Book 3 The Shadows: obscured by the shadows

Many moons ago, there was a battle.

All around were darkness and confusion. It seemed as if no one knew for sure whether they were fighting a friend or foe within the utter chaos.

It was a raid taking place on several little towns outside of Equestria’s borders. Those that could, were fighting. Those that couldn’t, were pleading or crying for something to save them.

In the midst of this rose a monster unlike anything they had ever seen. They knew not where he came from, but any creature that even stopped to consider it was already thrown down like trees from a landslide.

And by his side, was a most terrible...

She woke up.

An orchid colored unicorn came out of her slumber and tried to remember exactly where she was.

She could feel the warm air, the same warm air that had lulled her to sleep in the first place, and hear the shrill whistle that ended it. But even though she felt something stirring inside her, she brushed it off with her usual firmness, picked up her hooves, and trotted into the train car before her.

Oh, shoot!

She almost snapped out loud as she found herself trying to avoid a small toy on the floor in front of her. Her hooves gracefully sidestepped as she kept her balance and kept trotting.

A small filly had left the toy there and was now focusing her attention on some coloring pages nearby. Her parents were busy consulting a guide book and were clearly making some last minute plans on a vacation elsewhere, and, being unable to watch her, let her amuse herself as she pleased. The unicorn managed to walk around both the offensive toy and its owner with ease before settling down into a nearby seat and turning to stare out the window.

There she was, the terrible Tempest Shadow.

And she was a little nervous.

She was going to see Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, soon to be princess over all Equestria. But it wasn’t the title or the journey ahead that scared her.

Seated on board a pink and swirly cushioned bench, the unicorn with a broken and dysfuntional horn tried the best she could to collect herself.

She let her hooves glide over her scarf. Made from the fabric of her Storm King uniform, it and the cape she kept draped over her body were the only physical reminders of her time under his control.

It had been over a year, almost two years, since she reformed, but she felt it would take a while longer to finally relearn about herself and ponykind.

But she wasn’t sure how long it would take to get used to her old name again:

Fizzlepop Berrytwist.

She started to doze off again, but then her name repeated, this time noticeably louder and more real, and she had to turn around and look toward the aisle.

“Fizzlepop Berrytwist?” a confused earth pony conductor looked at her.

A peaceful glint shone in her eye as proof that she was listening.

“I’m checking the tickets,” he continued once he had her attention. “There’s been some sort of extra security going up lately. We have to recheck tickets within the cars now.”

Fizzlepop nodded without another thought and stuck a hoof in one of her side pockets, reaching in and pulling hers out to show him.

The conductor pony took a careful look at it before trotting on to the next pony.

Fizzlepop Berrytwist.

It seemed like a weird name now, struggling to get off her tongue, and she’d almost forgotten it the last few times it had come up.

She wondered if her friends would remember her. But unfortunately thinking like this only reminded her about the only pony she had really spoken to for years after she had left the comforts of Equestria for the first time.

She winced.

Partly from her thoughts, and partly from the filly screaming as another one of her toys fell under a seat, presumably to be lost forever.

Tempest’s relationship with the grey stallion, her “Second,” hadn’t turned out well either. She was nothing but a murderer. And it left an ache inside her when she thought about what she had done to a pony slightly younger than herself that had looked up to her for so long.

Her friends may have abandoned her but they didn’t leave her to die.

A new silence reigned over the car, as the unicorn noticed the filly stop her whimpering as she found the toy she had lost, and then Tempest continued her own train of thought.

She looked toward the window again and could see her own reflection, including the scar over one of her eyes, a constant reminder of how her risk taking could lead to misfortune.

With one more wince of regret and a resigned sigh, she decided to finally let herself rest.

No matter what, she had left all of that behind for a reason.

She had been dreaming for a while when, with another shrill blow of the conductor’s whistle, the train finally came to a stop in Ponyville.

New Pony Report:

This just in:

Local rumors have it that suspicious activities are going on in the woods. Ponies and creatures are advised to take caution when traveling alone. As of Tuesday, authorities will be adding extra precaution on modes of transportation. Please be advised to comply with any and all directions.

Thank you.