Once A Shadow - From the other side

Today I felt really tired. I suppose it's my own fault staying up reading and tinkering, but what the hell. I got up, sluggishly, and made myself breakfast, consisting of two slices of toast, an apple and some water. After breakfast, I headed out to the Silver Thunder for my usual round of alcohol. As I headed out, I heard something I really did not want to hear.

_"...I'm from a different world. After I died, I requested to be sent to the same world as my son, I should have known he picked this one. And my son's name is Landon Flash."

No...nonononononononononono FUCK NO! "DAD?"

"Junior? Is that really you?"

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"That's no way to greet your father boy."

"WHAT. THE. HELL. ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"Looking for you, of course. I thought you would have been happy to see me after all of these years."

"First off, it's only been a few days for me. Second I came here because it was the place I thought you would never come to. Third, you never once cared about me! All you ever did was keep me in your shadow!"_ -chapter 7-

Not good, not good at all. How many of these people need to come here? No time to worry about this now, things are about to get out of hand FAST.

_"Shadow, are you okay?" Rainbow Dash said as she flew towards me.

Oh no, not now. Please not now...

"And who is this Landon?" my dad said

"Who is Landon? This is Shadow." she replied

"Wait, gimmie a-" I started to say

"I'm pretty sure I remember my own son's name, thank you."

"This is your dad Shadow? And why is he calling you Landon?"

"I am his father, and that's because that's his name of course." my dad answered

"Wait, you're dad doesn't have a cutie mark either...and neither does Mint, and you act like you've known Mint for a long time...who are you?"

"Rainbow, let me explain, I-" I said, extending my hoof

"Get away from me!" she yelled and swatted my hoof away. She spread her wings and flew away to Twilight's.

"She acts like she loves you or something. But something like that could never happen. Let's go Junior."

"Don't. Fucking. Touch me."

He recoiled in shock

"Do you have any idea what you just fucking did? You just single-handedly ruined my life for a second time! Because of you, you just chased away the only mare I love! No, I'm not letting you win this time! I'm going after her whether you like it or fucking not!" I shouted as I flew off towards Rainbow._

Shit, too late. I better have a word with Shadow/Landon's (I'm not sure who to say) dad.

"Hey, you! I think we need to have a talk, especially about what you just did."

Landon's dad gave me a confused look."I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"I'm the person(pony) who's about to tell you what you just did, and I've gotta say you screwed up big time. Listen, I know he's your son, and I can understand that, but you should've thought about what you did. I mean, you arrived in a completely different world to ours, and you expect everyone to understand about your situation. Did it ever occur to you that he might've had start a new life, completely different from the one he's been living in for years? No, of course not. Look, I know that may be him hating you right now, but Landon Flash is DEAD. he died years ago. And if you're smart, you'll realize that. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to try and help Shadow salvage what you just ruined."

"But, but, bu-" he said with a mix of shock and confusion.

"Look, if you want to talk to me, find me here tomorrow morning. Just don't tell anyone who you really are, or what just happened. These ponies don't know about us, and we would like to keep it that way." I said as I flew off. Boy, that escalated quickly. I gotta go see if I can help salvage this damn mess. I headed over to the library, and I could hear Rainbow, Twilight and Shadow arguing. I went in, and acted innocent. "What the hay happened out there? I heard a commotion and then Rainbow flew off."

_A moment later, Barry trotted in. He looked like he knew what was happening. He sat on the couch next to me, while Rainbow got up and walked next to Twilight.

"Start talking. Now." Twilight said

Me and Barry looked at each other, and I nodded.

"What we say may sound absurd, but it's the absolute truth. Me, and who you know as Mint, aren't from this world. We are originally from a different world called Earth. There, my name was Landon Flash, and his was Barry Johnson. And, well- we died."

I got the expected reaction from the two, which was disbelief mixed with shock. I continued.

"I was involved in an accident where I was crushed, and Barry here got murdered in a shooting. After dying, I received the chance to start a new life in this world. I jumped at the opportunity. Two days later, or ten years later in my world, Barry was murdered and he too received the chance to come here. As soon as we arrived, we instantly fell in love with you two. But about an hour ago, my dad came here and ruined everything...we would have told you eventually, but it didn't see like the right time, and for that we are truly sorry. I know it's too late for apologies, but you should still know, we are. Come on Barry, let's go." Barry nodded and followed me.

