It was a regular evening in Fillydelphia. Ponies getting off of work, young fillies and colts out of school for a couple of hours now. Yes, it was quite a peaceful evening indeed. For most.
A small adolescent friend group, consisting of two colts and one filly, had found a dead end alley close to where they all lived, and had been going there to hang out most evenings for nearly a year and a half. They would usually just chill and shoot the breeze, talking about whatever drama or personal problems they had, or just telling jokes. However, this evening was anything but usual.
The three were standing in the alley. One of the Colts and the Filly were standing in the very back of the alley, facing the sidewalk ahead. The other colt was standing in front of them, facing them and the brick wall behind them. They were at that point talking about a certain filly that they weren't too fond of.
"Yeah, I still can't believe that bitch broke the window with that buckball and then blamed it on us," the colt standing by himself had said.
"Right?" The filly replied. "I'm just glad the school let it slide as an accident."
"Yeah, I don't want to even think about what my life would be like right now if I got suspended over that shi-"
The same colt had said back, his thought getting cut off at the end. His eyes suddenly went wide, before his breath hitched. He stood frozen, shaking a little.
The other two just looked at him for a moment in confusion, but quickly realized that something was wrong. Very wrong.
"What the fuck?" The other colt had asked, unsure of what was happening.
"Cloudy, are you alright?" The filly said, starting to become worried.
He continued to stand there, frozen. He was barely breathing now, and his eyes slowly started to lose color. The other two were beyond concern now, starting to become frightened. His eyes closed a little, and his body seemed to lose tensity as it was seemingly drained of most color. A black flame of sorts began to rise out of his back. The flame slowly expanded and grew, floating upwards as it went. As it continued to grow, it contorted and shaped, morphing into a pony-like figure, before it finally disconnected from the colt, his now severely greyed-out body falling to the concrete, barely twitching. The other two were beyond terrified now, almost going into a full blown panic, their backs pressed against the wall, trembling. The black figure moved towards them, opening it's mouth, and a trail of black flame started slowly seeping out from right between each of the young ponies' eyes, their eyes and coats slowly starting to lose color as well.
However, it ended as quickly as it began. After hearing a metallic sheen, and a sound akin to a kitchen knife being plunged into a watermelon, the two ponies quickly returned to normal. Opening their eyes, they saw the black creature. It had a look of surprise on it's face as it stared downward. Following it's gaze, the ponies looked down to see the blade of a rather large-looking sword sticking straight out of it's neck. The creature made a sort of choking noise, before it began to disintegrate from the sword edges out. After this a streak of black flame flew out from the creature, turning gold as it neared the colt on the ground. It made it's way back into him, and after a moment, his color returned, and he sat up.
The creature finished dissolving and all that was left was the sword. As it floated up and straightened out, the colt on the right of the filly got a better look at it. The sword itself was huge, however the blade was decently thin. It seemed to be some sort of lightened variant of the old Clydesdalian Claymore swords from the medieval era of Equestria, if he wasn't mistaken. (That certain colt happened to pride himself on his knowledge of history.) The blade shone silver, with glowing jade-green runes carved down each side of the blade. While these runes were illegible, (to the colt anyway,) across the bottom of the blade, right above the hoofguard, there was a number. The number read 1,336. The colt watched as suddenly the number glowed brightly, before it changed to 1,337. Baffled, he decided he’d just look at the rest of the sword. The aforementioned hoofguard of course was of standard Claymore descent, it had a very wide hoofguard, enough to fit a stallion’s hoof under each side, and there were four circles making a sort of clover shape on each end of the hoofguard. The handle itself was for the most part standard. It was long enough it could easily fit into a normal stallion's mouth with some handle to spare, and wrapped in light tan leather, actually a rare occurrence with ponies, considering that they very rarely butchered anything to get leather, which meant that this was an extremely custom-made sword. The very bottom of the handle also had a clover shape made of slightly bigger rings.
The sword floated up, in a green aura, and into a reddish-brown leather sheath, accented with brass embellishing on both the sheath entrance and the tip at the bottom. Said sheath belonged to a Stallion. This stallion had a dark grey coat, with very spiky dark green hair, which was outlined with a bright neon green, and sat over his right eye. His cutie mark was an odd sight. It was some sort of strange skull, with wings folded around it and a sword going down through the top. He wore a set of belts around his waist and hindquarters, the sheath attached to the belt on his right hindquarter. There was also a place for a sheath on his left hindquarter that had nothing present.
Those weren't really of the biggest concern to the colt, however. The real kicker was that he had wings just like a pegasus, but right in the middle of the forehead, was a longer-than-average Unicorn horn.
Another pony jogged up, a Pegasus mare. She also had a grey coat. However, it was significantly lighter in shade than the stallion. She had very fluffy-looking hair, that was light blue at the top and faded to pink, which was draped over the left side of her face. She had two black, horn ring sized earrings on her visible ear, and she wore a black beanie that covered the very back of her head. On the right side of her belt and sheath she wielded a shotgun. While guns weren't uncommon in Equestria, it was rare to see them anywhere except in competitions and the like. She immediately went up to the colt who had gotten his color drained previously.
"Are you alright?" She asked the colt, earning a nod.
"Yeah, that was pretty intense, but I think I'll be ok," the colt responded.
"How about you guys?" The stallion asked the other two by the wall.
The filly replied, "I think we just had heart attacks or something but other than that I think we should be good."
The colt to her right then said, "now the real question is, who are you guys?"
"And better yet, what was that thing?" The filly replied.
"I'm Grey Scale," the stallion said.
"And I'm Dusk Shade," said the mare.
"And those things," Grey added, "are called shadows. They roam Equestria, invisible to the normal pony eye. As far as we know, me and my partner here are the only ones capable of seeing them. That is, until they become powerful enough to drain a pony’s life energy, an event in which they will become very visible. Usually a shadow that’s transforming from their invisible state into what you saw there won’t have the power to outright kill a pony, but after they have drained that first one, they have the power to drain any other pony to the point of death. Which is why we hunt them, so they can’t get to that stage.”
After the colts and the filly took in for a moment that they had just almost died, they sat back, and continued to listen.
Dusk continued for him. "And our work with killing them is top secret, so you abolutely can NOT tell anyone about what happened here or who we are. If everypony found out about the things we hunt, it could cause mass panic. Understood?"
They were all quick to agree and said they'd never tell anyone about what had transpired, and left it at that. Afterwords, two cloaks for the pair magically appeared, courtesy of Grey. He put the cloak on, and magically shrank the sword so it would fit inside it. Dusk put her cloak on and Grey used the same spell on her shotgun. With that, the two headed out of Fillydelphia and back to their campsite just inside the forest, happy that they'd been successful in getting one more shadow off the face of Equestria.
20 YEARS EARLIER
It was a dark evening on the outskirts of Ponyville, around 8:00, and there could be heard yelling from a not-so-happy colt from one of the few houses.
“You’ve done nothing but try to get me to be your little clone since day one! I’m fucking sick of it! You have no respect for me or my privacy, like seriously, mind your own damn business for once! I can’t keep living like this!” A very angry young Grey Scale was full-force yelling at his parents.
Grey hadn’t had a very good upbringing. Sure, his parents were good ponies, but they had a habit of treating Grey like their little robot, which caused quite a division between him and his parents. Sure, he was only eight at the time, but he’d grown up very fast. Besides having his parents to deal with, he was also the only one at school not to have his cutie mark yet, and beyond the constant blank flank teasing was of the course all the fillies and colts calling him “oldie” because of his mane and tail.
The young pegasus' coat was dark grey, and his mane and tail were a rather odd sight. His hair, mane and tail were white at the ends, but they made a greyscale from black at the bases of his hair to white at the ends, hence his name. Because of this white hair, he had earned the rather unpleasant nickname. However, Grey wouldn’t take shit and let it slide, as he had no problem getting violent. Something he actually rarely did considering his height. He was abnormally tall for a colt his age, and usually once he stood up in front of some teasers and they saw him towering over them, he’d get left alone. However, there had been a few instances where the teasing had continued, and we’ll just say that one of those instances ended with a colt missing a couple of teeth.
