Part V: Shadow

Part V: Shadow

I want to burn the entire tree down as I bust through the cavern door to the main floor of the library, and I feel like I can. I am seething with hate, my breath deep and loud, arms and legs tense like I'm about to pounce on anything that moves, my eyes constantly searching for something to smash and burn but are slightly blinded by the held-back tears, an unnatural growl emanating from my throat. There is something in my gut, something boiling and hot. I subconsciously know I can burn this whole place to cinders. My thoughts are consumed by a nagging scream:

Burn it all! You have the power! BURN IT ALL TO THE GROUND!

After what happened down there, I am oh so tempted to give in to the rage, to the pain. That was worst pain I had ever gone through in my life, and now I experienced it for the second time. Just to release it all on this damn house would be a tremendous relief. I feel like I'm only three seconds away from opening my mouth and allowing a wave of destruction to escape when...

I go numb.

I become numb. Again. When Susie died, I was in so much pain after that, I just... turned it all off. And that's happening again right now, in the library. I stop all movement, breath in, out, closed and open my eyes, and they're gone. The violent urges, the screaming in my head, the desire to blast this place with what felt like a raging fireball swelling in my stomach.

Gone.

I looks around, sweeping my gaze across the multitude of shelves and novels on the walls, not knowing what to do next. Silence is what filled the room in the seconds, minutes that follow. I can't hear anything coming from the basement, so I decide I should take advantage of the opportunity of silence for contemplation. Wiping the remnants of the salty tears away, I walk to the bottom of the staircase and sit down where I had been reading earlier in the morning. The crimson book hadn't budged since I left it. So I squat down on the fifth or six step, my chin resting on my balled fists with my thumbs creating support underneath and my elbows standing on my knees, my eyes not focusing on anything in particular, just staring blankly straight ahead. I let the silence calm me further, feeling purified by its emptiness, which was what I feel like. Empty.

I force myself to think about just what the hell happened down there; not at what I saw in the portal, but mainly at what followed. Twilight said that the spell she cast would only show what I wanted it to show. And I sure as hell didn't want to show that. I know I shouldn't blame her completely, however, since it was her first time casting it, she probably would need to make adjustments, like Thomas Edison, when he kept trying to make a functional lightbulb. The spell may have accidentally entered my deepest thoughts and memories, something that might have out of Twilight's control. That helps me forgive her a little, but it didn't help the fact that I was practically lab rat, a guinea pig, though unintentionally.

And then, I roared at Twilight. Where did that come from? I'm not an angry person, for the most part, but that sounded absolutely terrifying, for Twilight at the time, and to me as I sit still on the stairs. I want to go back and apologize to her, but, the damage has been down, not to mention my legs don't feel like obeying my commands. But that voice... What was it? It wasn't my normal voice, much less a human's voice. It sounded like the voice of a monster. I can still recall how it felt to release it from my angry larynx, the intense vibrations in my vocal cords mixing with the adrenaline coursing through me felt liberating--no, intoxicating.

And the eyes. Those freakish, golden snake-eyes that reflected off Twilight's frightened gaze couldn't possibly have been my eyes... could they? From my perspective, I didn't sense any changes, except... except maybe a slight magnification of what I was directly looking at. It was kinda like a literal case of tunnel vision. Also, that tunnel had a weak, golden hue to it, with everything in my sight reciprocating the tint. And the way that they looked... When you mix whatever I was feeling to how I appeared, it was, for lack of a better word, scary. Scratch that, it was downright terrifying, especially considering humans can't do that unless we're wearing special lenses, like on Halloween or something. A question echoes in my mind, this one being in my voice now.

What happened to me? The whole question of my existence in this world came up once again. Did I die? How would my parents react if I did? What about the dream from last night? Being in this world certainly felt real, and looking through the portal in my dream made me think that that was the dream. But then the voice came along, saying: That world is gone... If that was the case, maybe I did die. My parents... Loosing your daughter and your son before your own time came... that must be hell for them. I start to feel sorry. Then my thoughts drifted back to the mirror. The cracks, the multitude of eyes looking at me through all of the isolated shards on the wall... just what the hell was it?

