Once a Shadow

…..Maybe Rainbow was right. I have a hangover. Fuuuck I feel like my head's about to explode. I fumbled around on the ground trying to find something to pull myself up with. I eventually found the bar stool and grabbed on. I almost got on my hooves until my grip slipped and I fell back, smacking my head against the floor. Why my fucking head? That only multiplied my headache to the point where I had to close my eyes for a few minutes.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw Rainbow trot out of the bedroom holding her head. She glared at me. "I'm never listening to you again when it comes to drinking Shadow."

"Hey, you agreed to do it, I can't be the one held responsible here."

She responded by smacking me on my head.

"Ahhh! Fuck Rainbow! My head is killing me!"

"That was for being a smart mouth."

I didn't listen, I was too busy holding my poor head.

"Right, so you said you wanted to explore this place before the competition?"

"Yeah, I guess." I said, still holding my head

"Okay then, you clean up around here, and I'll head out. I'll meet up with you later."

"Fine, but you owe me an extra point for cleaning up."

She chuckled. "We'll see, if you're good enough, you won't need the extra point."

"Couldn't hurt, could it?" I said with my patented smirk.

"Just start cleaning, I'll see you later."

"Alright, later Rainbow." I said before giving her a quick kiss.

She trotted out, leaving me to clean up our glasses and making the bed. Wait, doesn't this place have maids or something for that shit? I don't want to take any chances around Rainbow again, or she'll hit my aching head again, and I did not want that right now. I trotted to the glasses and put them in the sink across from the bar. Then I headed over to the bedroom to make the bed. Screw this, this is boring. I stopped what I was doing and trotted out of the door. I went downstairs and headed outside.

Right, so what should I do first. Should I go to the Rainbow Factory? Nah, I saw that one youtube video, I'd be too creeped out if I went there. I guess I could just fly around for a bit, and see if I run across anything interesting. That's what I would do. I lifted off of the cloud ground, and flew around from street to street.

For those interested, the youtube video is Rainbow Dash Presents: Captain Hook the Biker Gorilla.

I was just about to go back to the suite, when I heard Rainbow's voice. I couldn't make out everything, but I could make out a few things.

"...you three leave me alone?"

"Why should we Rainbow Crash?"

Uh oh, there's only one goon squad that says that. I flew in the direction of Rainbow's voice, and found three bucks that had her cornered. I flew down towards Rainbow.

"Hey! You got a problem with Rainbow? You take it up with me."

"Shadow, I really don-"

"And what are you gonna do about it?" Hoops said

"I would really rather avoid a confrontation right now, so please leave us alone."

"Why should we, and why would anypony defend this loser?"

"Listen asshole, I'm trying to be nice since there is a lady here. Not to mention she's my mare friend, so think before you decide to insult her again."

They all laughed. "Rainbow Crash is your mare friend? Who would have thought she'd be desperate enough to find a pony that's an even bigger loser than her?" Dumbbell said

I turned to Rainbow and nodded, then turned back to the three stooges. "Alright, just remember, I tried to be nice, so don't hold this against me."

"Oh yeah? We'll show you! Get him guys!" Hoops said

The three of them charged at me. It was a good thing I had some training. Score tried to applebuck me. I responded by grabbing his rear hooves and slinging him into Hoops. They fell back and Dumbbell charged at me.

"You're gonna pay for that!"

He brought up his hoof to punch me. I brought up one of my hooves to deflect it, then gave him a headbutt, knocking him out. I stood before the unconscious idiots before me. It looked like I won. I collapsed on the ground. Fuck, why did I decide to headbutt the last one? That was not smart on my part. Rainbow flew to me.

"Shadow! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a headache."

"Good. You didn't have to help me you know."

"Actually I did, I had to make sure those idiots never insulted you again. Besides, I tried to be nice."

"Sigh*, right, lets go to the Cloudiseum. I need to get to the judge's panel, and you need to go sign up."

"Okay, I'm ready to win." I said with a smile on my face

"That's the spirit! Now let's go."

I nodded, and we flew off to the Cloudiseum. On the way there, we spotted our friends walking inside. We flew down to catch up with them.

Twilight noticed and turned around. "Look! It's Shadow and Rainbow!"

We landed in front of them and Barry spoke up. "Hey guys. Shadow, are you heading to the sign-up area?"

"Yeah, I'm just about to."

"Rainbow, besides you, who are the judges for this year?" Twilight asked

"Besides me, the judges are going to be Spitfire and Blaze."