This instance however, was much different. He had been a rebellious, but quiet soul for a good while, but he had never blown up at his parents like this. Alas, a conversation at the dinner table had finally pushed him over the edge, and the dam broke.
“Grey Scale! Where in Equestria did you learn to speak that way!?” His mother had replied, as stereotypically as any other parent.
“Besides that, how dare you say such blasphemy!? I should ground you for a month!” His father chipped in.
“You know what!? No! Don’t even start with that shit! For one thing, grounding me never works, and you know it, and for another, every word I said was true! I’m absolutely fucking beat to death with being you two’s little puppet! I can’t do it anymore!” Grey, responded bitterly. Tears were starting to form in his eyes.
His parents could only stand there, staring. They were beyond words now.
“I need some air,” Grey said agitatedly, before storming out of the front door.
“What have we done?” His father said quietly.
Grey walked along the edge of the Everfree Forest. His neighborhood was right on the edge of town against the forest, so if he ever went out for a walk, it was typically along that route. He paused for a moment, taking out his cherished MP3 player from under his wing, and tucked his earbuds into his ears. He hit play, and Just Like You by Three Days Grace started playing. Huh. My favorite song, how fitting, he thought to himself.
He continued walking his usual path, finally getting to the spot he always stopped. It was a burned down residential house, the charred remains had sat there for a couple of years. There was at one point caution tape surrounding the entire site, but Grey had taken down some out front so he could sit on what was left of the porch. He sat down on the top step, facing towards the darkness of the Everfree. He looked up and he could see one of the forest's usual wild storms brewing. While most ponies found it unnatural and disturbing, Grey loved to watch Everfree storms. There was something about their wild and free nature that reminded him of himself.
However, something odd happened at the moment he looked into the sky. He was looking at one of the black storm clouds when a green glow streaked across it. "What in the...? That's... Different," he muttered to himself. He paused his MP3 player and took out his earbuds, tucking them back under his wing. He continued eyeing the clouds, hoping to see the glow again, but after a few minutes of lying in wait, nothing happened. He was still in the middle of watching when he was interrupted by the snap of a branch in the treeline.
As he got up to investigate, he thought to himself, this evening just keeps getting weirder and weirder, huh? He approached the forest, and he had thought he heard the sound of multiple sets of hooves running away, but he couldn't be sure. he continued looking for signs of movement, but didn’t see anything. Right as he had given up and turned around to begin walking back to the porch, the wind picked up, and he heard a great crack! He looked towards the sky and saw the green glow in the black clouds, now directly over him. The next moment for Grey happened in a blur. There was a nearly blinding flash of bright green, and then everything went black.
Grey's parents had been quick to leave the house, knowing where Grey would be going. They had been walking down the path, quietly talking to themselves, when they heard a loud crack!
"We had better find him quickly, this storm seems to be picking up. And that green glow couldn't have been good, not even the Everfree tends to be this unusual," Grey's father said.
"I agree. Come on, he should be just around this next corner," Grey's mother replied.
Around that corner they went, however what they were met with was nothing short of horrifying.
They turned the corner, and saw Grey standing in the path looking directly up into the huge black cloud above him. Suddenly, there was a massive boom! The pair watched as a white-green bolt of lightning streaked down from the sky and struck Grey directly in the forehead! For a brief moment, he was surrounded by a blinding bright green aura, and then as quickly as it came, it imploded, creating a shockwave that knocked the two ponies on their backs.
As soon as the initial trauma of the blast wore off, Grey's parents were by his side in an instant. However some things were very different. His mane and tail were now dark green, bordered with neon green edges. His hair had also more than tripled in spikiness. However this was not the biggest change. They watched aghast as a sparkling light green sizzle of magical electricity moved from the tip of his tail, through his body, up his neck, through his head and up through the tip of a rather long horn that matched his coat color, before popping at the end of his horn with a little crack.
He had a horn. Along with the pegasus wings already attached to his body.
He was an Alicorn!
His parents began freaking out. "Sweet Celestia, our son has a horn! A HUGE horn!" His mother stated, practically losing it.
"Y-yes he does," his father replied, simply breath-taken at the sight before him. "Come on, let's try and wake him up."
After a few minutes of being shaken, and having his name called repeatedly, Grey woke up. His eyes fluttered open, and as they did, his now lime green eyes, which previously had been blue, gave off a bright glow.
"Oh goodness! Grey, your eyes, too?" His mother had said quietly, looking into the glowing orbs.
"M-mom? Dad? I-is that you?" He asked, still very weak from the strike.
Despite their anger from the argument had earlier, Grey was still their son, and they would always have that care for him. With this in mind, they were quick to apologize about all the things that they had talked about earlier. They made promises never treat him they way they did again. Grey was very surprised at how quickly they had seemed to change at first, but after a few minutes of recovery, and listening to what they were saying, he could tell that they were being genuine.
"Just try and keep it that way, okay?" He said, hugging them.
"Oh Grey, we'll try our best," his mother replied.
He continued the hug with his parents for a few moments, relishing in what could be the start of something better. That moment didn't last long however, as he saw the silhouettes of two darkly colored ponies walking down the path toward the group. "What the-? Who are they?" Grey had muttered. his parents turned around to look as well. “Huh? Uh, there’s nothing there bud. You sure you’re ok in the head?” His father had asked but Grey could still see them getting closer. Grey tried to do something before something could happen, but they were upon the scene faster than he thought possible. Before Grey could do anything about it, they opened their mouths. Grey saw as streams of color started leaving his parents. They looked struck, as suddenly their color started to drain from their bodies. His parents realized something was wrong and shoved him away. He watched as the silhouettes behind them became more full, and darkened in color. They slowly started looking more like actual ponies, except for the fact that they were all black, had no cutie marks, and had curved horns. His parents slumped to the ground, appearing to have almost no energy left. Their eyes were so greyed out he almost couldn’t see them.
"Grey..." his father wheezed out, "...run!"
As Grey stepped away reluctantly, his mother looked him in the eyes. “We love you Grey. We’re sorry...”
He then watched as the two ponies looked between each other. "Trade?" one asked the other in a horribly raspy and dark voice, and then they both smiled. They both opened their mouths again, however this time, the flow of color coming from each of his parents went towards the opposite pony to which they were each being drained originally. Grey watched as the last of the color left each of their bodies, their eyes each going completely white. Both of his parents' bodies fell limp. Grey watched in horror as he realized they were both gone. Tears began welling in his eyes.
The one on the right turned to the one on the left, licking his lips. "I'd have to say that was a pretty decent meal, eh, Caligas?"
"Hah! I'd say! However, Umbrus, I would say that even better is how it feels to have finally materialized!" The one named Caligas said before giving a cackle.
The one apparently called Umbrus gave a chuckle, before smiling. "Yes indeed, brother. Yes indeed."
"Now the question is, what about the small one?" Caligas replied.
"Ha! Leave him. We need not be unbalanced in power at any given time. Besides, nopony will believe his story," Umbrus answered.
Tears were flowing down Grey's face now, as he stood, head lowered to the ground. "You..." He muttered.
Both of the dark ponies looked toward him. Caligas smiled wickedly. "Ha! Looks like the runt is actually up off of the ground. Honestly brother, to Tartarus with it! Let me drain him."
"Now wait just a minute brother. I suddenly get a strange feeling from this one," Umbrus replied. But it was too late. Caligas was already approaching the colt.
Grey was shaking now. "You, you-" he sputtered, barely able to keep it together.
"What was that?" Caligas asked with a cackle.
"YOU FUCKING MONSTERS!" Grey finally screamed, as he looked up, tears streaming down his face, nothing but pure, unbridled rage across his features.
"Uh oh.." Umbrus muttered, backing away slowly.
