my shoulder. Now all we had to do was wait for the kidnapper to make a move.

The band and I took the stage, accompanied by the cheers of the audience. The other band member, consisting of an earth pony and two unicorns, took their places as I walked up the mic.

Now I'm sure you're wondering by now how I, the guy terrified of singing on stage, could be where I am now. Well, I said that I was terrified of singing alone. With a band behind me, I could sing anything.

But anyway, back to the action. I spoke into the mic “Hello Silver Griffon! You ponies ready to finally start this party!?” I yelled. The audience cheered and hollered.

“What do you say guys, should we give them a show?” I said to the rest of the band. They proceeded to play a few quick notes on their respective instruments.

“I'll take that as a yes. Let's do this!” I yelled as we started the song

Hey Hey
Hey Hey

Sometimes I feel like everybody's got a problem
Sometimes I feel like nobody wants to solve them
I know that people say we're never going to make it
But I know we're going to get through this
(Close your eyes and please don't let me go)
Don't, Don't, Don't, Don't let me go now
(Close your eyes don't let me let you go)
Don't, Don't, Don't

Take my hand tonight
Let's not think about tomorrow
Take my hand tonight
We could find some place to go
Cause our hearts are locked forever
And our love will never die
Take my hand tonight
One last time

As I was performing, I was keeping a careful eye on my friends and Iron Spear. Scarlet was serving drinks and trying to act nice, despite the fact that she was getting hit on by every other stallion, and even a few mares. I admit it, I was a little jealous. But I couldn't focus on that. I scanned the crowd and saw Nebula and Iron Spear by the bar while Nova was dancing with a mare dressed in an even more revealing outfit than Scarlet's. Nova looked like he had had a few already, while Nebula was just shaking her head at her brother's stupidity. Iron Spear saw me and shook his head. No activity yet.

The city sleeps and we're lost in the moment
Another kiss says we're lying on the pavement
If they could see us they would tell us that we're crazy
But I know they just don't understand
(Close your eyes and please don't let me go)
Don't, Don't, Don't, Don't let me go now
(Close your eyes don't let me let you go)
Don't, Don't, Don't

I started running off the stage and dancing along the tables. The crowd went nuts. Then I jumped up on the bar and pulled a complete Marty McFly. Except instead of awkward silence, I got massive applause and cheers. To add a little more flare, I back-flipped back onto the stage, which got me even more applause.

Hey Hey
Hey Hey

The raindrops
The tears keep falling
I see your face and it keeps me going
If I get lost your light's going to guide me
And I know that you can take me home
You can take me home

Take my hand tonight
Let's not think about tomorrow
Take my hand tonight
We could find some place to go
Cause our hearts are locked forever
And our love will never die (Love will never die)
Take my hand tonight
One last time

The crowd cheered as we finished our performance. I high-hoofed the other band members and walked back up to the microphone.

“You ponies want some more!?” I yelled. They all cheered. I nodded to the other band members and we played a couple more songs. When we were finally done, we bowed and I went to meet my friends.

My friends and Iron Spear were waiting at the bar. Nebula was berating Nova for his drunken stupidity, Iron Spear was drinking a mug of cider, and Scarlet was taking a break.

“Nice performance Stripes,” Scarlet said. Everyone, even Iron Spear agreed with her.

I smiled and said “Thanks guys. But let's save that for later. Did any of you find anything?” I asked. They all shook their heads.

Nova hiccuped and said “I did meet a really awesome mare though,” with a drunken smile.

“Yeah, I saw that,” I leaned over and whispered to Nebula “How many mugs has he had?”

“Half a mug”.

“Half a mug!? He's hammered,” I said.

“Nova can't hold his booze. I told him to stick with something light, but he didn't listen to me,” she said shaking her head.

“I can so hold my booze Nebula!” Nova argued. Before they could start arguing again, I grabbed a glass of water that was sitting on the counter and dumped it on Nova.

“Sober up already,” I said. Nova shook his head and glared at me.

“Moving on from that, you guys haven't seen anyone who might look suspicious?” I asked.

“Well, there is that stallion over there,” Scarlet said pointing. We followed her hoof to see a stallion surrounded by about ten mares. He looked like one of those typical player types. He had the slicked back hair, the open shirt, the gold chain, and had on sunglasses indoors. I had no problems believing he was a suspect.

“Well he certainly looks suspicious, but we can't base anything on just appearance. Do you have anything else to go on?”

“Well, I've been hearing from the other waitresses that he's some kind of big shot in the music business and a notorious lady's stallion,” she said.

“Seems fitting. Anything else?” She shook her head. Before I could say anything else, another waitress came up and set a drink down in front of me.

“Compliments of the stallion over there doll,” she said with a wink. I looked over at the stallion in question and saw him lifting his drink up to me. I turned back to my friends, who all looked confused.

“Don't look at me. He must have liked the performance,” I said. That's when an idea struck me.

“This could work in our favor. If I talk with him, I might be able to get some information.” Everyone nodded their heads except Iron Spear.

“That wasn't the plan. Nova and Nebula were supposed to act as the bait. Plus, if he is the kidnapper, he'll know your face. ” he said.

“Normally I'd agree with you, but seeing as how Nova is drunk off his ass, we have no alternative,” I said.

“He'll still recognize you, what'll you do if he starts getting suspicious?” he said.

“Simple, I'll just have Nebula pour on a little charm,” I said. Nebula spat out her drink.

“What!?” she said.

“Relax, I'm not saying you have to do anything too drastic, just charm him a little if he starts getting suspicious,” I said.

“But Shadow, I..”

“Too late let's go” I said dragging her along

“Wait, what are...Shadow!”

We walked up to the stallion. He saw us and smiled. He got up and patted me on the back. It took all my will power not to choke on his terrible cologne.

“Ah, here's the big star! Great performance kid, really good stuff! I see you've brought a friend,” he said kissing Nebula's hoof. She looked absolutely mortified. I got in between them.

“Yeah. This is Nebula. I'm Shadow,” I said shaking his hoof.

“A pleasure. I'm Silver Tongue. Come and sit,” he said motioning to a couple couches. Nebula and I sat together as Silver Tongue ordered a round of drinks.

“So what brings you to Bridleburg? I haven't seen you around before,” he said.

“Oh just passing through. I'm a traveling musician and I'm always looking for work. The band needed a replacement band member and I just filled in.”

“So you're a musician, that's wonderful!” he leaned in close to me “You know, if you're ever looking for someone to help you make your break,” he produced a business card out of nowhere “You come to me,” he said. I took the card and thanked him. He leaned back and looked around.

“You know what, this club's getting kinda boring. What do you say we all go have a little more fun,” he said. I looked at Nebula, who looked just about ready to cry. I patted her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. I turned back to Silver Tongue and said “You know what, sounds good. Let me just go pay my tab and we'll go. Come on Nebula,” I said. Nebula was all too eager to follow.

Everyone was waiting back at the bar. Nova looked like he wanted to punch something and Iron Spear just looked indifferent.

“Well?” Iron Spear said.

“No doubt about it, he's suspicious. But, I still don't know anything for sure. We're leaving. I want you guys to grab Scarlet and tail us. But give it a minute or two before you start following, or he might get suspicious. Once you're outside, meet up with Jade and formulate a plan of attack. Clear?” I asked. They both nodded.

“Good. Now, let's get going Nebula,” I said. She nodded reluctantly and we went back to Silver Tongue.

We left the club and started walking around Bridleburg. We went into a couple different bars and listened to a couple different bands. After a while, the night started to wind down.

“Well, this has been fun Silver Tongue, but I'm afraid we must be off,” I said.

“Wait, there's one more place I'd like to show you,” he said with a creepy smile. I looked at Nebula. She looked nervous, but nodded. I nodded back and smiled at Silver Tongue.

“Well, I suppose one more place couldn't hurt,” I said. Silver Tongue clapped his hooves and started leading us along. He lead us through an alleyway into a dead end.

“This doesn't look like a bar Sliver Tongue,” I said. He chuckled.

“That's because it's not,” he said and then whistled. Within seconds, the alley was filled with ponies, griffins, and even a few diamond dogs. All of them wearing various pieces of armor and carrying weapons and chains.

“What's the meaning of this?” I said faking shock.

“Sorry kid, just business. If I don't give my boss a couple fresh captives every once in a while, he starts getting antsy,” he said putting on a trench coat and mask. That's when I realized he was the one who attacked me earlier.

“It's you!” I said.

“Funny how life works out like that. Now,” his minions started to surround us “You can either come quietly, or my associates are going to have to get rough with you.”

I looked around and saw my friends waiting on the roof. I smirked “Looks like things are gonna have to get rough,” I said slamming my hooves into the ground, causing it to crack and making the minions lose their balance.

“Guys, now!” I yelled. Jade, Nova, and Iron Spear swooped down and drew their weapons. Scarlet stayed on the roof and tossed me Silver Thorn. I caught my sword and slashed one of the enemy across the throat. Iron Spear generated a couple spears with his magic and sent them flying at the enemy. Jade moved like a whirlwind, slashing anyone that crossed her. Nova was lighting off Scarlet was firing arrow after arrow at the enemy. Nebula had flown up the roof and was assisting Scarlet. Silver Tongue looked completely dumbfounded.

“Now, what was that you were saying about capturing us?” I said as I slashed one his soldiers. He looked around and saw that almost all of his minions were either dead or unconscious. He pulled something out of his coat, a smoke pellet I guessed, and was about to throw it on the ground. But I was ready. My preflex helped me read his movements. Just as he was about to toss the pellet on the ground, I slashed his foreleg off. He screamed as his blood splattered across the alley. He fell to the ground as I put my sword to his neck.

“You lose,” I said. I looked and saw the last of his minions felled by one of Scarlet's arrows. Scarlet and Nebula came down off the roof as everyone converged on Silver Tongue.

“Now, why don't you tell us who your boss is and I might let you live,” I said pushing my sword deeper against his throat. That's when he did something completely unexpected. He laughed. We were all confused.

“What's so funny?” I said.

He continued laughing “You're a bigger idiot than I thought! If you wanna know who my boss is, why don't you AGH!!” he said as one of Iron Spear's spears pierced his chest. We all turned to see Iron Spear with a look of sheer indifference on his face. Like he had just stepped on a bug. Silver Tongue fell over dead.

“Iron Spear, what the hell are you doing!?” I asked. He turned to me with an annoyed look on his face.

“I'm cleaning up the garbage, what else?” he said dusting off his hat.

“But he was about to tell us who his boss was!” I said getting up in his face.

“No need. I already know who it is.”

“Well then, who is..”

“Shadow look out!” Scarlet yelled. I turned around, but it was too late. Before I could even blink, one of Iron Spears energy spears pierced my abdomen. The energy spear dissipated, leaving a good sized hole in my chest as I fell over coughing up blood.

“SHADOW!!!” Scarlet yelled. She dropped her bow and ran to my side. Everyone else ran to my side, weapons drawn. Scarlet cried and turned to Iron Spear.

“You bastard!! WHY!!!” she cried. Iron Spear walked over to Silver Tongues body and took his trench coat.

“Why do you think?” he said putting on the trench coat.

“Don't...tell me...” I said with difficulty.

“That's right. I'm this dead idiot's boss,” he said with a mocking tone. This caught us all by surprise.

