Once a Shadow

Okay, so today I have...nothing actually. I'm completely free for a day, since like...since I got here actually. And I'm already bored. Also, why do I feel so tired even though I got my sleep? Ah well, guess I should go find something to do. I snuck out of bed and went downstairs. I went outside and took flight. Wait...somethings off. Ah fuck, it's still night time! No wonder I'm still tired!

Wow, I'm so tired and lazy, I don't feel like flying back and trying to go back to sleep. Well, what is there to do in the middle of the night? …...Nothing actually. Screw it, I'll just fly around town until something interesting happens.

I started flying just above building level, just scanning for something to do. I heard a scream from a mare, and I darted in that direction. I came across town hall, and looked through one of the windows. Oh shit! It looks like Mayor Mare is getting it on with...DAD?! AHHHHHH! FUCKING SICK! I fell to the ground holding myself.

"Kill me...kill me...kill me." I repeated over and over again.

After about thirty minutes of holding myself, I heard something behind me. I turned around to see a dark figure approaching me. This better not be another regenerans bestia. I jumped up and readied for a fight.

"Whoa, it's just me Shadow. It's Ni."

"Ni? What the hell are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "Just a leisurely flight around the area. Hey, what's wrong with you? You look pretty bad."

I shuddered. "I...don't want to talk about it."

"Oh no, you saw one of your parents having sex, didn't you?"

I slowly nodded and started sobbing.

"Hey, it's okay Shadow, we've all been there."

"Why? Why would they make so much noise?!"

"Sigh*, come on, lets fly around a little bit to get your mind off of this mess."

I nodded, and we took flight.

"So...where are we going?" I asked.

"Nowhere in particular, we're just flying around."

"Oh...okay."

"Stop thinking about it."

"What?"

"You're thinking about what happened back there. Stop it."

"Oh, you have no idea how much I wish I could."

"Just focus on something else. What did you do yesterday?"

"I...went on my first Wonderbolts performance."

"Yes, and?"

"It...was fun. Me and Rainbow tied in a race, and I went to a nice kid's birthday party afterwards. Then I went home, then I went to sleep then I woke up and found my da- OH GOD WHY?!"

I started hyperventilating.

Ni smacked me with one of his wings, knocking me out of my episode.

"...Thanks."

"You're welcome. Now lets just focus on this flight, okay?"

"Yeah, I can do that..."

We flew for about another fifteen minutes until one of us spoke again.

"So did you ever have a family?" I asked.

"I did, yes."

"What happened? Well, besides the immortality thing."

"Not much to tell really. My dad left my mom when she was pregnant. When I was somewhere around eight, my mom died, and I became an orphan."

"That's rough."

"A way of putting it, but yes it was...rough. Wait, do you see that?"

"See what? It's the middle of the night, and we're above the Everfree Forest."

"Down there, in those ruins."

I took a closer look. I could make out the ruins, but not much else. "All I can see is the ruins."

"That's because you're not used to seeing in the dark like I am. Regenerans Bestia, three of them."

"Really?"

"Hold onto me, we're going down."

"Whoa, whoa, I don't roll that way dude."

"Not like that, idiot. I can turn invisible at night, and if another pony is touching me, they turn invisible with me."

"Oh, okay. That sounds better."

He rolled his eyes. "Just grab on."

I put a hoof on his back, and we descended closer to the ruins.

When we landed, I noticed that I could still see myself and Ni.

"Hey, aren't we supposed to be invisible?"

"You can still see yourself, but they can't see you."

"Well that's convinient."

"Sure is. Now lets move up and get a closer look."

I nodded and we moved in. One of the regenerans bestia was on patrol around the perimeter. We snuck by him when he was turned the other way, just to be safe. When we got inside the ruins themselves, we saw some construction platforms.

"What would they want with this place?" I asked.

"It would give them a good base close to Ponyville if they manage to fortify this place." Ni whispered back.

"Well in that case, lets kill them all and get out of here."

"Not so fast Shadow. You can't handle three of these things by yourself."

"If they're planning on attacking Ponyville, then that's a risk I'm willing to take."

"Okay Shadow, you might kill one, two at the most, but three is too much for you."

"Then what the hell do we do?"

"We need to report this to your squad, they would be best suited for this."

"...Fine, lets go."

We snuck back outside, and we flew away from the ruins, and towards Cloudsdale. When we got to the Wonderbolts HQ, we took the secret passage behind the locker. We found Soarin and Blaze at the large table, but not Spitfire.

Soarin looked up. "Oh hey, hows it going guys? You look pretty serious."

"Is Spitfire here?" I asked.

"No, but I can go get her."

"Do it, we have something to report."

"Sure thing. Be right back."

Soarin got up and flew to the stairs.

Me and Ni took a seat at the table. Ni offered me the seat next to him.

"No thanks, I need to sit at least one space from you."

"And why is that?"

"It's no offence to you, but that's guy code where I come from."

"Guy code?"

"If you ever go to a place that requires you to have a seat, always sit at least one space apart from your guy friends if possible."

"That's a weird thing to do."

"To you maybe, but this is how I've done it for a while."

(I'm gonna go ahead and clear the air here. I'm not a homophobe or anything. This is just how me and my friends act, so sorry if I offend, because it's unintentional.)

"What did you guys want to report anyways?" Blaze asked.

"When Soarin and Spitfire get here, we'll tell you." I responded.

"Fiiine." She groaned.