"Oooh, looks like the runt is mad!" Caligas said with another loud cackle.
However, he looked back at Grey, and saw it. His wings were flared completely out, and the long horn on his forehead that he'd just now noticed was glowing bright green. Suddenly, Grey's eyes flashed that blinding green color, and his horn charged, adding a magical aura to his hooves. Caligas’ smug look of arrogance wavered slightly, before he said, “you do realize that no matter what kind of aura you put on yourself, your hooves will just pass right through me, right?” With an evil grin and a look of pure hatred in his glowing eyes, Grey replied, “why don’t we find out?” Caligas tried backing away, but it was too late. With an ear-splitting cry of rage, Grey lunged forward, striking Caligas across the jaw with a force that would have shattered a regular pony's.
Caligas spun in a full 180, his chin hitting the ground. Dazed and confused, he reached a hoof out towards his brother. "Umbrus, help me!"
Umbrus, however was too horrified to do so. In a split-second decision, he ran for the Everfree. "Sorry Caligas, you're on your own! I don't know how, but he has the magical capabilities to be able to actually damage us! I don’t dare trifle with that!"
Grey saw the creature making a run for it, and tried to hit him with a magical blast, but he missed, and Umbrus leaped into the forest. Grey turned back towards the one he currently had at his hooves. He grabbed the thing and flipped it over. Caligas looked into the glowing green eyes that were staring him down from mere feet away. He tried crawling backwards to get away, but it was too late.
Without any remorse, Grey brought his hoof down on Caligas' face. He switched hooves back and forth in a pattern from right to left, punching him repeatedly. Grey couldn't stop, as rage overtook him. He struck again and again and again, beating the thing to death with his magically enhanced but otherwise bare hooves, until finally his face was a shattered, broken mess. The creature tried to utter some last phrase, but it was unintelligible. With one final rear up, Grey brought down both of his hooves on Caligas' head, crushing it completely. A wet splat could be heard as what was left of his head turned into black paste.
With a sudden bright white flash, Grey rose up off of the ground, and then fell back down, and watched as a small image formed on each of his flanks. It was some sort of strange skull, with folded wings around it, that had a small sword stuck down through the top of it. He had finally gotten his cutie mark. “What the-? Some damn special talent this is,” he muttered to himself.
He looked back down to watch as the creature's body started to dissolve from the neck down, and a trail of golden magic started to flow back to where his mother's body lay.
However, right as the magical flow was about to reach her, Grey was struck in the side with two rear hooves. He fell to his side in pain and watched as Umbrus intercepted the flow, and sucked it up into his own body. A white sheen came over him for a moment, before he returned to normal. With one final look at a sputtering, wheezing Grey, he said “at least I won’t trifle with it yet,” before he leaped back into the forest. That was the last thing that Grey saw before finally falling unconscious from the magical overload.
When Grey woke up, it was around midnight, the storm having cleared completely, the moon with the dark unicorn emblazoned into it shining brightly down upon the path. Grey was slow to stand, and he had a pulsing headache, along with a side that was killing him. He was thoroughly convinced that he had several broken ribs. He made his way to where his parents lay, hoping to see something out of them, but nothing. He checked for pulses and breathing, but still got nothing. Finally, after a long period of doubt, grief, and regret, he decided to bury them. And so, he used what little he remembered of his magical ability to blast out graves on the edge of the forest. He used the same blast spell on some trees to create makeshift headstones for them. They simply said his parents’ names and some “In Loving Memory" inscriptions on them. After sitting for a while at the site, and thinking over what he would do next, he finally decided to head home, and gather a few belongings.
Finally, he got his saddlebags full of the items he felt he needed most, donned a dark cloak, and then limped his way to the train station. He waited carefully for the nearest train to Canterlot to arrive, and then snuck on to the caboose to hitch a ride. There was only one pony he could think of that might be able to help him now.
It was early in the morning, about eight o'clock, and Celestia had risen the sun just a few hours prior. She was sitting on the throne, preparing for the daily duties, when the door suddenly burst open. A rather young green-haired dark grey unicorn colt, with an oddly long horn at that, had barged into the throne room, dripping blood from somewhere underneath the cloak he was wearing. He had managed to evade earlier guards, which were now catching up to him, however the in-room guards had their spears on him in an instant.
"P-princess!" He managed to wheeze out, coughing up some of his own blood in the process, before collapsing to the floor with his hoof reaching out to Celestia. He then fell over, which caused his cloak to fall away from his body, revealing the wings and the cut open spot in his side where a bone was sticking out. He lost consciousness seconds later.
Every pony in the room, especially Celestia, stared in awe at the fact that there was an unknown Alicorn in the throne room.
"I believe I will have to skip my duties today, everyone," she said simply, with wide but curious eyes.
Grey had been rushed to Celestia's personal medical ward in the castle. After hours of work, the doctors finally patched Grey up. A few weeks later, after making decent recovery, he had told Celestia about the entire ordeal. And so, Celestia realized his overwhelming magical potential, and enrolled him as one of her personal students in the School For Gifted Unicorns. He also later on took training form the royal guard on how to fight, and later had his sword crafted. Eventually Grey made it to a high-level magic class, and this introduced him to a certain lavender-coated unicorn that wasn't really all for making friends. Somehow, though, Grey made a connection with that pony that would have a profound effect on his life later on.
Author's Note
Well, that's chapter I of Grey Scale the Shadow Hunter! Be sure to let me know if I missed any errors or minor details, I might pride myself on my writing but everyone misses stuff! Constructive criticism is also accepted as well. Other than that I hope you've enjoyed it so far, and hopefully chapter II will be coming soon!
PRESENT DAY
It was evening, about an hour after the event with the young ponies in Fillydelphia. Grey and Dusk had walked out of the city to their campsite just on the inside of the forest that sat adjacent.
Grey had magically blasted down a tree to make sitting logs for the two, and they sat across from each other with a small campfire in between them.
“Crazy day, huh Grey?” Dusk said, peering over the campfire to look at her partner. He sat with a solemn look on his face, staring into the fire, looking almost mesmerized by it.
As Grey stared into said fire, all he could think of were the black flames that made up Shadow manes and tails. The eternal, quivering black void that was their existence. Before long this gave way to him thinking about his own fire, not the one he had made here but the fire that he could create magically, a green blaze that burned any Shadow that dare come near it. And of course, thinking of this green flame made him think of the green aura that had surrounded his hooves on that fateful night.
“Grey, I’m talking to you.” Dusk said, waving a hoof in the air.
“H-huh?” Grey replied, having been completely zoned out.
“I said, crazy day today, huh?”
“Oh! Yeah, yeah. About like any other though. Thought you would have figured it out by now,” he replied before giving a small chuckle.
Grey’s MP3 player had been running for a bit as well, just playing random songs from the playlist he’d been amassing since he was young. All of the sudden though, that one song, the one that had been his favorite so long ago, came on, and he immediately stiffened, a small cringe appearing on his face. He quickly hit the skip button, and The Mixed Tape by Jack’s Ponnequin came on. “That’s better,” he muttered under his breath.
Dusk, of course, noticed all of this.
“Grey, what’s been up with you?” She asked, catching him off guard a little.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I don’t know dude, I didn’t notice it when we first met, but you seem like every time that we aren’t out hunting Shadows or at least physically doing something, you have like this thousand-yard stare going on, and it’s always when you’re looking at something. especially the campfire. Also, what’s with you and skipping that song? Every time it comes on, you skip it immediately and just have this look of... hurt, on your face.”
Grey sighed. “Look, I know that we’ve known each other for about six months now. Shit, we’ve been ‘dating’ so to speak for the last two, but...”
“But... what?” Dusk asked.
“I’ll be honest. Most ponies don’t know what actually happened in my troubled past. That includes you. But I just don’t feel ready to start talking about it again with anyone. It’s a hell of a lot to just dump on somepony, and I know it will hit you pretty hard. I know how you are. Trust me, you’ll find out in due time, but I just need to ready myself for that speech. And no amount of you saying you're ready is going to mean you actually are. Okay? Oh, and about the song? It just brings back some bad memories. I just don’t have the willpower to remove it from my MP3.”