I tried standing up, only to fall over once again “I have to admit, you're tougher than I gave you credit for. Most people would already be dead after getting hit by one of my spears,” Iron Spear said.

“DAMN YOU!!!” Scarlet yelled as she picked up her bow and started firing volley after volley of arrows. However, Iron Spear grabbed them all with his magic, stopping them.

“You're little sharpened twigs won't work on me little red,” he said. Scarlet prepared to fire another volley, but I held up my hoof and stopped her.

“Why? If you were the boss the whole time, why didn't you just kill us?” I asked weakly.

“That's a good question,” he said pacing around, putting his hoof to his chin.

“Just answer the damn question!” I said, coughing up more blood.

“Very well. Put simply, I needed some fresh meat for my little business. Business has been slow ever since ponies have started to veer away from this place. So when I learned the Princess was sending a group here to investigate, I got an idea. If ponies thought there was no more danger, then they'd start coming back. Which means more business for me,” he said with a sinister laugh.

“So you planned to let Silver Tongue take the fall, kill us, go back a hero, and continue your sick business” I said.

“Bingo.” I stood up shakily.

“Well too bad, 'cause there's no way in hell I'm letting you” another spear pierced my chest. I fell over, almost my entire body now covered in blood. Iron Spear created another spear with his magic.

“On second thought, I guess just four of you will suffice,” he said. I tried to stand up, only to have Scarlet stop me.

“Stay down Shadow, we can take this guy,” she said brandishing her bow. Nova, Jade, and Nebula all brandished their weapons and made a protective circle around me. Jade with her knives, Nova with his explosives, and Nebula with another bow Scarlet had given her.

Iron Spear laughed “You seriously think you weaklings can beat me? That's cute, now step aside,” he said pointing his spear at them.

“Go to Tartarus you pompous bastard!” Nova said charging him. He lit one of his vials and threw it at Iron Spear. Iron Spear grabbed it with his magic and threw it back. Nova managed to move out of the way, but he was still blasted against a wall by the sheer force of the blast, knocking him unconscious.

“Nova!! You'll pay for that!” Nebula said firing an arrow. But Iron Spear merely caught it with his magic again and snapped it in half. Then he grabbed Nebula with his magic and slammed her against a wall repeatedly, knocking her out and injuring her wing.

“Is this the best you've got?” he mocked. That's when Jade managed to sneak up behind him and slashed him across the back.

“Augh!! You mutt!!” he said throwing a spear at Jade. She managed to dodge the spear and got within his guard. But Iron Spear was ready. He dodged her attack and bucked her with his hind legs into a wall, knocking her out. He turned to Scarlet and I. Scarlet brandished her bow and stood her ground.

“Give up little red, it's over. You're little group is finished!” he said creating four energy spears and pointing them at me and Scarlet. Scarlet fired and arrow at him so fast he didn't have time to catch it, nicking his face. He brought his hoof to his face and wiped across his wound. He looked at the blood, anger filling his face.

“You'll pay for that you red haired bitch!” he said launching one of his spears at Scarlet. Scarlet dropped her bow and picked up Silver Thorn, slicing the spear in half and getting into a fighting stance.

“Scarlet..”

“I'm fine Shadow. I'm not gonna lose to this bastard. Once I beat him, I'll treat you and everyone else. Then we can send this bastard back to the Princess in pieces,” she said. I could only stare in awe.

“Scarlet, I....”

Iron Spear laughed “How sweet. But unfortunately, you won't get the chance, because you're both going to die here,” he said launching his spears at us. Scarlet managed to destroy most of them, but it was obvious that using Silver Thorn was taking a toll on her. As the last of the spears came flying, she didn't destroy it, only managing to redirect it as the spear slashed her side and part of her leg.

“Augh!!” she said as she fell over, blood staining her side as she dropped Silver Thorn.

“Scarlet!! Damn you Iron Spear!” I yelled, coughing up more blood. Scarlet tried to stand up, only to fall back down.

“My leg, I can't move,” she said. She looked at me, tears starting to form in her eyes. Iron Spear walked up to Scarlet and brought her to eye level with him.

“You know what, you've got spunk, I like that. Maybe I'll keep you as my little pet,” he said sniffing some of her hair.

“You bastard, let her and my friends go!!” I said. He let go of Scarlet and walked over to me.

“I'm surprised you're even still alive.”

“Yeah, I'm stubborn like that,” I said and coughed up more blood.

“Well, unfortunately, you have to die now,” he said picking up Silver Thorn.

“Put me down this instant you traitorous coward!!” Silver Thorn yelled.

“Right, I forgot you could talk. Well, either way. What better way to kill you then with your own weapon,” he said raising Silver Thorn. I looked over and saw Scarlet with tears streaming down her face and screaming for him to stop.

“STOP!!!!” she yelled, trying desperately to move.

“Not a chance. Now die!” he said and stabbed Iron Spear right into my chest.

“AUGH!!” I yelled as I was impaled. The world started to go dark. I couldn't breath. The only thing I could smell was my own blood. I managed to turn my head. The last thing I saw and heard being Scarlet screaming my name.

The world went black as death took hold of me.

Author's Note

WHAT A TWIST!! Worry not readers, for Shadow is not that easy to kill. I won't give any spoilers, but let's just say it's gonna be epic.
Also, IT'S THE GUARDIAN SHADOWS ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!! Cue the Party Cannon.
But seriously, It amazes me that I've been writing this story for so long. This story really means a lot to me and it makes me proud to see that it's made it this far. So I'd just like to thank you all for reading, and I hope I can make this story even more epic.

Chapter 19: Revenge

Chapter 19

Revenge

I'm not quite sure how to describe being dead. It's kind of like floating in a ocean of darkness. You can't see, hear, say, smell, or feel anything. You exist and don't exist at the same time. The only thing you have are your thoughts.

The only thought running through my head was “I'm dead”

I'm dead. It's strange. That word, dead, holds so much power to the living. But when you're dead, it doesn't have as much strength.

What's even stranger, is I felt very peaceful. I knew I should be worried about the fact that I was dead. I knew I should be worried about my friends. But nothing. I felt peace.

That's when I heard something. A voice calling out in the darkness.

“Huh? How can that be? I'm dead. I shouldn't be able to hear anything,” I thought. The voice got louder.

“......Up...”

“Huh?”

“...ke...Up...”

The voice got clearer and louder until finally I could discern what it was saying.

“Wake up!!!!!!”

My eyes shot open. All my senses came rushing back. I could hear the sound of chains rattling. I could smell mildew. I could taste blood. I could feel pain. Lots of pain. Finally, I saw what was making the voice. What blood I had left chilled. It was the Ursa Major, still in it's cage. I tried standing up, but fell back down in pain. I looked down and saw that I was still a zebra and now sported three large holes in my chest. The Ursa Major leaned on one of it's paws, looking rather annoyed.

“Well,” it said.

Confused, I asked “Well what?”

“I'm waiting for my apology,” it said.

“Apology!? For what?”

“Oh, I don't know? How about being a complete idiot and getting your dumb ass killed!” it growled at me.

“You want me to apologize for dying!? That's ridiculous!”

“No. You know what's ridiculous. Having an idiot like you as a host,” the Ursa Major said.

“You think it's fun for me having a giant freaking bear living inside my head 24/7!? Especially one that snoops through my memories!” I said, clutching my chest in pain.

“You're in no shape to be arguing with me bucko,” it said.

“Whatever. Well I am dead, so what do you want me to do about it? It's not like I have multiple lives like a video game,” I said.

“Irrelevant. Point is, your my host and without you, I'll die too,” it said.

“Aren't you dead already?”

“Not entirely. Part of my soul is residing in your head.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, as long as you live, so do I.”

“Well that's lovely, but unless you have a magic potion to bring me back to life, I suggest that you prepare to meet the reaper,” I said walking away from the cage.

“I don't have a magic potion, but I can bring you back to life,” the Ursa said. I stopped in my tracks.

“What?”

“I know a way to bring you back to life.” I turned around.

“How?” I said walking back to the cage.

“As you've probably figured out, the Blessing grants you a healing ability. But there's another side to that power,” the Ursa said.

“How so?”

“When you killed me, part of my soul was tied to you, creating a symbiotic bond between us. You gain power and I stay somewhat within the realm of the living,” it said.

“Ok, but how does that bring me back to life?” I asked

“Right now, you're only able to access a fraction of the Blessing's power on your own. With my help, you can access much more,” the Ursa said, sounding a bit like a Sith Lord.

I raised an eyebrow. I turned away from the Ursa to think. I looked down at the holes in my chest. I cringed, remembering the pain of getting skewered, and hearing scarlet's cries of pain as I was killed. My decision was clear. I turned back to the Ursa.

“What do I have to do?” I asked. The Ursa smiled.

“All you have to do is let me take control of your body for a little bit, amplifying the powers of the Blessing,” it said.

“Ok. How do I do that?”

“All you have to do is let me out of this cage for a little bit,” it said motioning to the lock on the cage. I walked over to it, seeing that the key was already in the lock. I looked up at the Ursa.

“Can't you just let yourself out? The key's right here.” The Ursa face-pawed.

“If I could do that, don't you think I would have by now?” it said.

“Ok. But answer me this. What'll you do once I let you out? Are you actually gonna help me?” I asked.

“You're my host kid. If I don't help you, I don't help myself.” the Ursa said.

I looked at the lock once more “One more question. How do I know you'll give me control back once this is all over?” I asked.

The Ursa just looked at me and said “ You don't.”

I thought back to Scarlet's screams and my friends being tossed around like rag dolls. My decision was clear.

“Just promise me you'll save my friends,” I said grabbing the key.

“Whatever you say kid,” the Ursa said as I turned the key.

The lock glowed with an intense blue light as I could feel myself once again losing consciousness.

“Hurry up you idiots! We don't have all day!” Iron Spear yelled at his subordinates as they loaded more crates onto an airship inside of an abandoned warehouse, one of them dropping a crate in the process.

“You idiot! Be more careful with those!” Iron Spear yelled, generating a spear and pointing it at the minion that had dropped the crate.

“I'm sorry Iron Spear sir. It was an accident I swear,” he said. Iron Spear growled at him and made the spear disappear.

“Just get back to work, now!” he yelled as the minion ran to get back to his work.

“Let us out of here you spear wielding bastard!!” Iron Spear heard. He turned and saw that it was Nova, one of Shadow's friends that he had just recently captured. He was in a cage with the other three, all of them in chains. Iron Spear laughed and walked over to the cage.

“And why, pray tell would I ever do that?” he asked the chained pegasus.

“Because Shadow's going to kill you if you don't,” Nova said. Iron Spear laughed at this and looked the pegasus in the eye.

“You're friend Shadow is dead. I killed him myself,” he said in an arrogant tone.

“LIAR! Shadow would never be killed by someone like you!” the pegasus said struggling against his chains. Iron Spear laughed at his attempts.

“Just ask little red over there. She saw me kill him with her own eyes,” he said pointing at Scarlet. Nova looked over at Scarlet. Her face was puffy and red from crying and her eyes were lifeless.

“Scarlet, tell me this bastard is lying. Shadow can't be dead!” Nova said shaking Scarlet. Scarlet looked at him with dead eyes.

“It's true Nova. Shadow's dead,” she said, fresh tears forming in her eyes. Nova let her go and punched the ground.