"I'll see you guys after the show, I need to go sign up." I said as I flew off.

"Alright, good luck Shadow! We're rooting for you!" Rarity said.

I nodded, and flew up to the sign up area. There were only about twenty other ponies here. There were two booths, one for single entries, and another for pairs. Huh, I didn't know this thing could use pairs. Oh well. I trotted up to the single entry booth, before a certain unwanted pony called my name.

"Landon! Over here boy!" My dad called

"Dad, how many times do I have to tell you? Go away!"

"Okay now look, I'm sorry about that drama with your...mare friend. I have come to terms with that. I'm sorry I never paid you as much attention as I should have on our world. I want to make it up to you, so I signed us up for a pair team!" He finished with a smile.

"You, you WHAT?"

"I thought this would help make us become closer."

"...I hate you."

"You say that now Landon. Come now, you might have fun with your old man! I even took time to learn how to fly."

"Wait, how did you even know about this place?"

"When you saw that one episode of your show on the television, you couldn't stop talking about it. When I died, I asked to be in the world you went to, so I ended up here. I asked around, and I found out about this competition, and that it had a pair entry. So I took it upon myself to learn how to fly. When the time came, I signed us up."

I collapsed on the ground. I was about to enjoy myself! Now this guy is going to drag me down, and prevent me from winning! And the worst part is, I can't do shit about it!

"Oh get up Landon. The competition is starting. Let's head over to the starting area and watch the other contestants."

I groaned and got up to follow him. We were the last ones on the list. That bothered me because it meant I had to spend more time with this jackass.

"So, what's her name boy?"

"What?"

"Your mare friend, what's her name?"

"What do you care?"

"Well, I was wondering when I get to formally meet my son's love."

"It's Rainbow Dash, happy?"

"No need to be so hostile."

"Are you kidding me? You never once tried to act like a dad, now you expect me to just act like you didn't ignore me for eighteen years, and suddenly accept you? Go to hell."

"I know I never tried before Landon, but I'm trying now. I didn't realize how important you were to me until you were taken away in that car accident."

"Funny how it took my death to see that."

He didn't respond. We just sat there in silence as it got closer to our turn. Eventually, the pegasus in front of us was called. We were after her.

"When we go out there, stay out of my way. I can do this on my own."

"We are a pair for a reason. We are going to have to work together if we want to win."

"Number twenty!" The mare with a clipboard called.

That was us.

"Lets go boy."

I followed in silence. We arrived to the starting area. I looked around at all of the pegasi, I saw my friends in the distance. I looked around some more, and I saw Rainbow and the other two judges. I also saw Princess Celestia.

"Begin!"

We flew out. My dad tried to chase me. I was managing to stay away from him. Looking back, I was flying so fast, I was leaving a trail of black outlined with crimson. When my dad flew threw, it turned the streak into a black, crimson, and white stripe. I guess it was cool, because the crowd was cheering. I was flying in all kinds of directions, but the old bastard was still following me! How the hell was he this fast?

Time to lose him for good. I stopped in mid-air and started flying straight at him. He barreled away at the last moment, and he got right back to following me.

"Go away!" I yelled, audible only to him over the screaming crowd.

Over to Barry, Twilight, and Friends.

"What are they doing?" Applejack asked.

"Is this part of the performance?" Twilight added

"I don't think so, it looks like he's trying to keep away from him. The crowd doesn't seem to know that though. I honestly don't think Landon planned on being in the competition with his father." Barry said

Back to Shadow and his dad.

Alright, let's see how this asshole likes high altitude. I flew straight up for about a minute. I saw that my dad was still pretty close. I kept flying up. It was getting difficult to breathe now. My dad was still behind me.

"Fuck off!"

I flew straight down. The air stinging my eyes as I descended. I couldn't look back to see if my dad was still behind me. The air was exploding in my ears. I continued flying down. Then out of nowhere, the sound stopped. I couldn't hear anymore! Oh shit! Did I just go deaf? Wait, what the hell is this? I noticed there was a cone of black and crimson around me.

Holy fucking shit! Did I just do a sonic rainboom?

2 minutes ago, back at Barry, Twilight, and Friends.

"Where are they going?" Fluttershy asked

"If I were to guess, I'd say Landon hopes to lose his dad in extremely high altitude." Barry said

"Wait! Is that Shadow?" Twilight said

They watched in awe as a cone of black and crimson began to form around me, then suddenly have my speed twenty-fold in an explosion of black and crimson. If the ponies didn't know where it came from, they would think a bleeding shadow was enveloping the land.