Dusk was surprised at his sudden forwardness, he was never usually so blunt with anything delicate that he had to tell her, so this came as a little bit of a surprise. “Well, Grey, I respect your decision, and I want you to know that I won’t nose around about it any more and that I give you full time to figure out how to talk about it, if you ever do.”
“Thanks, Dusk,” he said with a small smile, before he crossed over to her side of the fire, and wrapped her in a big, full, legs and wings hug. She gladly accepted the hug, and they just stayed like that for a while.
“Hey Grey?” Dusk’s voice came muffled through Grey’s wing. In return he moved it out of the way so he could see her.
“Yes Dusk?”
“Can we do something tomorrow?”
Grey looked at Dusk. Whatever it was, he figured it was probably something interesting, knowing her.
“What is it you wanna do exactly?” He asked.
“I wanna take you to my favorite place in Equestria.”
“Hm. Sounds interesting. Why not? That Shadow we killed today was the only one I’ve sensed around here, so we can have a nice free day tomorrow.”
“Yes! I’m telling you you’re gonna love it!” Dusk said happily.
Grey smiled, before planting a small kiss on her lips. “I bet I will.”
THE NEXT DAY
It was early morning, the sun just barely peeking through the trees. Dusk had gotten up first. She dragged herself out of her sleeping bag, which sat right next to Grey’s.
She stretched her back out, and leaned down and stretched her legs as well.
“Damn Grey, you’re a great pony, but you are a frickin’ nightmare to sleep next to,” she quipped with a smile, looking at his sleeping form. Grey had a tendency to toss and turn in his sleep. He also was a heavy talker, and the worst part for Dusk was the fact that she never could figure out what he was talking about. Sometimes she heard different things, but usually she heard the same string of words, about every morning.
“Here we go, I think,” she said, before Grey started to mumble something.
“Y-you fucking...” he had started to say, although it was pretty quiet. “Monsters!” He said, not much louder, but enough to spike the emotion felt by it.
Dusk knew this statement best of all, but after all these months still had no idea what it meant. Grey started moving in his bag, his front hooves twitching and moving slightly, shifting the shape of the sleeping bag around. “Yep, and then...” she said, continuing to watch.
Grey shifted, twisting his body sideways. He then jumped awake, clutching his right side with his hooves, and a wince if pain on his face. As soon as Dusk saw Grey start to actually realize he was awake, she would turn away. However, she knew it was a phantom pain, and why he was holding that spot on his side.
About a month prior, about a month into their more romantic relationship, they had stayed in a hotel in Las Pegasus. They had shared the same large bed, no sleeping bags. They had been laying on the bed, just resting with each other, when Grey had moved his right wing slightly. The sound had caused Dusk to open her eyes, and that was when she noticed the little indention in his fur, on his right side. The spot rested right above his ribs, and she had sat up to get a better look. The fur was mostly grown over whatever was there, but she had used the tips of her wings to move it out of the way, and found a rather nasty looking scar. It was about two or three inches long, and it looked very old. When she had questioned him about it, he told her that one of his ribs had been broken, and stabbed through his side because he had traveled quite a far distance before he got any kind of medical attention. When she had asked him what caused the broken rib, though, he wouldn’t tell her. Said it brought up “a bad memory.”
She might not have known what it actually meant, but she knew that whatever was happening in that nightmare he kept having was probably a flashback to the event that caused that scar. Well, that and it probably had something to do with Shadows, considering his mention of “monsters” every morning.
Grey let go of his side, having finally realized that he wasn’t dreaming. Dusk was turned around, tending to the remains of the fire. He wasn’t sure how, but she never seemed to notice. He wasn’t complaining though, because that meant he didn’t have to explain what was going on.
“Morning, Grey,” Dusk said.
“Morning,” Grey replied, “what are you up to?”
“Getting the fire back going, as usual.”
“I’ll go get some more wood,” Grey said, getting up and stretching out.
He went and grabbed some branches, and then grabbed some wood leftover from the tree he had blasted down there a few days before. He returned with a hefty amount of firewood, and piled some on.
“I already shredded up some paper and put in there,” Dusk said.
“Alright, I’ll get it going.”
Grey blew under all of the new firewood, where the hot coals from last night’s fire sat. After a few attempts, the coals lit he paper, and proceeded to re-light the fire.
“I can’t believe we’ve been in Filly for four days now,” Dusk said.
“Yeah, I know. That shadow took forever to find.”
“I’m just glad that we found it when we did,” Dusk said, concern in her voice. “Those poor kids.”
“Yeah, me too. There have been fillies and colts with considerably worse that happened to them.”
“What could be worse than dying?” Dusk asked, an inquisitive look on her face.
Grey looked to the right, with a hint of sadness and regret in his eyes. Dusk saw this, and was about to ask why he looked like that, but he answered the question before she could ask.
“Losing your parents,” He said, “sometimes they’d rather be dead than have to live without them.”
“Oh Grey, I’m sorry I said anything. It sounds like you must not have been able to help someone.”
“I have been able to help almost every colt or filly that needs my help, by killing he Shadow that took their parent or parents’ life energy, which as you know, will return it to the ponies it was stolen from.”
“You said almost every colt or filly.”
“Yes, I have helped every pony that has needed it, except one. One colt.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t like to talk about it, but long story short the Shadow that took his parents’ life energy got away. That colt has remained an orphan.”
Grey looked at the ground, regret filling his soul.
“Oh Grey. I wish we could do something for him.”
“I do too, but he’s...” Grey hesitated, figuring out how to word his next phrase. Close, to grown now. It wouldn’t really matter.”
“Oh.”
Dusk looked at Grey, and could see the sadness in his form. Damn, now I wish I hadn’t said anything at all, she thought.
“Well at least we saved those kids yesterday, right? And we’ll get to save many more. Just keep focused on that,” Dusk said, hoping to get away from this.
Grey looked up, and gave a half-baked attempt at a smile. It was good enough for Dusk, and she smiled warmly back.
“Alright guy, I think we should have some breakfast.”
The rest of the morning went a little more smoothly. The two ponies had breakfast, and packed up their campsite. Grey, using his magical prowess, teleported all but Dusk's shotgun, holster, and their cloaks, back to their home base in Canterlot, a place they rarely visited because he could do that. But when they had a list complete, like they had just done yesterday, they would go back there and wait for more to pop up. However, of course, they would be doing whatever Dusk had in mind for today before they went back.
As they were leaving the woods, Grey piped up.
“So where exactly are we going?” Grey asked, curious.
“Well remember yesterday when I said we were going to my favorite place in the whole world? Well I lied. We’re actually going to two of my favorite places in the whole world. They’re pretty close to each other don’t worry,” She said with a chuckle.
“Well you didn’t answer my question,” Grey replied with a smile.
“Well if I told you, it would ruin the surprise.”
“Ha, okay,” Grey said, his interest peaking. Then something came to him. “Hey, do you think we could visit your parents? I’d love to see them again.”
Dusk looked back at him, before replying, “We would definitely be going, if they were here.”
“Where are they?”
“Las Pegasus, they went on vacay.”
“Ah, ok.”
They made their way back into Fillydelphia, passing by the spot that they saved the small group yesterday, and found it empty.
“Huh. It’s Saturday, I feel like normally they’d be there. Do you think they’ll ever hang out there again?” Dusk asked as they walked by it.
“Hard to say. Maybe, maybe not,” Grey replied with a shrug.
They walked across the city, Dusk in the lead. Eventually they came towards the Eastern outskirts of the city, and Grey became a little confused. “Is this place even in Filly?” He asked.
Dusk laughed. “Yeah, dude, we’ll be there super soon now. Don’t worry, I promise you’ll like it.”
