Once A Shadow - From the other side

These events are starting to line up pretty quickly. about a week or so ago, The Grand Galloping Gala came and went, with a proposal to Rainbow Dash from Shadow. Before that, Shadow won the Young Flyers Competition with his Shadow Pulse. And all this happened within a time frame of a few short weeks. Now It's Shadow's Tryout for the Wonderbolts and the Fugiens Mones. Things just keep getting more interesting by the day. "This will be interesting, seeing Shadow joining us." I said.

"If he manages to pass the initiation." Spitfire reminded me. "Which also brings me to YOUR initiation, which should be a week or so after his. I have a special treat in mind for you when the time comes, so remember to be ready for your initation."

"Right." What did she mean by that? Is it what I think she means, or is she talking about something else? I guess I'll find out when the time comes. I went through the secret entrance into the hideout, and saw Shadow and the others over at the arena. This should be good.

_"Now you take your trial."

"Which is?"

"Last five minutes in the arena with me." Blaze spoke up.

"Really? I'm not so sure about this. I'm not really comfortable with hitting kids, or ladies for that matter."

"Oh don't worry about me. It's you who you should be worrying about."

"Go ahead and get in the arena." Spitfire said.

We went into the arena, which was a round structure with a closed dome roof. It was probably thirty feet tall, and a hundred yards wide, probably to allow easy flight maneuvers. There was a gate that closed behind us.

Soarin's voice called out. "All you have to do is last five minutes without giving up, and you're one of us. BEGIN!"

I turned to Blaze. "Look, I don't wanna hurt you, so why don't we jus-" Was all I got off before Blaze delivered a hell of an uppercut, sending me flying back.

"I told you not to worry about me." she said.

"It's on now." I said before I charged her.

She smiled. "That's more like it."

I readied my hoof for a strike, but she ducked down and delivered an applebuck to my gut, knocking the wind out of me, and a little blood. I rose back up. She flew at me, and swung a hoof. I ducked at the last second, only to have her do a backflip and knock the hell out of my jaw that was already abused by a wrench earlier today.

"Easy on the jaw! I've already been hit with a wrench today by a crazy old bastard!"

She responded by flying up to me and giving me a hook right on the jaw.

"Ah, dafuq?! I said easy on the jaw!"

"You shouldn't tell an opponent any of your weaknesses."

"And you need to not be so serious!" I said as I rose.

I flew at her and went for a straight jab. She reacted quickly and caught my hoof, bringing me in close. I was ready for this, and delivered my special hard-headed headbutt. She staggered back and I took advantage by giving her an applebuck to the chest, making her fly back.

"Don't underestimate me." I said with a smirk.

"I won't from now on." Blaze said as she rose.

She flew at me we delivered a punch at the same time, cancelling each other out. We jumped back to catch a quick breath. I flew at her once more. She readied herself for an attack, but instead of striking her, I grabbed her and picked her up to slam her into the ground. Before I could, she flapped her wings furiously, lifting us into the air. I tightened my grip and flew straight for the ground. Right before we hit it, she did the unthinkable; she kneed me in my gems! I let go and fell to the ground, holding my precious parts. "That was seriously uncalled for!"

She shrugged. "Oh well, you do what you do to win."

"Thats enough! The match is over!" Soarin yelled as he and Spitfire flew down._ -chapter 15-

Ouch! that's going to leave a mark. I hope they don't do that to me. I know that it's wrong, but I couldn't help but laugh at what just happened. Now according to prcedure, he has to drink some kind of potion and sure enough, I was right.

_"I'll be back with the potion in a bit." Spitfire finished as she flew away.

"So what's this stuff tastes like anyways?" I asked Blaze.

"Truthfully, it tastes like ass."

"Wonderful." I said as I rolled my eyes.

"Seriously, you won't taste anything worse in your immortal bucking life."

"How'd it taste for you, Soarin?" I asked

"I couldn't tell you Shadow. It's been over a thousand years."

"The way Blaze makes it out to be, you should remember something that nasty."

Spitfire flew back down with a bottle with some kind of black liquid in her mouth. She motioned for me and I held out my hoof. She let it go and I caught it.

"Drink that, and forever join our ranks."

"Come on Spitfire, there's no need for theatrics, I recommend you down it as fast as possible by the way." Blaze said.

"Well, here goes nothin'." I said as I popped the cork.

I took a small sip...and it tasted great! I immediately downed the rest and dropped the bottle.

I belched. "Immortality tastes pretty good."

Blaze was awestruck. "He's...he's not real. There's no way he liked that crap!"

Soarin laughed and patted me on the back. "Welcome to the Mones, Shadow."

"Thanks." I said as I noticed Blaze take a curious sniff of the bottle before her eyes shot wide and flew away to go barf._

Hahaha! I wonder what that stuff tastes like? Guess I'll find out later. I was about to leave when Soarin caught up to me. "Hey, wait up a minute!"

I turned around. "Hey, Soarin."

"So, Shadow made it through, how about that?"

"I reckon he'll be fine, so long as noone tries to hit him in the balls again."

We both laughed. "Anyway, I was wanting to ask you something Hornet."

"Look, if this is about the missing whiskey, I swear I didn't take it." I joked

"Ha ha, no, it's not about that. I've always wondered, what was it like being human?"

I paused to think. "Being human wasn't that bad really, I had a decent life, good friends, opposeable thumbs; The best part of my life was when I got to fly."

Soarin questioned me. "What, with wings?"

"No, humans don't have wings, in fact, back on earth, the only things that had wings were birds. We did have ponies, but they're nothing like you. They can't talk and seem to be unintelligent, sorry to say. As for unicorns and pegasi, unfortunately they're only the stuff of myth and legend."

"But, how did you manage to fly without wings?"

"We had things called planes and helicopters. I flew in what's called a fighter jet. To me, flying was one of the greatest things you could do, and to be honest, most people would've agreed with me. You see, not that many people can fly. It takes years of education and training, but once you get up in the air, you never forget that moment when you're above the clouds, flying at speeds of over a hundred miles an hour, seeing the ground beneath you, in a way that you would've never thought of before, it's just mindblowing."

Soarin was impressed." But if you died to get here, how did you die?"

I sighed, I never really liked talking about it to anyone."I was flying one day with some of my friends, seeing how our new fighter jet was. Suddenly we were attacked and some of us went down, me included. If you don't mind, I'd rather stop talking about it."

"Oh, ok. Well, I'm going to help Blaze stop vomiting, you get some rest. I'll see you later."

I stifled a yawn. "I guess I could go for a nap, see ya." I walked up to my room, grabbed a bottle of whiskey, and went to bed. I always sleep better with whiskey.