"Wow, Landon really doesn't like his father." Barry mused

Back to the high speed chase of Shadow and father.

Yep, I think I did do a sonic rainboom. So now comes the question: HOW THE FUCK DO I SLOW DOWN? I beat my wings furiously to slow down, but that only worked a little. Great, it was getting teleported here for the first time all over again. I tried spreading my wings to catch as much air as possible to slow down. That seemed to work. I was rapidly slowing down. When I was at a comfortable speed, I flew back over to the starting area. My dad arrived shortly after. The crowd was going wild. Even the Wonderbolts in attendance were applauding.

"That was quite impressive boy. Where did you learn how to do that?"

"I never learned it, I was trying to get away from you."

"Good one boy! Like anyone hates their dad that much."

I rolled my eyes. Maybe I was being a little hard on him...maybe I should give him one chance.

"SHADOW!"

I look up to see a rainbow blur flying at me. It tackled me to the ground.

"That was incredible Shadow! You did a sonic rainboom!" Rainbow said

"I wouldn't call it a sonic rainboom, since it wasn't a rainbow."

"What would you say it was then? You get to name it since you did it."

"How about a shadow pulse?"

"That's an awesome name, I love it!"

Just then, Spitfire, Blaze, and Princess Celestia trotted over.

"Congratulations to you and your father Shadow, I name the both of you this year's champions!" the Princess said.

I bowed. "Thank you Princess Celestia." I said as she placed the trophy on my head.

"You're welcome. I must go now, but I look forward to seeing you all at the Gala in two days. Congratulations again." Then she flew away escorted by two of her royal guards.

Spitfire trotted up to me. "Congratulations Shadow Flash."

I blushed and looked away. There is a difference between royalty, and a star. Royalty demands to be looked at. A star makes you stammer like a moron looking for the right words. "Uhh, thanks. I appreciate it."

She turned to Rainbow. "I see you two are together. I'll tell you what. Since both of you are now among the fastest fliers in Equestria, I'll give you two V.I.P. Passes for the Gala. That way, we have more time to hang out."

Rainbow fainted, and I just stood there.

Spitfire laughed. "Right, I'll take that as an 'I accept'. I'll see you two at the Gala!" She finished as she flew away.

Rainbow Dash was still unconscious by the time our friends arrived. "Shadow, that was amazing!" Twilight said.

"Thanks, I actually didn't plan on using it." Because I had no idea how.

"That was the most amazing thing I've seen since Rainbow Dash did a sonic rainboom! I need to throw a party for you Shadow!" Pinkie said

"How about we wait on the party Pinkie, the Gala is in two days."

"No can do Mr. Downer Pants." What did she call me?

"Okay, but can it wait until AFTER the Gala? Please?"

"Fine, only because you asked nicely though!"

"Thank you. So are you guys going back to Ponyville?"

"Yeah, we're just about to leave. What about you two?" Barry said

"Me and Rainbow still have another night to stay in our suite, so that's where we'll be."

"Okay, we'll see you guys tomorrow. Congratulations again Shadow!" Twilight said as they all trotted off to their balloon.

My dad trotted up to me. "I think I'll head back with them Landon. If I'm stuck here, I might as well find somewhere to stay."

"Alright."

"Goodbye son." My dad said as he trotted away.

"Goodbye dad..." I couldn't see his face, but I'm pretty sure he smiled when I said that.

Rainbow finally regained consciousness. "Ugh, what happened?"

"Spitfire gave us V.I.P. access to the Gala, and you passed out."

"Ohmygosh!" she exclaimed before she passed out again.

I laughed and rolled my eyes. I flew over to her and picked her up in my hooves. She was pretty light. I guess you have to be light in order to fly though. I flew back to the suite with her in my grip. I got us inside and set her down on the bed. I put the blanket over her, and the pillow under her head. After I did that, I trotted over to the bar. I needed a drink...

So what did you think about the shadow pulse? I thought about it, and decided to put some comedy in there, rather than make it all serious. You guys get two more chapters before I go on vacation. Then you get the long chapter at the Gala. I put the V.I.P. Part in there as well so it would give me more to write about. Review or I'll kill your family ;)

Quote of the day: "I'll burn you alive you asshole!" My friend to me as he tries to hit me. He was throwing eggs at passing cars, and I threw an egg at the back of his head, causing him to literally shit his pants thinking a car hit him.