What she said was true. After a couple more blocks, almost outside the city, they stopped in front of a shop.
“We’re heeerrreeee!” Dusk said in a sing-songy voice.
“Rifled Barrel’s Firearms and Custom Engraving Shop. No damn way! Isn’t this like one of the only big gun shops in all of Equestria?” Grey said, with a toothy, open-mouthed smile, looking up at the sign.
“Right you are, Scaly! This shop has some of the most exclusive weapons in the land! And they do engravings too, so you can make them even more custom. This was my world when I was younger.” Dusk said, giving a wide smile.
“Don’t call me that,” Grey said, a flat expression on his face while he pointed at her with a hoof.
Dusk chuckled. “Oh Grey, you know I can’t help it sometimes.”
Dusk then waved him by, and with little hesitation, he pushed his way through the doors.
They went inside, and the first thing Grey noticed was the smell of machine oil and metal. Such an industrial scent, and he wasn’t opposed to it. Other than that though, was the overwhelming amount of rifles, shotguns, and pistols. They were everywhere. They were on the walls, up on racks, and put in display cabinets. They walked up to the main desk, which was currently uninhabited.
On this desk sat a glass case, containing what was probably the most beautiful pistol Grey had ever seen. It was a darkly colored, but shiny revolver, with a golden snake painted down its entire side, it’s head starting towards the end of the barrel, it’s body stretching down the barrel, twisting around the cylinder, and tail ending around the hammer. It’s handle was a dark shade of black, maybe ebony, with white swirls of wood grain in it. A small symbol was inlayed into this handle towards the top, a gold badge showing a horse on rearing up on its hind legs.
“Is anypony here?” Grey asked. “The sign did say open, right?”
Dusk just smiled at him. “Watch and learn, dude. HEY, BARREL! GET YOUR ASS IN HERE, I WANNA SEE MY FAVORITE SALESPONY!”
Grey recoiled when her voice raised, the action catching him off guard. “Celestia’s horn! Don’t do that, I about pissed myself!” He said through his teeth, glaring at her.
Dusk just looked at him and gave a soft chuckle.
A falling of some boxes and an “ah, shit!” from the back could be heard, before hoofsteps started coming towards them.
From around the cabinets came a heavier set older pony, about the same shade of grey as Grey, with a brown vest on, and wearing a black bowler hat on his head. He had a large white beard and mustache, and a grin on his face as he walked up, and around the desk, throwing his front hooves around Dusk for a hug.
“Well I’ll be! How’s my favorite customer doing?” He asked with a laugh in a slightly Irish accent, as he continued the hug.
Dusk hugged right back. “Pretty good! How ‘bout you, oldie?”
Grey’s pupils shrank probably twenty sizes in that moment, but he knew that there was a time and a place to have past events take over, and this wasn’t it. So he chose to power through it and just ignore what she said.
“Pretty good, youngun! Who’s this you have here with ya?” He asked, looking to Grey.
“That’s Grey Scale,” she replied, “he-“
“Oh, I’ve heard about you! Dusk here’s parents made mention of ya the last time we met up! That must have been some five months ago now though,” he said, reaching a hoof out towards Grey, which Grey returned, shaking it.
“So they tell me you two are partners? Just what kinda ‘partners’ are ya?” He asked Dusk with a chuckle.
Grey tensed up a little, but Dusk held nothing back. “Ha! Can’t sneak anything past you, huh? Well we met about six months ago, and we’ve been partners since. But we made it that kind of relationship only about a couple of months ago.”
“Oh! Well good for you two!”
He leaned towards Grey getting close to his ear.
“I’ll warn ya, she can get pretty rowdy, friend,” he said chuckling, before giving Grey a pat on the shoulder. “Known That one since she was a filly. Sold her that shotgun.”
“Oh trust me, I already know,” Grey replied with a laugh and a smile.
“Hey!” Dusk shot back in reply, a mischievous smile on her face. Grey just shot a mischievous smile right back.
“So I take it you’re takin’ him to the place?” Barrel asked Dusk.
“Yep! I’m gonna need some shotgun shells actually. And a box of the things, too!”
“I’ll be happy to get ‘em for ya!” He said with another chuckle, before turning to go back behind the desk. However as he turned, he noticed Grey eyeing up the pistol.
“Like whatcha see there?” He asked.
“Heh, you could say that,” Grey replied.
“Pretty ain’t she?”
“You kidding? Freakin’ gorgeous!”
Barrel looked at Grey. He could see the sparkle in Grey’s eye as he looked at it.
“That’s a signature Colt Anaconda. It’s their 10th anniversary edition for that pistol. They only made that one. Blued metal instead of the standard silver, and an anaconda painted in gold down both sides.”
“Damn, so it’s one-of-a-kind, then.”
“That it is, lad. I’m afraid it don’t come cheap, neither.”
Grey looked at the pistol. “How much is it?” He asked, the glare of the pistol in his peripheral as he looked back at the shopkeeper.
“Fifteen hundred bits.”
Grey’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull. “Fifteen HUNDRED!?”
“That it is. And people wonder why I haven’t sold it yet,” he said with a laugh. “The most expensive Whinnychester rifles in this shop are only 800 bits.”
“Good Celestia, that thing must really be rare,” Grey said.
“Yep, one-of-a-kind, like you said. Doesn’t help that they stopped making the Anacondas altogether either.”
Grey pondered on it for a moment. He had a literal ton of secret funding from Celestia, and a new weapon would be beneficial, as he had been fighting with a sword for the last seven and a half years. He could just magically enchant the pistol bullets to kill shadows, something he already did for Dusk’s shotgun.
“I’ll have to take a while to think on it. Dusk, can we come back here after whatever you have planned next?” He asked.
“Well, I was actually gonna come back here anyway, so yeah.”
“Okay perfect then. I should have plenty of time to think on it.”
Rifled Barrel looked at Grey. “You mean you actually got the funds to buy this masterpiece? You must do some important work to have that kinda pocket money.”
“Heh, you could say that,” Grey replied with a chuckle, and a nervous smile.
Barrel handed Dusk a few boxes of shotgun shells and a large box that said fragile as eggs down the sides.
“Well I guess I’ll see you two later then?”
“That you will!” Dusk replied, dropping some bits in Barrel’s hoof before the two walked out the door.
They headed east further, until they exited the city and went down a winding dirt road. Before long, they arrived at a pavilion, in front of which sat some stalls with small tables in them. Past these stalls was an open flat area of mostly dirt, with some steel plates sat on a hill at the end of the flats.
“Is- is this a shooting range?” Grey asked, curious.
“Yeah, don’t you know what a shooting range looks like?”
“Well yeah, just... the royal gaurd’s range looked different.”
“Hm. Interesting. I thought they still used spears and swords?”
“Well they do, for the most part. Guns are still outlawed in war and military forces right now, so. But the guards were still each allowed to own their own firearms privately, and every once in a while they got to have an off day at the range. I of course got invited a few times, because of my affiliation with them.”
“Hm. Well, you ever shoot a shotgun?” Dusk asked, unsheathing her sawed-off from her belt with her right wing.
“Uh, I think I shot a double barrel once, but nothing like yours.”
“Well you’re in for a surprise then, because a pump action is pretty different.”
She walked over to him with the shotgun held in her wings. Holding it out to Grey, she said, “Ok, so take it with your wings, , right one here, left here,” pointing his wings to the handle and the slide.
“Ok, now shuck it open.”
Grey pulled back on the slide with his left wing, and the slot on the side of the gun opened up.
“Good, now hold on to it with your right wing, grab a shell with your left, and drop it in the side there.”
Grey held on to the handle tightly, grabbing a shell with his left wing, and dropping it into the side.
“Okay, now. Push the slide back forward.”
Grey did as he was told.
“Ok now, this gun doesn’t have a safety, so keep your feathers away from that trigger. Now, use your left wing to load four more shells through that spot in the bottom.”