“What's the matter dynamite boy, sad you're poor leader is pushing up daisies,” Iron Spear said mockingly

“Don't you dare insult Shadow! He's better than you'll ever be you creep!” Nebula said.

“Yes! Shadow good! You evil and scary and smell like death!” Jade said.

“You honestly think that fazes me. Those are compliments!” He said laughing at the four in the cage.

“I can't believe someone like you was a member of the Royal Guard,” Nova yelled. Iron Spear laughed some more and turned back to Nova.

“Well believe it. And once I send you four to the mines along with the other ones I've taken, I'll just tell the Princess Silver Tongue did it, say you all died, and return a hero.” he said.

“You're a monster!” Nebula said.

“Damn right! Now shut up and accept your-,”

“Iron Spear sir!” a minion yelled. Iron Spear turned around and saw that the minion, a unicorn stallion, was running toward him, blood running down his face.

“What's going on, and why are you covered in blood?” Iron Spear asked.

The minion struggled to breath “Sir, we have an intruder. He's outside slaughtering our troops. He's like an animal sir,” he said.

“Oh come on, there's no way that can be-” he was cut off by a something flying past him and hitting the wall. He looked and saw that it was the decapitated body of one of his minions.

“What in Tartarus is going on!?” he said as a wall exploded behind him. Iron Spear made one of his spears and got into a fighting stance.

“Who are you?” he asked as the smoke cleared. Through the smoke, Iron Spear could see bits and pieces of a figure. Whoever it was was tall, standing a couple feet taller than the princesses. The figure threw something at Iron Spear. The object rolled to his hooves, and he saw that it was the dead minion's head.

“Sorry, we had a bit of a disagreement. He wanted me dead, and I wanted him dead. I think you can see who won,” the figure said with a chuckle as he stepped out of the smoke. Iron Spears eyes went wide at who the figure was. It was Shadow. Except he looked vastly different. He looked more like a bear now than a zebra. He still had his mohawk and stripes, but he was taller with much shaggier fur and big, jagged claws and teeth

“That-that's impossible! I killed you! I made sure of it!” he yelled.

“Oh you did,” he said stepping closer to Iron Spear “He was dead as a door nail. That's why I'm here.”

“Shadow, is that really you?” Nova asked. 'Shadow' stepped toward the cage and looked inside.

“So you're Shadow's little group eh?” he said. They all looked at him confused. Scarlet looking at him in shock.

“What do you mean? It's us Shadow,” Nebula said.

“Yeah, there's a little problem with that, you see-” he whipped around and grabbed a spear that had been thrown at him. He looked and saw that Iron Spear had created five more.

“Well, someone's a little antsy,” 'Shadow' said snapping the spear in half.

“This is ridiculous! If killing you once wasn't enough,” his minions began to surround him “Then I'll just have to kill you again,” he said creating more spears.

'Shadow' smirked and cracked his neck “Finally, some real fun. It's been a while since I've had fresh meat, and guess who's hungry,” he said extending his claws.

“Get him! I don't care how, just kill him!” Iron Spear said as his minions charged 'Shadow'. 'Shadow' licked his lips. As the first minion charged at 'Shadow' with a sword, he grabbed him, picked him up, and tore him in half.

“Come get some!” he said ripping into a few more of Iron Spear's minions. 'Shadow' moved like a giant tank, slashing, ripping apart, and eviscerating anyone that got in his way.

“Come on, is this the best you got!?” he said decapitating one of minions. Iron Spear looked on in horror as his minions were ripped limb from limb.

“Sir, what should we do?” one of them asked. Iron Spear's response was to run as fast as he could the other direction. Shadow saw this and roared.

“Where do you think you're going coward!?” he said tossing one of the fallen minions axes at him. The axe hit Iron Spear in the leg as Shadow finished killing the last of his minions. Iron Spear tried to stand, but quickly fell back down. He desperately tried to crawl away, only to have his injured leg grabbed by Shadow and hoisted into the air.

“Oh how the tables have turned,” 'Shadow' said licking his lips.

Iron Spear had tears forming in his eyes “Please, let me go. I'll give you anything you want! Money, mares, anything! Just please don't kill me,” he said. 'Shadow' looked him right in the eye.

“A tempting offer, but I'm afraid I'll have to decline. You see, while I have promises to keep to my weaker half, I have my own reasons for wanting to kill you.” he said extending his claws.

“You killed my host, and killing him means you kill me,” he said tracing a line along Iron Spear's chest.

“Now, let's see. You put three holes in Shadow, so I think I'll put three in you,” 'Shadow' said raising his claws.

“Please, stop!” Iron Spear begged.

“Too late for that pal, now die!” he said about to pierce Iron Spear's body. Iron Spear closed his eyes and waited for death. However, he opened his eyes to find that 'Shadow's' claws had stopped just short of their mark.

“What are you doing you idiot!? I have him in my grasp, let me kill him!” 'Shadow' said.

“He's not worth it. Let him go,” the real Shadow said.

“Come on, need I remind you that this is the guy that killed you, beat the shit out of your friends, and was going to send them to a mine to be slaves! Why shouldn't I kill him!?” he said, struggling for control of his body.

“If we do this, we're no better than him. Besides, look at him.” he said. 'Shadow' looked at Iron Spear. He was crying, sniffling, and had just soiled himself.

“So he's a weakling. That should stop me from killing him,” 'Shadow' said.

“Look, just don't kill him. If it'll make you feel better, you can knock him out or something.”

“Can I at least tear his leg off?” 'Shadow' whined. The real Shadow thought for a moment.

“That's fine too,” he said.

'Shadow' responded by tearing off one of Iron Spear's legs. Iron Spear screamed in pain.

“Oh shut up! Just be glad my other half wants you alive,” 'Shadow' said as he hit Iron Spear on the head to shut him up. He tossed his leg away and dropped Iron Spear on the ground.

“You should've let me kill him,” 'Shadow' said.

“Just get my friends out of that damn cage and give me back control. It's boring in here,” the real Shadow said.

“Welcome to my world,” 'Shadow' said as he ripped the bars on the cage off and broke his friend's chains. They all just stood there staring.

“Take a picture, it'll last longer,” he said.

“You're not Shadow, are you?” Nebula asked.

“You don't say,” he said making the face to go along with it.

“If you're not Shadow, then who are you?” Scarlet asked.

“I was wondering when you were gonna speak. Let's just say Shadow and I have a very......complicated relationship,” he said. Scarlet walked up to him and looked him up and down.

“Let me ask one thing. Are we gonna get our Shadow back?” she said.

“Well, while I do look damn sexy in this body, I'm afraid I promised my other half I'd give it back,” he said as his body started to glow blue and shrink dramatically.

“So long folks,” he said as his body returned to it's original form. Shadow shook his head, opening his eyes and smiling at the sight of his friends.

“Well, that was an adventure,” he said. Scarlet went up to him, touching her hoof to his face.

“Is it really you this time?” she said.

“It's really me Scarlet,” he said returning the gesture. Scarlet's eyes watered with tears as she wrapped Shadow in a hug, crying into his shoulder.

“Come on guys, let's go search to see what all Iron Spear was up to,” Nova said. Nebula and Jade nodded and went to search the warehouse.

“I'm sorry Scarlet,” he said as he stroked her hair, letting her get out all her emotions.

“I-I saw you die! It was horrible! I thought you were you dead you giant idiot,” she said pounding her hooves against his chest. He wrapped her in a hug.

“I know Scarlet, I'm sorry,” he said.

“How? How did you come back to life?” she asked, wiping tears from her face.

“It was the Ursa Major. He brought me back to life in exchange for letting him take my body for a joyride,” he said. He broke the hug and looked Scarlet in the eye.

“I wasn't sure if it would work, but there was one thing that gave me the strength to do it,” he said.

“What was that?” she asked.

“You Scarlet,” he said as he kissed her. Her eyes shot open in shock, but after a while she reciprocated the kiss. They stayed like that for a minute before breaking the kiss.

“Shadow that was,” he put a hoof to her lips.

“I know Scarlet,” he said with a smile. She smiled and blushed.

“Shadow, you better come see this,” Nova called. Shadow and Scarlet smiled at each other and went to go see what Nova had found.

When we found Nova and the others, they were standing next to an open crate.

“What's up Nova? You find something?” I asked. He shook his head.

“You're not gonna like it,” he said leading us to the open crate. Inside, Nebula was sitting next to a red pegasus mare, trying to comfort her. She looked like she hadn't eaten or bathed in weeks. She also had a few bruises and cuts here and there. She was shaking and crying into Nebula's fur.

“What's going on here?” I asked, a dangerous and concerned tone in my voice.

“We heard a noise coming from one of the crates and decided to open it. When we did, we found her in there. She hasn't talked much, but from what we could get out of her, she's been here for a while,” he said. I could see that he was trying his best to contain his anger. I couldn't blame him. After seeing this, I was finding it hard not to punch a hole in the wall.

“Where's Jade?” I asked.

“We sent her to keep an eye on that bastard Iron Spear. Me and Nebula were just waiting on you two,” he said, winking at the last part. Scarlet and I both blushed. We were about to make up an explanation, but Nova held up his hoof.

“Save it. It's your business, not mine,” he said in an odd show of maturity.

“Ok. For now, me and Scarlet will get the rest of these crates open. You and Nebula go check the airship. See if there's anyone on there,” I said. Nova nodded and he and Nebula went to go check the ship.

Scarlet and I spent the next hour or so getting the rest of the crates open. Unfortunately, we didn't find any of the other kidnap victims. What we did find was that nearly all of the crates were filled with either gems, weapons, or chains. Nova and Nebula returned from the airship after a while, carrying with them some more boxes of gems and a stack of papers. They had also managed to find Silver Thorn, which relieved me.

“Shadow! It's good to see your alive. But how?” he asked.

“It's along story buddy. I'll tell you later,” I said as I slung my sword onto my back. Nova handed me the stack of papers.

“What are these,” I asked taking the papers.

“Don't know, but they have Iron Spear's name on them,” he said. Nebula flew back over to the mare, who we managed to learn was called Lily, and gave her some food and water. I looked over the documents and saw that they all had numbers and figures on them. They were a list of transactions between Iron Spear and whoever he was selling people as slaves too.

“This bastard,” I said crumpling the paper.

“Shadow,” I heard Jade call. We turned and saw her dragging Iron Spear toward us, his stump where his leg used to be wrapped in a bloody cloth. She threw him in front of us, still unconscious

“What should we do with him?” Scarlet asked.

“For now just lock him in the ship's brig. If he wakes up, hit him over the head with something,” I said. Jade and Nova nodded as they dragged him onto the airship.

“So what do we do now?” Scarlet asked.

“For now, we go back to Canterlot, tell the Princess what we found, then figure out where the mine is that Iron Spear's been sending ponies to,” I said.

“Ok, but what about all these gems and weapons. We can't just leave this all behind,” Scarlet said. I looked up at the airship, a grin appearing on my face.

“I've got a plan,” I said as I walked up onto the deck of the ship.