We left the library without a word of goodbye, because we knew we didn't deserve it from them. We walked to the Silver Thunder Bar and trotted in. We headed to the bar and took a seat. Silver walked over to us.

"You guys look like hell, what happened to you two?"

I started to explain what happened, and when I got to the part about being dead, and he called Thunder over. After he showed up, I restarted my story for him. When I finished he looked at me with a calm expression.

"Either you boys are on the strongest drug ever found, or you're telling the truth. Because you two aren't the type to do drugs or lie about something like that. I can help you out, but you're gonna have to come in an hour early for the next two weeks, excluding your vacations to Cloudsdale and the Gala."

Our ears perked up. "How could we possibly get them back after what we did?" Barry asked

"It's going to take some creativeness, but I think we can pull it off. I'm still calling you Shadow by the way, but Shadow, can you sing well?"

"I took choir for a while in high school."

"Good enough. Silver, can you still drum?"

"Sure can."

"Where are you going with this Thunder?" I asked

"Nothing says sorry like playing a song right? And you must have all kinds of music that say that where you come from."

"Thunder, that's- that's brilliant (obviously)! But wait, how could we get the girls here, and how would Silver know how to play a song he's never heard?"

"While I get the girls here, you show Mint and Silver the song you're talking about and rehearse it a couple of times."

"Got it."

"And Shadow?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't screw up your life again." Thunder said as he walked out the door._

I finally got to talk to Barry and Shadow (or rather, just Barry), and the first thing Barry asks me is why I'm here. "I'm here for the same reason you guys are."

Barry asked stupidly."To win Rainbow and Twilight back?"

"No, idiot. I'm here cause I used to be human, like you. Oh by the way, I sorted out Shadow's dad for him. I'll have a quick chat with him tomorrow morning on how he fucked up."

Barry was a bit slow on the uptake. "Thanks for doing that for him. Wait, you're human?"

I corrected him. "Was human. Name's Daniel Walters, United States Air Force. Now if you don't mind, you need to get ready." A while later, Silver appeared.

_"Okay, the girls are on their way, I told them that you two morons were drowning in booze and they had to come pick you up."

"You couldn't have made up a better story than that?" I yelled.

"You can't have expected this plan to be perfect." he replied

About ten minutes later, Rainbow and Twilight walked in. Thunder closed the door behind them, and stood in the way.

"What do you think you're doing? Let us out!" Twilight yelled

"Not until you listen." he replied

"Listen to what?"

Tonight we drink to youth
And holding fast to truth
(I don't want to lose what I had as a boy.)
My heart still has a beat
But love is now a feat.

Sometimes when I'm alone, I wonder
Is there a spell I'm under
Keeping me from seeing the real thing?

Love hurts...
But sometimes it's a good hurt
And it feels like I'm alive
Love sings,
When it transcends the bad things,
Have a heart and try with me,
'cause without love I won't survive.

I'm fettered and abused,
I stand naked and accused
(Should I surface this one buck submarine?)
I only want the truth
So tonight we drink to youth!
(I'll never lose what I had as a boy.)
Sometimes when I'm alone I wonder,
Is there a spell that I'm under
Keeping me from seeing the real thing?

Love hurts...
But sometimes it's a good hurt
And it feels like I'm alive.
Love sings,
When it transcends the bad things,
Have a heart and try with me,
'cause without love I won't survive.

We finished the song, and Rainbow and Twilight were stunned. Me and Barry walked off of the stage and up to them.

"We know we did you girls wrong, but we want to make it up to you. If you give us another chance we will never betray you again."

They looked at each other, then gave us a hug. We hugged for about a minute before Thunder cleared his throat.

"Right, lets go back home. Twilight and Barry, I'll see you tomorrow."

They nodded as me and Rainbow flew back home._

"That was just beautiful. I just love a happy ending, although it's probably far from an ending." I said, holding back a tear. "Hey, Barry, pick your poison, this rounds on me!" I said boldly, before downing an entire can of ColtLite.