Grey did this as well, loading four more of the shells through the bottom. He let out a huff of air. “Damn, can’t I just use my magic for this? My wings are not used to holding items this heavy!”
“Absolutely not! You’re learning this the right way! Quit your whining, I’ve seen the acrobatic shit you do to kill shadows, so I know you can handle this.”
Grey laughed. “Ok then, geez. Now, what are my targets?”
Dusk stepped over to the big cardboard box, and pulled out a hoof-sized round orange disk. “These,” she said.
“Oh! We’re skeet shooting? Wow, I really should have figured that one out, heh.” Grey said, looking at Dusk with a smile.
Dusk walked over to a tripod type of thing, that had a metal bar sticking off of the end of it. She took it out in front of the stalls and sat it on the dirt, and placed a small stool behind it. She pulled the metal bar to the side, and cranked it all the way back in a 180, before it locked into place with a ’click’. She then slid the clay disk she had been holding into a slot on the bar. “Ok, you’re going to shoot off the first bird, so I can show you how this works,” she said, waving him over to the device and taking the shotgun. “Ok, now, you’re going to press down this lever here when I yell ‘pull,’ and remember to keep those hooves away from that metal bar when it launches. If that hits you, it will hurt like a bitch.”
Grey sat on the little stool right behind the tripod, and watched Dusk get into position. She stood straight, widening her stance on all four hooves, and held the shotgun up to her line of vision with her wings. She looked straight down the sights, aiming at the sky.
“Pull!”
Grey pressed down on the lever, then backing away swiftly, as he watched the metal bar fling out and around, sending the clay bird flying. He then quickly turned and watched Dusk. She was already moving. With expert precision, she swiveled her aim to the right, keeping her aim on the orange disk. Then, she pulled the trigger.
BOOM!
He looked to the sky and saw the clay bird shatter into pieces, before they started falling back to the ground.
14 YEARS EARLIER
It was an overcast day in Fillydelphia. There was a youth skeet-shooting championship competition going on at the shooting range just outside the city. Dusk Shade, a thirteen-year-old filly, had entered the competition. She had gotten her cutie mark for just that three years earlier, the day her dad had first introduced her to the sport, the mark appearing just after hitting her first bird. Said cutie mark was one of those orange discs getting shattered by three pellets from a shotgun. Dusk Shade herself had a very light grey coat, and had a poofy light-blue mane and tail, her hair draping over the left side of her face. She wore a black beanie that covered the back of her head, but she did not have any ear piercings yet.
Dusk sat in wait. With her luck, of course, she had gotten the last slot, so she was up last. However she didn't mind. Might as well save best for last, she had thought with a chuckle.
"And that does it for Sour Mash, Everypony!" the announcer said over the intercom.
Dusk looked over to the judges to see what they'd give. A 9, an 8, and a 10. "Damn, that's the best score yet," Dusk muttered to herself. "I'm really gonna have to show him up here."
Luckily, for the past week, she'd been practicing with her almost brand new Whinnychester Model 1897, which had a custom sawed off handle so she could hold it in her wings better. This was a pump-action shotgun, which meant she could hold multiple rounds, unlike her dad's old over-under double barrel that she used to use. The main benefit to a pump action, however, was that you could get rounds out quicker. In her practice though she had mastered this skill, so she had a trick up her sleeve that was sure to impress the judges.
"And up next, Dusk Shade, our local skeet-shooting champion!" The announcer said through the speakers.
There was a thunderous applause of stomping hooves on bleachers as Dusk Walked out. Many of her friends and family had come out to this event, for it had been a long time coming. Sour Mash, the brown unicorn colt that had just went walked past, and gave her a hoof-bump and a "good luck!"
Dusk walked out on to the dirt. The pony in charge of the bird-launcher was sitting in wait, ready to load the first disc. Dusk whipped out her shotgun, and slid open the slide. She dropped the first shell into the now-open port in the side, before shucking it closed and inserting two more shells through the bottom. She held the shotgun level, but not aiming it up yet, and looked at the judges, who all gave her the go-ahead. The stallion in charge of the launcher had begun to put the disc into the slot, when Dusk turned her head to him.
"Wait."
The stallion looked at her in confusion, waiting for what she would say next.
For the whole competition, each contestant got to shoot three separate clay birds. Each shot was judged on stance, accuracy, and how well they shattered the discs. All of these clay birds were shot individually.
"Load all three."
The stallion just about fell off of the stool. "W-wait, what? You can't be seriou-"
"Yes, I am entirely serious, now load them," Dusk said, looking him directly in the eyes.
The whole crowd was silent, wondering what was going on.
The announcer stallion spoke up as he watched the pony manning the launcher act. "What's this? He's loading all three birds at once! Dusk Shade is something else!"
"Damn right she is," her father said with a smile, while the rest of the crowd looked on, aghast.
Even the judges couldn't believe it, giving Dusk a look of bewilderment. She just looked at them and smiled.
The stallion manning the launcher put the stack of three discs in the launcher, after adjusting the launcher's slide so they would fit. He then put his hooves over the launch-handle. Dusk widened her stance, leveling herself out perfectly, which of course the judges took note of, aimed to the sky, and took a deep breath.
Letting out her breath, Dusk leveled off her sights.
"Pull."
A loud thrack! could be heard as the clay birds were launched into the sky.
BOOM! Shik-Shuk!
BOOM! Shik-Shuk!
BOOM!
Within a matter of seconds, all three clay birds had been shattered into dozens of tiny pieces. Perfect shatter. Another Shik-Shuk! could be heard as she ejected the last shell, before she slid the shotgun into her hip-holster. The crowd went absolutely wild. Hoofstomps, whistles, and yells could be heard all across the bleachers as Dusk turned to face the judges. They simply sat there, mouths agape, for at least a good thirty seconds.
Once they all snapped out of their trance, they all held up perfect 10's.
Dusk's parents ran out and held Dusk up in the air, while the applause still rang out. Sour Mash simply sat next to the entrance to the field, a flat stare on his face and his jaw nearly hitting the ground.
This whole moment of craziness turned into a much different moment of craziness pretty quickly however, when suddenly a loud crack! filled the sky. Looking up to the sky just over the treeline behind the range, a huge set of black clouds was moving toward the range. A flash of light purple lightning shot through the clouds, and that's when everyone really freaked.
"Fillies and Gentlecolts, it appears we may have some rare Everfree forest storm runoff headed our way," the announcer said over the speaker system. "better get back into the city."
"Rare is right," Dusk's dad said. "We hardly ever get those. Come on, we better do as the announcer says."
"Oh wait! Let me go grab my shells! I kind of want to keep them." Dusk said.
"Alright, but be quick about it! Me and your mother will be waiting up ahead for you."
Dusk ran out into the field, and grabbed her empty shells, sticking them in the pockets on the other side of the belt she was wearing. She then jogged her way out of the range and started making her way back to her parents, who, like her dad had said, were up ahead on the path waiting for her. She was about ten yards away when she heard a massive BOOM! right above her. Right as she looked up, her vision was noting but a blinding flash of light-purple. This was the last she knew.
Dusk woke up. Opening her eyes, she saw that she was in a hospital. She sat up to find her parents right next to her.
"Ugh, what happened?" she asked.
"Oh, honey," her mom said with a sad smile. "You were struck by lightning. We're so happy you're alright."
"What!? Lightning!?" she yelled, her eyes practically bulging out of her skull. "Are you serious!?"
"Yep, it happened alright, kiddo. Right in front of us," her dad said. "We thought you were a goner. We brought you here as fast as possible. But the doctor said you'll be ok."
"Ok, good. Wait though, I'm not like messed up or anything though, right? Like I'm not going to go all jittery or wacky like those other lightning strike victims you hear about, right?" She asked, worry on her face.
"Well, you aren't now, are you?" her dad asked with a slight chuckle.
"Well yeah, I guess you have a point there," she replied with a smile.
"Well, it did change one thing..." her mother said.