Chapter 20: Next Move

Chapter 20

Next Move

After putting Iron Spear in the brig and burying the bodies of his dead soldiers, I took a more thorough look around the ship. The ship was fairly massive, and was definitely built like a warship. I had seen some other airships while I was in Canterlot, but they had mostly been the types used by the rich. Big, fancy, and decorated like parade balloons. This one was more like the ones used by the Royal Guard. Big, practical, and the only decoration being the flag hanging from the mast. It had rooms for soldiers, a kitchen, a hold for weapons and supplies, a bridge, captains quarters, and a training room. This one however had one thing other ships didn't. A massive hold for captives. Their was a giant section at the bottom of the ship for holding captives to sell. There were chains laying everywhere and various stains on the floor, mostly from blood. The sight of it made me want to lose my lunch.

After we had cleaned out the entire ship, I held a meeting to decided our next move. Nebula didn't want to leave Lily's side, so we allowed her to stay with her in the medical ward. The rest of us met in the bridge.

“Okay guys, we need to plan our next move,” I said.

“I say first order of business is to execute Iron Spear. After all he's done I can't see why you've kept him alive this long,” Scarlet said.

“We may need still need him. We know next to nothing about what he's been doing apart from kidnapping ponies and selling them as slaves. We need to find out where he's sending them and who he's selling them to,” I said. Scarlet was about to say something, but re-thought it and sat back down.

“What I want to know is how you turned into that...whatever it was earlier,” Nova said. Jade nodded her agreement. I looked at Scarlet, but she nodded in agreement. I guess my earlier explanation to her was a bit rushed. I'd want a thorough explanation if someone I knew had come back form the grave.

“You're right Nova, you do deserve to know what happened. All of you,” I said as I began my story. I told them everything, from how iron Spear killed me, to meeting the Ursa in my mind, to turning into a hairier version of the Hulk. After I had finished, they all looked at me with a look I can only describe as a cross between fear, confusion, amazement, and anger. Fear at what I was, confusion at my coming back from the dead, amazement that I had, and anger at Iron Spear.

“I know it's a lot to process, but I've never lied to you before. What I speak is the truth,” I said sitting down. They all looked at each other, unsure of what to say. Surprisingly, Jade was the first one to speak up.

“I believe Shadow. Shadow honest pony, not lie about something like this,” she said.

“Even if he's telling the truth, how do we know this Ursa Major thing won't try and kill us. I saw what it did to Iron Spear's soldiers. It may have spared us today, but what about next time?” Nova asked.

“He won't hurt you,” I said.

“How can we know that Shadow?” Nova said

“Because, he can't. He doesn't have to power to take control of my body on his own. We both need to be in agreement or else he stays in his cage. He even said if he could find a way out he would've by now,” I said.

“Well what if he does find a way to take control Shadow. I saw what he did. It ripped those soldiers apart like they were paper. What do we do if he gets loose?” Nova asked, his face the most serious I'd ever seen it.

“Then you'll have to kill me,” I said. The second I said that, Scarlet sprang from her seat, and clocked me in the face so hard I flew against the wall.

“What the hell Scarlet!” I said as I tried to ready myself. Scarlet grabbed me and pushed me against the wall.

“Listen up Stripes, you say any kind of shit like that again and I'll never speak to you again. I lost you once and I am not losing you again!” she yelled at me. I could only stare at her.

“Well, what do you have to say for yourself Stripes?” she said.

I rubbed my jaw, now sporting a fresh cut across my face “I'm starting to think you like punching me. Then again, I don't mind if it's you,” I said winking. She blushed and punched me in the gut.

“Okay, too far. Truce?” I said extending my hoof. She sighed and helped me up.

“Well, now that that's over, we need to think about our next move. We need to find out where Iron Spear has been sending these ponies and who he's been selling them to,” I said.

“Didn't we find some records or something of what he's been doing. Why can't we just use that?” Scarlet asked.

I shook my head “I've already read through them all. No mention of a location apart from here. If we're gonna find out where the captives are being taken, then we need to find out another way.”

“And how do you propose we do that Stripes? It's not like Iron Spear's just going to tell us where he's sending them,” Scarlet said. That's when a devious and evil grin spread across my face.

“I think he'll tell us everything we need to know, given a little incentive,” I said as I turned to leave.

“Where're you going?” Nova asked. I turned and gave them a very evil smile.

“I'm gonna go have a little chat with our friend Iron Spear. I should be able to get all the information I need,” I said as I headed down to the brig for a “chat” with Iron Spear.

Author's Note

I have returned!!!!! Sorry it's been a while since the last update. Life got really hectic and I wasn't able to find time to write much of anything. This is not my best work, but I'll try and make up for it in later chapters. Enjoy!

Chapter 21: Answers

Chapter 21

Answers

As I walked up the prisoner hold, Silver Thorn finally spoke up so suddenly I almost forgot that he was on my back.

“Shadow, how exactly do you intend to get him to cooperate. I doubt he would be willing to give you any information after what you've told me you did to him”.

“I'll get this bastard to talk somehow. Besides, I know a couple tricks regarding interrogation,” I said as I pushed open the doors to the prisoner hold.

Iron Spear was on the floor, chains restraining the three limbs he had left. There was also a special restraint placed on his horn so he couldn't use his magic to escape. Apparently he had woken up, because he looked up at me with utter disgust.

“Well, nice to see you've woken up. That ought to make things go a little smoother,” I said as I removed my cloak. I walked up to him and released him from his chains save the one on his horn. As he rubbed the stump of his lost limb, he looked up at me confused.

“Why'd you release me from these chains?” he asked.

“I thought it would be better if we did this little exchange on a little more equal ground,” I said as I transmuted some of the chains into a makeshift table and a couple chairs. I grabbed Iron Spear and placed him in one of the chairs as I sat in the opposite one. Iron Spear didn't say a word.

“I'm choosing to be civil here Iron Spear, I could just as easily beat the information I need out of you. If you cooperate with me, this whole process will go a lot quicker,” I said. He leaned forward and sneered at me.

“Why in Tartarus should I help you? Especially after you ruined my lucrative business and had that weird other version of you tear off my leg,” he said spitting at me.

“Need I remind you that you not only kidnapped my friends with the intention to sell them into slavery, and have done so to no doubt more ponies than were reported, but that you also impaled me three times. I survived as you can plainly see, but that still doesn't excuse it. You are on thin ice Iron Spear. Just now my crew were voting to execute you, but I stopped them,” I said as my anger steadily rose.

“Why would you do that. By all rights you should kill me”.

“Because I still need you for something Iron Spear. If you cooperate with me, I can make sure your stay as my prisoner is more comfortable than your current condition,” I said motioning back to his chains. Iron Spear was silent for a moment before he looked back at me with utter disdain.

“Not gonna happen you freak. You might as well just kill me right here,” he said staring daggers at me. I sighed and walked up behind him.

“Looks like the good cop approach isn't work. Seems I'll have to switch gears a bit,” I said as I grabbed his head and smashed it against the table.

I lifted his head back up, blood now trickling from his forehead “You'll tell me what I want to know and you'll tell me now!” I said as I threw him to the ground.

“Eat shit freak,” he said leering at me. I grabbed by his collar and pushed him against the wall of the hold.

“Where are you sending the captives, and who are you selling them to?” I said as I kicked him in the stomach, making sure to control my strength so I didn't crush any of his organs.

He laughed and looked up at me with a smile on his face “It wouldn't matter if I told you. You can't stop my business partner,” he said coughing up some blood. I grabbed my sword and stuck it against his throat.

I pushed my sword harder against his throat, drawing some blood “Who are you working with?”

His response was to simply laugh at. I finally lost my patience and punched him in the gut. As he doubled over in pain, I put him back into his chains. As I gathered my cloak and re-sheathed Silver Thorn, he spoke in my mind.

“What will you do now Shadow? How will you find out where the captives are now?”

“I don't know, I'll figure something out. First thing I've gotta do is send a letter to the Princesses and let them know what's going on. Maybe I can get them to send me some reinforcements,” I said. As I was about to walk out the door, I heard Iron Spear laughing again.

“You're nothing but a fool!” he said through his laughter.

“Really, 'cause I'm not the one laughing like the Joker in chains”.

“Even if you do manage to find out where I've been sending the slaves to, it won't do you any good. The Princesses wouldn't send their troops out for something like this. They'd be upset about it, but in the end they'd just let it happen,” he said with a cackle.

“Celestia and Luna would never let that happen. Besides, they sent me out didn't they?”

“This happens all the time kid. Contrary to what you might think, I'm not the only one in this game. Sure I got caught, not the first one to have that happen to them. Ponies go missing all the time. There ain't nothing you or the Princesses can do to stop it”.

“That's not true! I stopped you and I can stop others like you,” I said as I got up in his face. He just kept laughing at me.

“Yeah, hold onto that dream. Face it kid, no matter what you do, you're on you're own on this little adventure. Ain't nothing you're precious Princesses can do to help you,” he said as he continued his wicked laughter. I grabbed my sword and smacked him with the flat of the blade, knocking him out. I sheathed my blade and walked out of the prisoner hold.

As I walked back up the bridge, I saw that Nebula had rejoined the group. Everyone looked at me expectantly. I sat in a chair and sighed.

“Well, how did it go? Did you get him to talk?” Nova asked.

“No. I didn't get any good information out of him,” I said as I rested my head in my hooves.

“Well that's great. What are we supposed to do now?” Scarlet said as she fiddled with her bow.

“I don't know Scarlet. I do however know one thing”.

“Well spill Stripes, what is it?”

“We're on our own on this one. We can't ask the Princesses for help,” I said slumping in my chair. This caused my friends to voice their protests.

“What do you mean Shadow? Of course the Princesses would help us,” Scarlet said.

“I thought the same thing, but after giving it some thought it makes sense that they wouldn't help us”.

“How do you figure that? The Princesses would do anything to protect Equestria. Tartarus, Celestia banished her own sister to save Equestria, so what makes you think she wouldn't send out a few guards to help us?”

“For one thing, the Nightmare Moon incident was a wide spread threat, something that would've affected the entire country, whereas our situation is more of an isolated incident. I agree that they do want to protect Equestria, but they can't be everywhere at once, even if they are goddesses. Plus, even if we do manage to track down where Iron Spear is sending his captives, we won't be able to get help from the Royal Guard. They are meant to handle wide spread threats, not isolated incidents. That's why Celestia sent us here in the first place, because she couldn't spare any of the guards. Sure, she sent guards here before, but even then it was more of an investigation than putting a stop to it. We could ask for help, but it's doubtful we would get any. Face it guys, we're on our own,” I said as laid my head down on the table and slammed my hoof against it in frustration.

My friends were quiet for a good few minutes before Nova said “Well, so what!?” This caused me to look up.

“Come again?”

“So what if we don't have the Royal Guard backing us up, we're plenty tough on our own. We took down Iron Spears soldiers in the alleyway pretty easily. Plus, we've got a bad flank airship now! Who says we can't take on these guys,” the excitable blue stallion said.

Scarlet got up with equal excitement “Yeah, if we come across anypony I'll just shoot them down in a second”.

“I agree, we can do this,” Nebula said.

“Yes. Jade help friends, not want anyone else go through that sort of pain,” said Jade. My friends turned to me with smiles on their faces and a fire in their eyes. They put their hooves and paw in the middle of the table, with space left for me.

“What's it gonna be Stripes? You're the leader here,” Scarlet said. I looked at the faces of my friends. Their determination, their bravery, it moved me to my core.