Was I that impatient when I was fourteen? Wait, I'm still that impatient, nevermind.

Spitfire trotted downstairs with Soarin, and they took a seat at the table.

"Okay, so what did you two have to report? Because if it's not important, I'm going to hurt all three of you for waking me up."

"All three?" I asked.

"You, Night Wing, and Soarin."

"Wait, why me?!" Soarin complained.

"Because you're the one that woke me up."

Soarin groaned and just buried his head in his hooves.

"Right, well, me and Ni were just flying around the Everfree forest, when Ni spotted something in the ruins. We went down to get a closer look, and we found something."

Ni spoke up. "They were regenerans bestia. Three of them. It looked like they were fortifying the old ruins there."

"And you're sure about this?"

"Of course. I wouldn't have told you if I weren't sure." Ni responded

"Alright then. Soarin, Blaze, Shadow, lets go. Captain Night Wing, you too."

"Wait, why me?" Ni asked.

"Because, if somepony gets injured, we're going to need you to fly them out of there."

"Right, got it."

"Okay, move out!"

We turned and started to move.

"Shadow, wait!" Spitfire called out

I turned. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Catch." She said as she threw a couple of daggers at me.

"Oh shit!" I yelled as I dodged them.

"You were supposed to catch them."

"Yeah, I'm not doing that."

I looked down, there were three daggers. She must have accidentally thrown me an extra. Oh well, I picked them up and put them in my bag.

"Alright Shadow, lets go."

I nodded and we trotted up the stairs. We went outside and took flight to the ruins in the Everfree Forest, where the others were waiting.

"Okay, here's the plan." Spitfire whispered. "Captain Night Wing, you stay up here. If you see anypony that gets injured, fly down and get them out of here."

"Got it."

"Okay, the rest of us we infiltrate the base, and try to take out the three bestia there without a noise. I'll take one, Soarin, you take another, and Blaze and Shadow, you take the one guarding the perimeter."

"Sure thing." Blaze said.

"Alright, everypony ready?"

We nodded. "Alright, let's move."

We flew down close to the ruins. When we were on the ground, Spitfire and Soarin went to look for the other two bestia. Me and Blaze were behind a bush only about twenty feet from the closest one. It looked like this one was transformed into a griffin, just like the one I fought.

"Okay, you get its attention, while I sneak up on it, and kill it from behind." Blaze said.

I nodded, and Blaze flew off.

I peaked over the bush, and saw that Blaze was ready. I gave a cough, and the regenerans bestia turned to my direction, it started walking toward me. When it was just on the other side of the bush, Blaze swooped down and pierced its chest from behind.

"Nice one." I said.

"I try to please."

One thing we didn't think of though, was that these things could make noise. It let out an incredibly loud shriek, and melted.

"That's not good." Blaze said.

"What isn't good?"

Blaze pointed back to the ruins. "That."

Just then, we saw two more regenerans bestia emerge, one looking like a pony, the other a griffin, and charge at us.

Blaze turned to me. "Okay, here's the plan-"

"LEEEEROYYYYY!" I yelled as I charged, cutting her off.

"Damnit Shadow!" She yelled back

On my charge to meet them, I pulled out two of the daggers Spitfire gave me. I took flight before meeting them, and lunged at the griffin one. It dodged me, and raked my back, making me bleed a lot.

I turned back to them. "Alright, I was reckless there, but you won't get me again!"

I went for the griffin again. It tried to decapitate me with a claw, but I ducked and gave a powerful cut with a dagger, slicing part of it's arm off. With the second dagger, I shoved it in its head. It let out a shriek, but didn't melt. It's arm started to regenerate, and the dagger was getting forced out of its head! I jumped back, and got ready for the next attack.

This time, however, the pony figure charged me. I flew up to avoid it, but it jumped up at the last moment, and delivered a powerful punch to my ribs. They didn't break, thanks to the potion, but it didn't mean that it couldn't hurt like hell. I fell to the ground, and coughed up some blood. I struggled to get back up. I'm not out of this yet. I reached in my saddle bag, and pulled out the third dagger and placed it in my mouth.

Alright, lets see how using three daggers works for me. "You fuckers aren't going to touch Ponyville!" I yelled as I charged at the pony figure, but when it tried to dodge, I moved with it, and shoved the daggers in my hooves in its eyes. While it was stunned for a moment, I shoved the dagger in my mouth into his heart. It let out a loud shreak and melted. I looked up, and readied myself for the griffin's attack, but was pleasantly surprised when it meled, thanks to a surprise attack from Blaze.

"I should have let you fight them on your own, ya know." Blaze said

"Yeah, but you didn't. Because everypony knows that if I died, there would be so much lesss sarcasm in the world."

She slugged me on the shoulder.

I laughed. "After the shit we just went through, I can't feel anything short of getting stabbed."

Spitfire and Soarin trotted over next. "What happened here?" Soarin asked.

"When we took out the first one, two more appeared." I answered.

"And you got them. Not bad." Spitfire said.

I put my daggers back into my bag.

"Thanks, but could I go to a doctor or something?"

"You look fine to me." Blaze replied.

"Yeah...I'm not. You know, that was pretty fu-" I said before I passed out.

Nice action scene right there, huh? I hope it was, because it was the first one I've written with actual weapons. Review/comment or Shadow is coming after you next with those three daggers!

Chuck Norris fact of the day: Chuck Norris won a staring contest with Medusa.