"Wait what? What is it? What changed?" she asked now worried again.
"It's nothing major, just... look at your tail, dear."
Dusk twisted around, pushing her tail towards her field of view with her wing. "What the...?" she asked, looking at it. the base of her tail was still light blue like before, but it faded into that same light purple she saw in the sky about halfway down her short tail, being completely pink at the ends. "You're kidding, right? There's no way!" she said, looking at it in amazement. "A bolt of lightning did this?"
"Well it was Everfree storm lightning, so..." her dad said. "But yes, that is your actual hair color there. No dye or anything. That is one hundred percent real. Your mane too."
"What? I want to see!"
Her mom dug a small mirror out of the cupboards nearby, and held it up for Dusk to see.
"Wow..." Dusk said, breath-taken.
Sure enough, her hair was light blue at the top, but faded down into that light purple at the ends.
"Do you... like it?" her mom asked, wondering what her response would be.
"It's... Beautiful..." she replied, with a sparkle in her eyes.
She drew her parents in for a tight hug. "I'm still glad that this is the only thing that happened though, it definitely could have been worse."
"Yeah, for sure." her dad agreed.
They let go of the hug, and as Dusk's parents looked at her, they could've sworn that they saw a pinkish-colored glare run across Dusk's eyes.
PRESENT DAY
Grey leveled the shotgun into the air, waiting for Dusk to be seated on the launcher.
"Remember," she said, "level the bead at the end of the barrel off with the bird while its flying. I know you have pretty good hoof-eye coordination, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding and aiming at it in mid air. Ready?"
Grey straightened his stance and took a firmer hold on the gun. "Yep. Pull."
With a thrack!, the disc was launched into the sky. Taking aim, Grey leveled off the shotgun with the mid-flight clay bird.
BOOM!
Instantly, the orange disc shattered into multiple pieces. Looking back to Dusk, Grey smiled.
"Piece a' cake," He said with a toothy grin. "I'll do a few more if that's fine with you."
"You got it, pretty-colt," Dusk said, smiling right back.
Giving a chuckle, Grey shucked a new round into the sawed-off. "Shut up," he said with a smile. "Pull."
Around a half hour passed, and they ran out of clay birds, after taking turns shooting. Dusk took the empty box that had once contained the birds into the cardboard bin, which was for putting empty ammo boxes and target packaging in.
"So, back to the gun store then?" Grey asked as Dusk walked back over to him.
"Yepper," She replied back with a smile. "You gonna get that pistol?"
"I really don't see why I shouldn't," Grey replied back. "I have more than enough money for it, and I can enchant the bullets to kill shadows, which would be nice. Not to mention, it's only lost money for Barrel, sitting there not being sold like that. I'd be doing him a favor."
Dusk gave him a look of understanding and a nod, and they got to walking out from under the pavillion.
"Just up this path is where I got struck by my lightning," Dusk nonchalantly said. "Hell of a day, heh."
Grey gave a surprised look back at her. "Oh, really? No shit? You never really told me where it happened, just that it was after a competition."
"Yep, just up here on the path. I had went to grab my spent shells from the competition, and I made it about halfway back to my parents before I looked up and saw the flash. Next thing I knew, I had woken up in the hospital with a new hair color and an ability I didn't find out I had until weeks later. 'Till I met you, I just thought that the lightning had fucked me up, like messed with my brain or something. Then you came and saved me, and then I found out that those things I saw lurking sometimes were real."
"Heh, yep," Grey responded, "I still remember your astonishment when I came out of nowhere and decapitated that one just before it got you."
Dusk smiled. "Yeah, and I remember how you just about pissed yourself when I told you I could see them too."
The two laughed, continuing to walk the path. Then, Grey sighed. "Hopefully one day neither of us will have to see them again."
Dusk looked at him, a glum expression crossing her face. "Yeah, hopefully," She said as she looked off to her left at the distance of grasslands outside Fillydelphia.
A brisk walk and a few minutes later, the pair arrived at the store again. Just before they went in, though, Dusk spoke up.
"Hey Grey?" She looked at him with a sad seriousness.
"What's wrong, Dusk?"
"I- I just want to ask," She started. "I actually know pretty much nothing about your past don't I?"
Grey looked back at her with a sigh. "You've pretty much got it. I'm sorry I keep you out as much as I do, I absolutely think you deserve to know. But I just don't think I have the strength to open up yet. Just the vague memories of my past keep me fucked up every day. I don't know if my already unstable mind could talk about it in detail, not without tipping me over the edge. I just- I know what happened and what's going on. And I want to give my all to what's going on, without giving in to the memories of what happened that haunt me. You know?"
"I understand," Dusk replied back, feeling bad for him. Just as Grey was about to push the door open, she put a hoof on his shoulder. "Grey," she said softly.
Grey looked back, and Dusk gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"I love you."
He gave a soft smile, before giving a return kiss to her forehead. "I love you too."
With a push through the door, they entered the gun store once again.
"Heyo! The two young'uns return!" The bearded pony said as they came in.
"Indeed we do," Grey said, offering a small smile. "I'm going to look around for a moment."
The old pony nodded, and Grey went into the shotgun section. Meanwhile, Dusk trotted up to the counter, meeting Barrel.
"Thanks for the birds, old friend," Dusk said with a warm smile. "I think Grey needed it the most, honestly," She said, looking over her shoulder at her companion.
"Oh?" Rifled Barrel looked at her inquisitively. "Whatcha mean, lass?"
Dusk leaned in a bit closer, keeping her voice down. "Don't let on that you know this, or he'd be a bit upset. We're not supposed to tell anyone about what we do except our parents and the ponies we help, but I trust you more than many, so. I will tell you this: our line of work can be kind of heavy stuff, mentally I mean. You follow?"
"Aye, I do. However, you don't seem too troubled a pony more than any other. He does seem quieter than most though," The shopkeeper said.
"Well, I've had it pretty easy, he was there to show me the ropes for everything, I got used to what we do rather quickly," Dusk said, still keeping it down. "He didn't have that luxury. Our line of work is a blind-sider. By the time we both found out we were qualified, we were thrust into it head first. And he was the first to ever have it happen. There was nopony to show him the ropes. He had to learn it all himself. I know that doesn't quite make sense at first hearing, so I'll give you this tidbit as well. Me and him are the only ponies in Equestria that do this job. We're the only ones qualified. And since he's had his cloak on this whole time, I will just confirm, yes, he's the alicorn from those old headlines and posters. Just do as they say, and don't draw attention to him. Anyway, I was going to say that even I don't know the full extent of the night it all happened for him. I've only heard a small snippet, and whatever it is he's been keeping to himself for all these years, since he was a colt might I add, he's still unstable from it."
The old pony was taken aback, giving Dusk a surprised look. "The only ones? How in the wide wide..." He looked down at the floor, and then back to Dusk. "And he's the extra alicorn!" He paused once again, before finally asking, "Wh- what's the qualification?"
"I can't really tell you without giving you everything, so all I can give you is that it requires being able to see certain things. As far as is known, me and Grey are the only ones gifted with it," Dusk said, solemnly.
"Wow, that's enough for me already, lass," Barrel replied. "I respect it either way. But who funds it, then? You have ta' work for someone if he's got the bits to buy that Anaconda."
"Yes, we work for Celestia," Dusk said with a serious look. "But that is as high value as my info can get."
Barrel looked astonished. "My little Dusky working for Celestia, wow!" He said quietly. "I'm proud of ya, lass."
"Thanks," Dusk said back with a smile. At about this time, Grey sauntered up to the desk.
"Hey there," Grey said with a polite nod. "Wanted to inquire about that pistol just there."
"Aye, I had a feeling," The shopkeeper said with a smile. "If you've got the bits, I'll happily ring ya up! Things been here too damn long, as nice as it is to look at."
"Heh, I bet," Grey said as he magically made a black bag appear. "Fifteen hundred, right?"
"Aye," the Irish pony responded.
"Here you are."