“What kind of leader would I be if I said no to that,” I said putting my hoof in the circle with the rest of my friends.

“Guys, lets make a promise right now. No matter what, we stick together. Agreed?”

“Of course!”

“No question about it”.

“Yes”.

“I ain't gonna say no now Stripes!”

“I will help as well,” Silver Thorn said.

I smiled at all my friends as we all bumped our hooves and paw together in unison.

“Well this is awesome and all Shadow, but we still have a major problem. We still don't know where the captives are,” Scarlet said, completely ruining the mood. She was right, but it just killed the whole happy mood.

I waved off the mood killing and said “That's true, we need to find where they're being taken before we can make our move”. I put my hoof to my chin, everyone else mimicking the motion.

“Um, excuse me,” a voice said. We all turned to see that Lily, still looking gaunt. Her black and gold mane was in knots and her ribs were showing through her skin. She also looked to be missing a few of her feathers. Nebula saw this and quickly ran up to her.

“Lily, what are you doing out of bed? You should be resting,” she said trying to push her back to the medical wing.

Lily rebuffed Nebula's efforts “I'm fine Miss Nebula, really. Setting that aside, I know where Iron Spear is selling his captives,” she said. I stood up and walked over to her.

“And how, if I may ask, did you come by this information?”

“Because I used to be Iron Spears marefriend,” she said with obvious malice and shame. The room fell silent. Iron Spear's marefriend!? How could anyone date that psychotic bastard.

Sadly, Nova spoke first “Hold up a second, you're Iron Spear's marefriend!?” he said. Lily's eyes filled with anger as she advanced on Nova.

“Ex-marefriend you stupid colt! Never forget that!” she said, falling over and going into a fit of coughing. Nebula ran to her side as Scarlet smacked Nova on the head.

“Okay then Lily, moving from that obvious sore subject”.

“Can you blame the poor mare Shadow?”

“Shh! Anyway, what can you tell us Lily? Anything would be a great help,” I said helping the mare to her hooves.

“I'll tell you whatever you want, but I have one condition”.

“Name it”.

“I'm the one who gets to kill Iron Spear,” she said with pure malice. I thought about this for a moment. I could tell from the look in her eyes and the venom in her voice that Iron Spear had done something to her. I didn't know what, but it must've been something horrible.

“Fine, Iron Spear is yours. For now lets get you back to the medical ward, you need rest,” I said. She protested despite coughing like a chain smoker. She looked up at me with a grateful smile on her face.

“Thank you,” she said as Nebula led her back to the medical ward.

After Lily was rested and given enough food to feed a small army, she told us about iron Spear's practices. My friends and I sat around her bed in the medical ward to listen to her information.

“So Lily, what can you tell us about Iron Spear?” I asked.

“What do you want to know?”

“We need to know where he's sending his captives, who his boss is, and anything you can tell us about the layout of his boss' hideout,” I said as everyone else nodded. Lily sighed and tapped her chin.

“Well, to start with he's sending them to a small warren about a hundred miles north of here called Crushing Stone. The Alpha of the warren is a dog named Strax. He's civil, but he's also very strong and has a short fuse. I can't tell you much about the layout of the warren. I was only there once, and the memory of it still haunts my nightmares,” she said as she shuddered. We all looked at each other a bit nervous. Not surprising. From the way things were looking, we were outnumbered and dealing with a volatile enemy.

“What else can you tell us? How many warriors does the Alpha have?”

“I can't really remember. If I had to guess around five hundred. But from what I can remember his numbers were growing. The number of slaves he had gotten from Iron Spear have been slowly increasing, but I guess that's stopped thanks to you guys,” she said. Lily looked down, a sad look on her face. I could tell there were things Lily wasn't telling us, important things. I was willing to let these things slide, but there was one thing that kept bugging me.

“Lily I have one other question”.

“Yes?”

“If you were Iron Spear's marefriend, then why were you in that crate?” I said with a serious but compassionate look on my face. The room fell silent instantly. Lily looked at me with a shocked expression, but with a deep pain behind her eyes.

“Shadow, I don't think that's something we need to know right now,” Nebula chided me before Lily raised her hoof to stop her.

“It's alright Miss Nebula, I don't mind telling you. It is a rather strange way to find somepony”.

“You wanna talk about strange, ask Shadow sometime about the Ursa Major he's got running around inside his head and the talking sword he has,” Nova said.

“What?” Scarlet and Nebula smacked him upside the head. Seriously, the kid needs to learn when to keep quiet or else he's gonna get brain damage from all the head slaps.

“Never mind that now, back to the issue at hand. Why did Iron Spear put you in that crate?” I asked. Lily sighed and looked at me with sad eyes.

“Okay, here's the story. As you know by now, I used to be Iron Spear's marefriend, and for a while we were happy. We were both members of the Royal Guard. We were recruits in the same training group, and over the course of training we got to know each other. After we graduated basic training, he asked me to be his marefriend. For a while things were pretty good, but over time I noticed that he began to change. He started talking about how the Princesses were becoming sloppy and weak. He got especially mad when the Princess knighted that pirate Griffin. After that he became distant, always either going off on his own or going on simple missions. Finally, I confronted him about it and he told me he was taking me on a trip. I think you can guess to where,” She said as a tear slowly fell from her eye.

“Lily, that's enough. You don't have to tell us anymore,” I said.

“No, I'm fine. I want you to know the full story,” she said wiping the tear from her eye.

“Okay”.

“Right. So Iron Spear took me here and showed me the airship. He said we were going to see a friend of his. Under normal circumstances, I would've questioned him, but it was just so glad to see him being his old self that I just went along with it. When we got to the warren, I was horrified. I went along with things out of fear, but inside I was screaming. It was the most horrific thing I've ever seen in my life. Ponies, griffins, and diamond dogs in chains being forced to mine for gems. If they didn't work, they were whipped and beaten relentlessly. It took all of my will power to not step in and stop them. I knew if I did, I was a dead mare,” she said as stray tears escaped her eyes. I heard a soft sound of crying and turned to find Jade with tears in her eyes as well. Not hard to see why. All this talk must've been bringing up painful memories. Scarlet put a hoof on her shoulder to comfort her. She looked at Scarlet and smiled as lily continued her story.

“So we met with Strax. They were apparently meeting to discuss Iron Spear's sick slave dealings. I couldn't take anymore. I pleaded with Iron Spear to stop what he was doing, I tried to convince to go back to being the stallion I once knew”.

“He looked at me with pure disgust, calling me a traitor. He started beating me, but I managed to fight him off. That is until Strax came up behind me and hit me over the head. After that I blacked out, the next thing I knew I was in chains in the ship. Iron Spear visited me and told me that he could no longer love me, that I had betrayed. Then he...” she began to shudder as her tears came down more.

“Lily..”

“He told his crew they could have their way with me! For weeks I had to deal with stallion after stallion, constantly using me like some common whore. I felt like I was in a living Tartarus that I couldn't escape from. After a while, they got bored of me and put me in that crate. I thought I was going to die in that crate. Cold, alone, and defiled. But then, you all showed up. For once, I felt like there was a small ray of hope,” she said as the tears fell ever more freely from her eyes. You could feel the anger of everyone in the room. Scarlet looked like she was gonna strangle someone, Jade and Nebula looked like they were about to vomit, and Nova looked about ready to blow up like one of his dynamite sticks.

I was thankfully able to swallow my rage, saving it for a time when I would need it. I walked up to Lily and gave her hug. This took her by surprise but she slowly hugged me back.

“You're safe here with us Lily, we won't let anyone else hurt you,” I said as the rest of my friends joined in the hug. After a few moments, we broke the hug and Lily smiled at us.

“Thank you all. But I have a question of my own. What are you all gonna do?” she said.

“Isn't it obvious? We're gonna go to Crushing Stone, free the slaves, kill the alpha, and smack down anyone who gets in our way,” I turned to my friends “Any objections!?” I said.

They all gave a resounding “None”.

“Well alright then, first things first, let's start getting this ship ready to fly,” that's when a thought struck me.

“Um...does anyone know how to fly this thing?” I asked. A look of realization dawned on the faces of my friends as we all collectively face-hoofed.

“Well that's just great. How are we supposed to get to Crushing Stone?” Scarlet said annoyed. We all wracked our heads for the answer before Lily spoke up “I know how to fly it,” she said as she slowly got out her bed and tied her mane into a pony tail. A bit ironic I you ask me.

“You can fly this thing?” I asked. She nodded.

“It's the same type of model we use in the Royal Guard. With a little bit of work, I can get this thing airborne,” she said with a smile on her face. I looked to my friends, who all gave me their approval. I turned to Lily and smiled.

“Alright Lily, you're officially our navigator. But on one condition,” I said as I picked her up and placed her back into her bed and put the covers back over her.

“You stay here until you're fully recovered. Once Scarlet gives you the okay, you can fly the ship. Not a second earlier. Understood?” I said. She nodded. I gave her a nod back and turned to my friends.

“Alright guys, lets get to work. We need to think of a plan. Let's go,” I said as my friends all went to think of the best way to attack the warren and Lily proceeded to go back to sleep. I knew attacking a whole warren full of armed diamond dogs was risky, but I had to do it. However, one thing kept tugging at my mind.

“Would the Princesses really just let something like this happen?” I thought to myself. I shook my head to clear it of that thought. Whether they would or not didn't matter. What did matter was finding a way to fight against an army.

That's when it struck me “Maybe we don't have to fight them,” I said as the gears began turning in my head and formulated a plan.

“This just might work”.

Author's Note

NEW CHAPTER!!!!!! Sorry it's been a while since the last update, but various things have kept me from writing lately. Hopefully I'll have some more time in coming weeks. I'm also going to be alternating my writing schedule between The Guardian Shadow and Kiva: Symphony of Friendship. I'll try and work on both equally, but it's also a matter of when I get a good story idea. Hopefully I'll be able to get these chapters out quicker than I have in past months. Thank you to everyone whose read the story thus far and supporting it. It is much appreciated. Well, this author's note has gone on long enough, thank you all and have a nice day.

Chapter 22: Strategies and Nightmares

Chapter 22

Strategies and Nightmares

After a few hours, we all gathered back on the bridge to discuss our ideas for how to attack the diamond dog warren.

“Okay, we've all had a few hours to think, so let's see what we all came up with. Scarlet, would you mind starting?” I said. Scarlet smiled and stood.

“The way I see it, we have one option, a straight up frontal assault. With Shadow's strength and alchemy, we can bust through their defenses with ease. Nebula and I can provide covering fire with our arrows. Jade and Nova can infiltrate the warren and blow them straight to Tartarus” she turned to me “ how's that for a strategy Stripes?” she said.

I had to admit, her strategy sounded fairly good. Everyone else was nodding their heads.

“Better than my plan. I was gonna say we should just blast em' with some dynamite and be done with it,” Nova said with a goofy grin. Nebula face-hoofed at her brother's stupidity.

“Nova's idiotic ideas aside, I like Scarlet's plan. I was thinking something similar, except we utilize the airship as well,” Nebula said. Scarlet and Nova both smiled.

“I like it. What about you Jade, what did you come up with?” Scarlet asked. Jade looked down and fidgeted in her seat.

“Jade couldn't think of plan. Best could come up with is digging holes,” she said dejectedly. Scarlet patted her on the back to comfort her and looked at me.