Counting by 100's, Grey took stacks of bits out of the bag with his magic until the price was paid. Then, Rifled Barrel opened the glass case and allowed Grey to magically take it out.
"Wow, truly a spectacle," Grey said, eyeing it over. "She'll get her use, that's for damned sure."
Barrel gave a slightly concerned look. "Use?"
Grey looked back calmly. "Yes sir. No room for show-pieces in my inventory, but don't worry, I'll still take care of her."
Relaxing a little, Barrel now looked at Grey with a certain respect. "All right, just some paperwork to assign ownership and you'll be good to go," He said. "Just follow me to my back office."
The group all trotted to the shopkeeper's back office, Grey excited for his new purchase. After sitting down behind the big desk, Barrel dug around in a filing cabinet. Meanwhile, Grey and Dusk sat in the two chairs on the opposite side of the desk. All of a sudden, Grey looked up, and then to Dusk. "Dusk," he said quietly, "You feel it too right? One just appeared."
"Yeah, let's get this done and go find it real quick. We can come back to say goodbyes once it's dealt with," Dusk muttered back.
"Aye, there it is!" Barrel said, wheeling around with a deed to the Anaconda. "Let's get this done, shall we?"
"Yes!" Grey said, his nervousness now heightening.
After filling out everything required, Grey made it to the back page. All that was left was his final signature. As he was about to touch the pen to the paper, he went rigid, his pupils becoming mere needle points. "Oh fuck, its too close."
Dusk looked worriedly over her shoulder. "Shit, you're right."
Grey looked at Barrel, who was wondering what was happening. With extreme seriousness, Grey spoke. "I need forty-four. NOW."
Fear overwhelming him, Barrel quickly reached into a small cubby where he kept his personal ammo for emergencies. He had one box of every ammo type in his store. He quickly tossed the box of .44 magnum bullets on the desk, and with lightning speed, Grey opened it, and magically took six cartridges. Barrel watched, and with a blinding flash of green light, he watched as the bullets glowed in the same lime hue. In the corner, Dusk loaded her shotgun with shells of the same color. "What in Tartarus is going on?" The confused pony asked.
Slapping the now-loaded cylinder of the one-of-a-kind revolver he held with his magic shut, Grey said, "Can't tell you. I'll be back to sign this paper."
Suddenly, a feminine scream could be heard from outside.
"Ah, shit," Grey said, now turning to go towards the front door. With another green flash, his belt and sword re-appeared on his hip, leaving the old pony even more bewildered.
Following both Dusk and Grey out to the front door, he walked through to doors right behind them, to see the creepy scene that had transpired.
On the sidewalk across the street, a young colt lay nearly lifeless on the concrete, his mother holding him, tears in her eyes as she looked at it. Just a few feet away, a black shadow-like creature had appeared, now visible to everyone outside. However, it almost immediately noticed Grey, and started to take off running. In a split second decision, Grey lifted the now enchanted Anaconda, and praying his practice from earlier would pay off. It did, for the most part. It wasn't a headshot, but he hit the creature in the right hindleg, sending it into the sidewalk almost immediately. Grey chased it down, while Dusk went to comfort the mother, reassuring that her colt would be okay again shortly. Barrel could only stand outside the front door of his store, completely dumbfounded.
As Grey walked up to the now crippled shadow, pistol still in his magical field, he heard it mutter, and his eyes went wide, and then turned to a look of pure hatred.
"U- Umbrus, I-" The shadow wheezed out. "I failed you.." Suddenly, it felt a cold pressure against it's neck. Looking up, it's eyes met the cold, angry gaze of Grey's.
Pressing the revolver harder into the shadow's neck, Grey maliciously spoke. "WHERE!?" he hissed. "WHERE did you hear that name?"
The shadow looked at Grey, fearful, but not yet willing to give up the information.
It was then that Grey finally hit his breaking point. Pressing the revolver into the shadow's neck even harder, he spoke once again. "I am only going to tell you this once. You are going to tell me everything you know about Umbrus, or I SWEAR to Celestia I will tear you limb from god-damned limb with my own fucking teeth. You will wish I'd put a bullet in your worthless skull, you little shitstain."
If the shadow could have pissed itself, it would've. However, it still felt that it should stay loyal.
"So be it then," Grey said. Casting an aura of green magic into his mouth, he gave the shadow a few last seconds to change its mind. When it said nothing, he bent down and bit as hard as he possibly could on the bullet-entry wound on the shadow's hind leg, and after a few seconds, he ripped away a large chunk of blackish-grey flesh from the materialized shadow. He spit the chunk out of his mouth, sending it flying, his teeth dripping with pitch black blood, and the shadow screeching in agony.
"I can do this all fucking day," Grey said, waiting to see the shadow change its mind. "And I know you bastards can't bleed to death."
Stooping his head down, Grey bit down once again, ripping away more dark flesh and spitting it out. Howling in pain, the shadow finally met a change of pace.
"Okay, okay please! I'll tell you everything!" The shadow rasped out.
Wiping the blood partially from his mouth, Grey smiled. "Good," he said. "Where is that piece of shit hiding?"
"He's been hiding out in the Everfree for years, apparently," The shadow started. "Supposedly he feasted off of creatures in the forest to gain more power. He's now become our leader of sorts, and he's been trying to gather up many of us."
"Son of a BITCH!" Grey said, astonished. "Why?"
"His grand scheme is to take over Equestria, and rid it of you once and for all. His words, not mine."
"Well, I'm a little more qualified to take him on now, obviously. But just how powerful has he gotten?"
"I have to be honest, even as good as you are at killing my kind, I think you'd have one hell of a tough time. He's well past having regular organs now, and his magical prowess has only improved," The shadow said, remembering Umbrus' stature.
"Shit," Grey replied. "No other shadows have gotten even remotely close to making it far enough to have organs. How close is he to being ready?"
"Soon is all I can say, maybe in the next month is about as narrowed as I could get."
"Looks like we have some preparing to do," Grey said, standing up. "Thanks for the info."
The shadow still only looked at Grey fearfully, watching as Grey turned and took a step away from it.
"However," Grey turned back to face the thing. "You have something that doesn't belong to you."
The shadows eyes went wide as Grey magically leveled the revolver at it's head, and cocked the hammer.
K-TOW!
With that, the shadow dissolved, and the golden stream of magic returned to the colt, who's mother eagerly awaited. Dusk made them swear to silence, and sent them on their way. As Dusk walked back to the shop with Grey she stopped him.
"What in Celestia's name was that?" She asked him, worry washing over her.
"What?"
"That," She said in rebuttal. "I've never seen you torture one before. And who is Umbrus? Should I be worried?"
"Yes, you absolutely should be worried," he said quickly. "He's the one that got away from me, remember the story?"
"O-Oh shit, yeah," Dusk said, her eyes going wide.
"That's what that was. And apparently he's going to try to take over Equestria and get rid of me in the process. From what the shadow said, it could be any time in the next month. As much as I hate to say it, I think it'll be a good idea to get some reinforcements for this one, but more on that later. Let's go sign that paper and get going."
Giving a nod, Dusk followed him through the doors to the shop. Barrel, coming out of his stupor, stopped her before going in the door.
"What in Celestia's name was all that!? He asked, still astonished at what he'd witnessed.
"That," Dusk said, "Was our job." She gave him a sad look, before giving him a hug. "I'm sorry.
After finishing up with the paperwork for his new pistol, he enchanted it to show the total number of shadows he'd killed, the same number that showed on his sword. The duo grabbed ammo for both of their firearms, before saying goodbye, and walking out of his shop. After leaving Fillydelphia, Grey took to the skies, Dusk following closely behind.
"So, you mentioned needing reinforcements," Dusk said as they flapped their wings. "Is that where we're headed?"
"Yep," Grey replied. "We're going to Ponyville."
"Ponyville?" Dusk pondered. "Why ponyville?"
"Because I need to talk to Twilight Sparkle."