“What about you Stripes? You've been awful quiet this whole time. What's your idea?” she said. I got up from my seat and put my hooves on the table.

“You've all come up with good ideas, but unfortunately they're not going to work,” I said bluntly.

“What!?” they all said. Scarlet stared daggers at me.

“What makes you say that Stripes, and do choose your words carefully,” she said as she levitated an arrow. I cleared my throat and began pacing around the room.

“There are a few factors. To start, we number only six counting Lily, seven if you count Silver Thorn. That's barely enough for a stealth team, not a full assault. We'd need no less than a hundred soldiers to even attempt that. Secondly, apart from Lily's descriptions, we know next to nothing about their defenses. They could any manner of secret weapon lying in wait. Lastly, while I applaud you for thinking of ways to utilize everyone's skills, it's poorly thought out at best. We'd get captured or worse within minutes,” I said with finality. Scarlet tried to come up with a rebuttal, but in the end just sat in her seat dejected.

“Well then what in Celestia's name are we going to do?” she asked, everyone else nodding in agreement.

“I was getting to that. Like I said, it could work, but we don't have the forces. That's why we're going to do something a little different,” I said.

“Well spit it out already! All this beating around the bush is getting annoying,” Nova said.

“Very well then. My idea is this: We infiltrate the warren posing as Iron Spear's new business associates. We get the leader to show us around the warren and where he's keeping the slaves. While we're doing that, I'll set up some transmutation circles that I can use to cause some explosions. Nova and Jade will help with setting up the circles. Nebula and Scarlet will act as my attendants when we meet with the leader. Once we've successfully infiltrated the warren, Jade and I will make a path to the surface so we can get the captives out. We can have Lily on standby with the ship to hold the captives and once that's done, we destroy the warren, and kill anyone who gets in our way,” I said. Everyone took a moment to consider my plan. I had to admit, it was risky even if it worked. The plan all hinged on if we could get the leader to trust us or not. If not, I'd have to go with Plan B, and I really didn't like Plan B.

After a while, Scarlet said “Shadow, this plan is dangerous. We'd be going deep into their territory. What if something goes wrong?”

I took a deep breath and said “You let me worry about that. Are you all prepared for this?”

They all nodded.

“No question,” Scarlet said

“I'll do whatever I can to help,” Nebula said.

“Jade want help captives. Not want others suffer,” she said.

“I get to blow stuff up right?” Nova said.

“Alright guys. With all that done, let's get some rest. We've got a lot of work ahead of us,” I said as we all dispersed to our rooms. As I was about to leave, Scarlet tapped me on the shoulder.

“What's up Scarlet?” I said. She looked nervous and she was blushing.

“Well..um..there's something I wanted to talk to you about..in private,” she said. That's when it clicked. She wanted to talk about the kiss. I blushed at the memory.

“Um..sure Scarlet,” I said as we walked toward my quarters.

The ship had mostly barracks for soldiers, but there were a few private rooms. Plus, their was the captain's room, which used to belong to Iron Spear. I had cleared out pretty much everything except for the bed and desk.

Scarlet and I entered the room, the awkward present in the air. To be perfectly honest, the kiss was kind of a spur of the moment thing. I was originally gonna go with a hug, but then I just went with a kiss instead. Given how Scarlet didn't slap me afterward, I assumed she was okay with it. Now I wasn't so sure. This was the first she had spoken about it in two days, so needless to say I was nervous about what she had to say.

As I closed the door, Scarlet turned around and looked at me.

“Listen, Shadow..about that kiss the other day,” she said. I freaking knew it.

“Scarlet, if I made you uncomfortable I'm sorry, I just...” I was cut off as she suddenly kissed me. My eyes went wide before I slowly melted into the kiss. After a while we broke the kiss and she looked at me shyly.

“I'm..not very good at this lovey dovey stuff okay. I've tried before, but I was always too shy,” she said as her blush became more apparent.

“Scarlet, I..”

“When I met you, I thought you were just some crazy stallion”

“Gee, thanks,” I quipped.

“But as I got to know you, I saw something. Something I've never seen in a stallion before. You were kind, gentle, strong, smart, caring.....well you get the point. I thought I could just be happy as your friend, but not anymore. When I saw you die, I finally realized that...I...I..” it was my turn to kiss her. She melted into the kiss as if we'd done this a million times before.

When we broke the kiss, I smiled at her and said “You don't have to say it Scarlet. To be honest, I've never been good with romance either. I thought making attachments here would be a bad idea, but I guess that idea's been scrapped. Now, I can't imagine my life without you or the others. For once, I have a real family,” I gave Scarlet a hug “And I'm not gonna lose you guys”. Scarlet hugged me back, and I wished it could've lasted forever. Eventually we broke the hug and smiled at each other.

Scarlet blushed and said “Well, I..guess I should be going now. Sweet dreams Shadow,” She stuttered.

I smiled and said “Sweet dreams Scarlet”.

After Scarlet had left, I slung Silver Thorn off my back and flopped down on the bed in exhaustion. It had been a long day. Making plans to attack a small army, confessions of love. Definitely a full day. But through it all, I still had a smile on my face.

“Well, someone's pleased with himself,” Silver Thorn spoke in my mind.

I turned to him and said “You know, I would try and come up with something clever right now, but I'm too damn happy. So go ahead, make your jokes”. Silver Thorn chuckled at this.

“ I jest Shadow. I am happy you have found someone to love. 'Tis a feat not many are fortunate enough to accomplish,” he said in that “Wise Old Mentor” sort of way.

“Thanks Silver. Have a good night,” I said as sleep took hold of me.

I really hate dreams sometimes. Sometimes you'll get a really awesome dream or a really peaceful dream. Other times, you'll find yourself in a nightmare or reliving old memories. I found myself in a mix of a memory and a nightmare.

I was back on Earth in a snowy forest. I was dressed in tattered winter gear with a walking stick in my hand. I looked around, trying to figure out where I was. I turned and saw a huge mountain with a resort on top. My eyes turned to pin pricks and my body shook with fear.

“N-no..not here. Anywhere but here!” I yelled as I ran away from the mountain. I ran through the forest, not really watching where I was going. Branches scratched my face as I felt blood run down my face. Suddenly, I tripped over something and fell over. I looked to see what I had tripped over and saw a sight straight out of a horror movie.

Rising from the snow was a blue, frostbitten hand. After a few moments, a body began rising form the snow. It was dressed in similar clothing to my own except it was completely frozen. It looked at me with glassy eyes that glowed a sickly shade of green. From its mouth spewed greens smoke.

“You....didn't....save...us..” it said in a ghostly, raspy voice. As it spoke, more bodies began to rise from the snow. They were all dressed in winter attire and some carried skis and snowboards. I could feel my bloody chill in fear. I tried to move away, but my legs refused to move.

“You..said..you'd..bring help,” one of them said.

“You..left us....to die,” another said.

I tried to cover my ears to block their voices, but they sounded in my mind louder than anything I've ever heard. I knew what they were talking about. It was the same thing the Ursa had talked about when Luna and I had entered my subconscious. The day of the accident, the day everything went wrong.

“Please, I tried to help you all. I tried to get help. You have to believe me!” I yelled. The ghosts began to advance on me, all the while chanting “You didn't save us”.

I could feel my sanity slipping away. I tried to force myself to move, but I saw that my legs had been frozen to the ground. I tried to draw transmutation circles, but they just disappeared as soon as I drew them. I desperately tried to lock out their voices, but to no avail.

“I'm sorry!! I swear I didn't mean for it to happen!! You have to believe me!!! I'm sorry!!” I screamed, but they kept advancing. I tried to fight them off with my walking stick, but it shattered as soon as it made contact.

I screamed apology after apology at the ghosts as they soon reached for me with their frozen hands.

I was prepared for them to rip me apart, but then a blinding flash of blue light lit up the forest. The ghosts and I all looked toward the light. From the light stepped out the last person I expected to see, Princess Luna. Her horn glowed with magic as she bellowed “BEGONE EVIL CREATURES!!!!!” She blasted the ghosts with a ray of magic, which made them dissipate into dust.

All was calm. Luna's horn stopped glowing as she walked up to me. The wind blew through the trees making an eerie sound. Luna stopped in front of me and extended a hoof.

“Are thou alright Shadow?” she said. I did what any person would do in that situation. I cried. I cried like a child who lost his mother in the supermarket. I cried like my world had been destroyed.

However, my crying was silenced as Luna wrapped me in a hug. A hug like a mother comforting her child.

“Calm thyself Shadow. Thou has only experienced a nightmare. A rather vivid one at that,” she said as she broke the hug. I wiped the tears from my face and stood up.

“Thanks Luna I needed that. But you're wrong, this isn't entirely a dream,” I said as I looked towards the mountain.

“What do you mean?” she asked. I bent down and picked up a few pieces of my broken walking stick.

“The whole frozen ghosts thing was a dream yes, but this place is not. This place holds a very dark memory for me,” I said as I threw the broken walking stick into the snow.

“If we may be so bold, what dark memory does this place hold for thou Shadow?” Luna asked. I sighed and turned to look at the Princess.

“Fine, but can we go somewhere a little less freezing?” I asked. Luna nodded and her horn glowed as we were suddenly transported to the lodge at the top of the mountain. I sat down and motioned for her to do the same. I took a deep breath and began my story.

“Three years ago, I took a trip up here with a few friends and my brother,” I said.

“We were unaware thou had a brother?” Luna said. I looked down at the word 'had'.

“Anyway, it was just supposed to be a weekend of fun skiing and goofing around. However, one day while we were preparing to go skiing the officials told us a blizzard was gonna roll in and that it wouldn't be safe. Like idiots, we didn't listen and went out anyway,” I said, my body shaking in anger and sadness at the memory.

“We didn't think it was gonna be that bad. Go out for just a little while, have fun, then come back. But we were so wrong. The blizzard came faster than we expected. We couldn't get back up the mountain so we tried to make a shelter. We thought we could outlast the blizzard, but we were wrong. It lasted for almost four days. We managed to survive off of some snack we had on us and the snow, but we knew we weren't gonna last long. I volunteered to go try and brave the storm. They tried to stop me saying “Don't leave us here. What if you don't make it back?”

“Like an idiot, I went out anyway. It was difficult. The wind snapped against my face and ripped through my clothes like icy daggers. After a while, I had made it close to the lodge, but I passed out before I could make it”.

“When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. They told me they had found me lying in the snow after about five hours. They were amazed I had survived. I told them about my friends and brother and that they were still out there”.

“They must have sent out a dozen search parties to try and find them. When they finally did.....” I could feel the tears running down my face and my voice start to shake.

“Shadow..” Luna said.

“All they found were a bunch of frozen corpses!!” I said as I kicked my chair and fell to my knees.

“I failed them. They trusted me to get help and I failed them!” I yelled as I punched the ground. Luna encased me in her magic and sat me in a chair.

“Calm thyself Shadow! The demise of thou's friends was not your fault,” she said. The tears streamed down my face as I struggled against Luna's magic.

“YES IT WAS!!! I was the one who went to get help!! I was the one who said we should go out despite the blizzard!!! It was my fault they died!!” I screamed. I sobbed as Luna's magic lessened it's hold. I assumed she had left, but I was surprised when she wrapped me in a hug.

“We know thy pain Shadow. We too have done unspeakable horrors in our past,” she looked me in the eye “But thou must not let the past define who you are. We are confident you can look past this and move on with you're life,” the Princess of the Night said. I returned Luna's hug and smiled.

'Thank you Princess, I appreciate it,” I said. Princess Luna smiled and said “We are always happy to help our loyal subjects, even if they are a strange creature from an alternate world”.

“Uh..thanks,” I said as I looked down.

“Is there something else Shadow?” she asked.

“Well, there's one thing that has always bothered me more than anything else about that day. When they found the bodies....my brother's wasn't among them,” I said. Luna looked at me with confusion.

“What?” she said.

“When I asked the rescuers if they had found my brother's body, they said that they hadn't. They had only found his clothes buried in the snow, as if he'd just disappeared. To this day I still don't know what happened to him,” I said, a tear rolling down my cheek. Luna put her hoof to her chin in thought.

“What do you think it means Princess?” I asked, not really expecting an answer. Luna looked at me with a serious look.

“I do not know Shadow. We know nothing of your world, but we do know that anypony disappearing out of nowhere is a troubling occurrence. We are sorry we could not be more help,” she said.

“It's alright Princess, I wouldn't expect you to know anyway,” I said dejectedly.

“We are sorry we could not be of more help to you Shadow, but we are glad you have shared such a personal story with us,” she said. I smiled and bowed. My smile quickly turned into a serious expression.

“Princess, there is something else I must discuss with you,” I said.

I told Luna about Iron Spear's dealings and my plan to attack Crushing Stone. I left out the part where I had died, saving that for a later time. When I finished, Luna had a look of anger and sadness on her face.

“To think one of our kind was committing such villainous deeds. A member of the Royal Guard at that!” she yelled.

“My thoughts exactly. That's why I have to know if what Iron Spear said is the truth Princess. Will you help me in my assault on Crushing Stone?” I asked. Luna looked at me and sighed.

“As much as we hate to admit it, Iron Spear's words ring with truth. We cannot send troops to aid you. The Royal Guard was designed as Equestria's defense against invaders. They are an organization meant to protect Equestria and Equestria alone. Crushing Stone lies outside our borders, so we can do nothing. We have a group we could call on, but they are busy with their own responsibilities. We are truly sorry Shadow,” Luna said.

“You don't have to be sorry Princess. That was the answer I was expecting. Don't worry, my friends and I will handle this,” I said. Luna looked at me confused for a moment before smiling.

“We are confident in your abilities Shadow. We shall take our leave,” she said as my dream began to dissipate.

“One more thing Princess”.

“Yes?”

“When all this is over, I decide Iron Spear's fate. Are we clear?” I said. Luna smiled and said.

“Do as you will Shadow. Goodbye,” she said as my dream finally ended.

After a few days of getting the ship ready and fine tuning the attack plan, we set off for Crushing Stone.

“You guys ready for this?” I asked as I stood at the helm of the ship. All of them smiled and nodded. I looked up at Lily at the controls.

“Lily, let's take off!” I yelled to our navigator.

“Aye captain!” she yelled as she started the ship's engines. The motors pushed us forward as the ship slowly rose into the sky.

I had to admit, it felt pretty awesome to actually be flying in an airship. The wind in my face, my friends by my side, the ever present fear that I might fall off the side. Loads of fun!

As we flew, my thoughts turned to the plan. I was confident it would work, but my mind also kept going to my back up plan. If this plan failed, I would have to use it. I shook the thought from my head.

“This plan will work. It will work. For the sake of my friends and all those captives, I have to succeed,” I thought as we flew off to Crushing Stone.

Chapter 1: Off to Equestria

The Guardian Shadow

Chapter 1

Off to Equestria

In our lives, we are presented with many choices, and these choices define our very existence. You can choose to be evil, you can choose to be good, or you can choose to walk the line between good and evil. I too have had to make choices in my many years of life, some I wouldn't take back no matter what, and some I wish would give anything to reverse, but probably the biggest choice I've ever been presented with, the choice that changed my life, for better and worse, was the choice to come to Equestria, and become a pawn in a very deadly game.

I am Shadow, and this is my tale.

My life has always been pretty simple, wake up, dress, go to school or work, come home, relax, be nerdy, go to bed, and then the same thing over and over again everyday. I've always been content with this kind of life, until one fateful day at the local cafe where I work. The cafe is one of those typical internet cafes you'd see anywhere, people on laptops and phones, a few local gamers, that kind of place. Anyway, I was watching an episode of My Little Pony on my laptop (not really allowed, but no one really cares), when I hear something odd, silence. Now when your surrounded by people talking loudly into phones and yelling at computer screens all day, you tend to get used to all the noise, but silence, that's the last thing you'd expect to hear . I lifted my head up from my laptop to see what was going on, and came face to face with probably the scariest looking woman I've ever encountered.

She looked maybe in her early-to-mid twenties, with shoulder length hair braided on one end and flat on the other. She had gold eyes, pale skin, a torn black t-shirt, torn jeans, and enough gold jewelry on her wrists and neck to put king Midas to shame. But by far the strangest thing were her tattoos, lots of black tattoos going up and down her arms, legs, and face, almost like zebra stripes.

Not wanting to be rude I finally said “*cough* Can I help you mam”, a nervous smile on my face

She just stared at me, looking me over like I was some kind of creature she wanted to take home and put under a microscope. This normally wouldn't freak me out, I've gotten enough stares from people over the years to have learned to ignore it, but this woman just plain scared me. Plus, it seemed like she was judging me, not normal judging, but...like she was deciding whether or not to let me live.

After about five minutes of this, I finally snapped and said “Miss, I have other customers, so if your just gonna stare at me all day, please step out of line” with a just the slightest hint of anger in my voice.

Everyone in the cafe was dead quiet, waiting to see what this strange woman's reaction would be. I have to admit, I was a little afraid she was gonna pull a knife on me and end me right then and there. But instead, she just laughed. She laughed. This woman scares the shit out of me and all my customers, and she has the audacity to laugh!?

After she finished her little laughing fit, I asked “Oh, and what's so funny?”, my anger rising

Wiping a tear from her eye, she finally said “I'm sorry, it's just been a while since anyone spoke to me in such a manner, I just couldn't help but laugh. I apologize for laughing at you, and for disturbing your customers. Let me get a coffee to make up for it” she said, still laughing a little

Dumbfounded, I said “Uh, okay then”, and I went to get her coffee.

Seeing this, everyone in the cafe breathed a sigh of relief and went back to their own devices. As I was making the coffee, I couldn't help but notice that the strange woman was giving a really weird smile. Not a creepy or seductive smile, just plain weird, like she was having an inside joke with herself. As I was giving her the coffee, she suddenly asked “Would you like to go there?”

Confused, I asked “Uh, go where?”

“To Equestria, I saw you watching it on your computer before”

I honestly didn't have an answer. I mean, on the surface Equestria looks like a veritable utopia, minus things like Discord, Nightmare Moon, Queen Chrysalis, and whatever other evil creatures happened to be lurking around in Equestria. The thought did intrigue me though, I mean we've only really been shown what life is like in Equestria, but what about the rest of the world. It would be fun to find out what the rest of Equestria is like.

After mulling over it, I finally said “You know what, I would, I mean what would be so bad”

“But what would you be, would you rather be a pony, or something else?'

I knew my answer immediately “Definitely not a pony, I mean, there great and all, but I'd rather be something different, I don't know, something with magic”

The woman responded with absolute glee at my statement “Oh, wonderful, I guess that's it then”

“What's it then?” I said a little scared

“I've decided, you shall become my champion”

“Champion? For what?” my fear rising in my chest.

“Never you mind, off you go then”

I didn't even get a chance to respond before she snapped her fingers, opening a vortex which sucked me up and sent me hurtling off through time and space. The last thing I saw of my world before the vortex closed was the woman standing there, laughing the kind of laugh that haunts you for the rest of your life.

Chapter 13: Cakes, Music, and Battle

Chapter 13

Cakes, Music, and Battle

After I left the library, I made my way to Sugarcube Corner to get the cake. I still wasn't sure why I needed to get his cake in the first place, but it probably wouldn't be good for my health to go against a goddess' orders.

On my way their, I took a few moments to take in the scenery. Ponyville really was a beautiful place to live. I've lived in both the city and the country, and while there is a lot of fun to be had in big cities, there's nothing quite like the quiet peace you get in a place like Ponyville. Not counting all the weird magical events that surrounded the Mane Six, Ponyville seemed like a pretty peaceful place.

When I made it to Sugarcube Corner, I couldn't shake a sneaking suspicion that something was about to happen. Sure enough, as soon as I stepped through the door, a mountain of confetti exploded around me and loud party music began to play. And who was in the center of it all? You guessed it. The pinkie party pony herself Pinkie Pie.

She hopped up and down and yelled “SURPRISE!”

After my ears stopped ringing I said “Yes, surprise indeed.”

“Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, Ponyville's resident party expert, and can you guess who this party is for?” she asked with a smile.

I looked around and saw that the streamers and confetti were all black and white.

“Well, judging by fact that the decorations match my color scheme,I'd say it's for me. Am I correct?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

She smiled and giggled “Yuparoo. Do you like the streamers I thought black and white would be fun since you're a zebra. Although I would've liked to go with pink streamers, but this is fun too. So were you surprised, wereyawereyawereya?” She said barely quickly and then took a breath.

I cleared my throat and said “Yes, quite.”

She smiled and went behind the counter “So, welcome to Sugarcube Corner, what can I get for you?” she asked.

“What would you suggest for someone going to an important meeting?” I asked.

Pinkie's eyes lit up “Oh, we have a bunch of yummy tasty treats for that sort of thing,” she said and pulled out a menu full of delicious looking cakes and pastries. I looked over the list and found two cakes that were just what I needed. A chocolate cake with white, yellow and orange icing and a vanilla cake with dark blue icing.

“I'll take these two please.” I said

“Ok, and what's the name on the order?” asked Pinkie Pie

“Shadow,” I said.

“Okie dokey lokey, that'll be twenty bits and it should be ready in a couple hours,” she said. I placed the bits on the counter.

“Sounds good. Well, goodbye Miss Pinkie,” I said as I prepared to leave.

“You're not gonna stick around?” she asked.

“Sorry, I have some other matters to attend to. But thank you for the party, it was very nice,” I said.

Pinkie smiled at my compliment and said “You're welcome, see you when the cakes are ready.”

“Till then, farewell Miss Pinkie,” I said and left.

With some time to kill, I decided to look around and see what all Ponyville had to offer. I already knew about a few place, but I wanted to see what else was in this town.

After walking a bit, I found a place that piqued my interest, a music store. I have always loved music, so naturally I decided to check it out. When I walked in, the shopkeeper, a white earth pony stallion with a music note for a cutie mark, gave me an odd look but nevertheless greeted my with civility.

“Welcome to Ponyville Music, how may I help you,” he asked

“Just browsing,” I said. I would've liked to get something, but after buying the cakes, I was running low on cash. The Alchemy book had a section about making gold, but I didn't really want to try it. I'd feel like a crook paying for things with gold I had made.

The store had an amazing assortment of instruments. Mandolins, regular guitars, drum sets, and various others. What really caught my eye was the piano in the center of the store. It was beautiful. A shiny black finish, gold coverings on the legs, and polished white ivory keys.

The shopkeeper saw me staring and said “Nice ain't it, it's from Canterlot.”

I ran my hoof along the top of it and stared at the keys, polished to the point that my reflection showed in them.

“You wanna play it?” the shopkeeper asked.

“Can I?”

“Sure, just be careful with it okay,” he said.

I sat down on the bench and tried to think of what to play. Before anyone asks, I learned that the instruments that would normally require fingers to play were enchanted so that ponies could play them. I decided to play the first thing that came to my head.

I placed my hooves on the keys and began to play. I loved playing music. When I played, it seemed like everything else melted away and I was transported to a world of peace. Without realizing it, I began to sing.

Yo-hohoho, Yohohohoo,

Binkusu no sake wo, todoke ni yuku yo

Umikaze kimakase namimakase

Shio no mukou de, yuuhi mo sawagu

Sora nya wa wo kaku, tori no uta

Sayonara minato, Tsumugi no sato yo

DON to icchou utao, funade no uta

Kinpa-ginpa mo shibuki ni kaete

Oretacha yuku zo, umi no kagiri

Binkusu no sake wo, todoke ni yuku yo

Warera kaizoku, umi watteku

Nami wo makura ni, negura wa fune yo

Ho ni hata ni ketateru wa dokuro

Arashi ga kita zo, senri no sora ni

Nami ga odoru yo, DORAMU narase

Okubyoukaze ni fukarerya saigo

Asu no asahi ga nai ja nashi

As I played, ponies began coming into the shop to hear me play, even the shopkeeper stopping his work to listen.

Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,

Binkusu no sake wo, todoke ni yuku yo

Kyou ka asu ka to yoi no yume

Te wo furu kage ni, mou aenai yo

Nani wo kuyokuyo, asu mo tsukuyo

Binkusu no sake wo, todoke ni yuku yo

DON to icchou utao, unaba no uta

Douse dare demo itsuka wa hone yo

Hatenashi, atenashi, waraibanashi

Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,

Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho.

When I was done, Everyone clapped and cheered.

“Wow, was I really that good?” I asked a little embarrassed.

“That was amazing. What was that song?” one of them asked.

“A song of friendship, of sadness, and remembrance,” I said and hopped off the bench.

“Thank you for allowing me to play, it's a beautiful piano,” I said to the shopkeeper.

“No, thank you for that wonderful music,” he said. I shook hooves with him and left.

After the music store, I looked at a nearby clock and saw that it was almost time to meet my friends at the fountain.

When I got there, I found that everyone was already there. Scarlet and Nebula had a bow and flower in their manes respectfully while Nova looked a little worse for wear. They saw me and waved.

I walked up to them “So, everyone have fun?” I asked.

Scarlet shrugged and said “Eh, wasn't that bad.”

“I had a lot of fun, the ponies here are really nice,” said Nebula.

“Well, sounds like you two had fun,” I turned to Nova “You on the other hoof look like you got dragged through a field,” I said.

“I just don't get it. I'm having a polite conversation with this nice mare. Next thing I know, I'm getting kicked in the head and tossed through the air. I'm surprised I'm still alive,” he said.

“Damn, who'd you talk to?” I asked.

“A mare named Fluttershy. She was so nice. Kinda shy though. I tried to talk to her, but then some pegasus named Rainbow Dash accuses me of harassing her. So I try and explain myself, and then she kicks me in the head, which sent me flying into a tree,” he said exasperated. I thought about Nova's statement. While it seemed believable, something sounded off.

“Is that really all that happened?” I asked, suspicious of the young stallion.

Nova picked at the ground “Well, I may have gotten mad and called her some names, but that's it,” he said.

“What did you call her?” I asked, my tone becoming annoyed.

“Well...” he started, but was interrupted by someone screaming.

I turned to the source to find Jade running towards us, two blades grasped in her paws. She collapsed in front of us, panting heavily.

“Jade, what's wrong?” I asked. Jade's breathing was heavy and she was bleeding in a couple places. She tried to speak, but she was too out of breath. Unfortunately, she didn't have to tell us. We saw them coming. A whole forests worth of Timber Wolves. Ponies were screaming and running all over the place. Some ran into their homes while others simply ran around helpless.

“Damn, this isn't good. Their all running around like chickens with their heads cut off. If they don't hide they'll get themselves killed,” I said.

“Shadow, what should we do?” asked Scarlet, pulling her bow out of saddle bags.

“First things first is get the civilians to safety,” I turned to Nova and Nebula “Nova, Nebula, you guys lead the civilians to safety. Take Jade with you, she's too worn out to fight right now. Me and Scarlet will take out the Timber Wolves,” I said drawing my sword.

“Gotcha,” they both said. Nova flew away with Jade in tow while Nebula rallied the citizens to safety.

“Scarlet, find a safe spot to fire from, if they swarm you it's over,” I said.

“We're outnumbered here Shadow, we're gonna need some help,” she said as she fired an arrow at an approaching timber wolf.

“Don't worry, help will come. For now, just keep firing as many arrows as you can and I'll tear 'em to bits,” I said.

“Be careful,” she said as she went to find a safe firing position.

I looked at the oncoming Timber Wolves and my preflex kicked in. The second they were on me, I was ready. I started hacking and slashing my way through them as fast as they came at me. A couple almost got me, but they were met with arrows through their eyes. I used my alchemy to make various pitfalls and trenches. The second they fell in, I closed the holes up. I had to give these things credit though, they were tough. The worst thing about them though was their smell. Their breath smelled like rotting leaves and carcasses. I tried to ignore the smell, but it was difficult.

Me and Scarlet were making progress, but there was still a bunch of them to go through and I was getting tired. No doubt Scarlet was running low on arrows, and I didn't know how much longer we could keep these things back A few had slipped past me and were heading towards the town. Thankfully, Scarlet took care of them with a few arrows.

I needed to find a way to end this fast. If I didn't, these wolves would overtake the town. As I tried to think of a plan, I saw a purple flash of light. I turned to see that Twilight and her friends were helping to fight off the wolves. Twilight and Rarity were blasting them with magic. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were kicking them into twigs. Fluttershy was giving them The Stare, and Pinkie was throwing cakes at them and blasting her party cannon. I smiled and continued the fight.

After another few minutes, the wolves were all defeated. I leaned on my sword and fell to my knees. Fighting a horde of Timber Wolves will take a lot out of you. Twilight and the rest of the Mane Six along with Scarlet and my friends came up to me.

“Shadow, are you all right?” asked Twilight.

I breathed heavily and said “Yeah, I'm fine, just tired. Not used to fighting so many at once.”

“Well, you certainly beat them,” she said.

“Yeah, with some help,” I said.

“No kidding,” said Rainbow Dash “Did you see me out there? I was beating Timber Wolves left and right. But what can you expect from the the most awesomest pony in Equestria,” she boasted.

“Yes yes Rainbow, we know,” said Rarity.

“It was a lot of fun. But what a waste of good cake,” said Pinkie Pie

“Ah'm just glad everypony's all right. Those Timber Wolves coulda done a lot of damage if they got into town,” said Applejack.

“Hey, we helped too, who do you think got the civilians to safety,” said Nova. Nova looked at the Mane Six, and he and Rainbow Dash locked eyes.

“It's you!” they said in unison.

“You're that crazy mare who kicked me into a tree!”

“You're the one that started it by harassing poor Fluttershy, and not to mention calling me a fillyfooler,” she yelled.

“I did not liar,” he said.

“You so did you little pervert,” she said.

“ENOUGH!” I yelled, sick of their little squabbling. This shocked the two of them out of their argument.

“But Shadow,” Nova protested.

“I don't wanna hear it Nova. Now apologize to Rainbow Dash,” I commanded.

Nova hesitated, but a piercing look from me shut him up “I'm sorry for calling you a fillyfooler,” he said halfheartedly.

“You better be punk,” she said.

“Well, now that that's all settled let's....” suddenly I heard a rumbling sound. I turned to see that the remains of the timber wolves were glowing bright green and forming into one big mass of twigs, even the ones I had buried. They started configuring themselves into a giant Timber Wolf. When it was done, it let out a massive roar, it's breath making us all gag.

I grabbed my sword “Everybody, clear out NOW!” I said.

“No need to tell us twice,” Nova said and they all ran the other direction except for Scarlet.

“Scarlet I said go.”

“I'm not leaving you,” she said.

“I'll be fine now GO!”

“Not a chance,” she said and fired an arrow at it's eye. That got it's attention. It roared and swatted Scarlet away with it's giant paw, sending her flying into a building.

“SCARLET!” I screamed as I ran to her side. Her head was bleeding and her bow was snapped in half. I checked her pulse and she was still breathing.

“Shadow,” I turned and saw twilight standing there.

“Twilight, take Scarlet and get out of here. I'll take care of that beast,” I said.

“Alone!? That thing will kill you!” she protested.

“Now is not the time to argue, now GO!”

Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but then she encased Scarlet in her magic and took of running. I turned to the Timberwolf, my sword clenched in my hooves.

“Shadow, I know you've have faced stronger enemies, but these creatures can reform. Even if you manage to kill it it'll just come back,” protested Silver Thorn.

“Well then I guess I'll just have to keep killing it until it stays dead,” I said.

“You'll die before that happens,” he said.

“To die would be a great adventure,” I said and pointed my sword at the Timberwolf, which was chewing up a house.

“HEY, UGLY!” I yelled, which got it's attention.

“You call yourself fearsome, I've seen shrubs scarier than you.” This made it angry and it charged at me. “You shall not pass,” I said raising my sword. Suddenly, I felt something welling up inside me. It felt primal, and angry. Just what I needed.

“YOU,” I readied my stance.

“SHALL NOT,” I raised my sword and concentrated on the primal feeling growing in my chest.

“PASS!” That's when it happened. I felt that primal feeling enter my throat and escape as a mighty roar. The timberwolf stopped in it's tracks, my roar pushing it back a fair distance. I leapt at it and swung my sword right down the middle. When I landed, the timberwolf split down the middle and fell into a pile of twigs and leaves. I waited for it to reform, but it didn't. Just for good measure I used my alchemy to turn the remains into mulch. Satisfied that it was dead, I walked back into town.

Everyone was hold up in Town Hall, Mayor Mare trying to calm everyone down. When I opened the doors, everyone turned and stared. They made a path for me as I made my way to where Twilight and everyone else was. Scarlet was in a makeshift hospital bed with Nurse Redheart and a doctor beside her. Twilight ran up to me.

“Shadow are you okay? Where's the timberwolf?” she asked.

“It died,” I said and walked over to Scarlet's bed. She had a bandage around her head and an IV drip attached to her foreleg.

“Is she okay?” I asked Nurse Redheart.

“She'll be fine, just took a nasty bump to the head,” she said.

I let out a sigh of relief “Good, I'm just glad she's all right,” I said. Nova, Nebula, and Jade walked up to me.

“Shadow, how in Tartarus did you beat that thing?” Nova asked excitedly.

I was about to answer his question when my eyes began to get foggy. I staggered a bit, my head starting to throb.

“Shadow, are you all right?” asked Nebula.

“Yeah I'm fine, just dizzy. I better..” I never got to finish. My vision got fuzzy and I fell over. The last thing I heard being my friends voices and the shuffle of hooves as everything went black.