Those eyes looked... they looked like mine did just now. I begin to get irritated, not knowing what to do. Christ, what the fuck is happening to me?

The sound of a door bursting open resonated throughout the house, accompanied by the huffing and puffing of a creature who just ran up the lengthy stairs in a great hurry. I don't turn to who it could be. I'm still swimming in my thoughts, though I can sense what was going on around me.

"Michael?" Asks a worried, southern voice through pumping breaths. I still don't turn around. Galloping hooves make their way in front of me, entering my peripheral vision but failing to gain my undivided attention. The figure standing before me is orange and continues to take deep breaths.

"Michael? Y-You alright, sugarcube?" I don't answer her, knowing who it was. I just keep staring, trying to block her out. I'm doing the exact same thing I did after my little sister passed, the same thing Applejack did following her grandmother passed. But my numb psyche won't let me realize that. I take a deep breath, not as a response to the concerned mare, just because I felt like it.

The orange pony starts up the stairs, stopping when she gets right in front of my gaze, but I stare right through her. Applejack raises a hoof and pokes my shoulder, but fails to get a response of any kind out of me.

"Michael?" This is a new voice, coming from the door leading to the basement. Next comes the shuffling of several hooves entering the living room. I stay still. "Michael, say something. Anything!" Twilight's voice shouted, somewhat in pain, but mostly afraid.

"Twilight," says the regal voice of Celestia, "I believe Michael wishes for not to be yelled at after what he just went through down there, wouldn't you agree?"

The mare is silent for several seconds, considering what Celestia had said. "I... I suppose so..."

"I know what'll cheer him up!" Shouts the squeaky voice of none other than Pinkie Pie. Though, to me, it's just a continuous drone of popping balloons and kazoos. The orange blur in front of me is knocked aside by a pink one, bouncing while it did so. All I am able to perceive through my numbness is a jumble of bouncing and singing and a pink blob teleporting from one side of me to the other. It is stopped when the orange blur returns and shoves the pink blur away, shouting,

"Cansarnit, Pinkie! Can't'cha see that ain't werkin'?" The voice is met with more silence. "Listen, Ah'm real sorry ya' had t'go through the pain of seein' that again. None of us wanted fer that t'happen, right?" I have the vague assumption she is addressing that last part to Twilight.

"R-Right. Michael, I am so, so sorry that happened. You have to understand, it wasn't on purpose! I-I didn't know that my spell would, or even could go that far down into your memories. I designed it to be in your conscious control, but, I guess I should've done a better job of explaining it to you." Her voice is breaking. "I-I'm so sorry--"

"It's fine," I manage to say, stopping Twilight mid-sentence.

Somehow, I regained the control of my limbs, the physical numbness evaporating. Keeping my gaze fixed forward, my hand slides to my back pocket, to my wallet, for the photo. I bring it out, and my vision focuses on the image, and the image alone. There is silence in the room as I study the photo for the umpteenth time.

Our tenth birthday was spent at the beach. Clear, beautiful blue skies with a couple of seagulls in the background, either flying or trying to swipe some snack from the other beach-goers. The image showed Susie, with the same complexion and hair, except in a ponytail. She was also wearing a full-body bathing suit, relatively sand-free. I, on the other hand, in my slightly tanner skin and wearing green and blue swimming trunks, had had a bucket full of wet sand dumped on my head. She was smiling, giggling at her mischief, while I grumbled in annoyance, crossing my arms. We were fraternal twins, so of course we weren't exactly alike, in fact, we didn't have that many physical similarities. Later that day, I got her back, except with a cold bucket of ocean water which soaked her ponytail. She was really upset after that... as in not talking to me for two days upset.

After a while, I smile, the numbness draining away, leaving me with a swelling and aching heart. Personally, I'd go with the heart ache over numbness, any day. It'd at least let me know I'm still alive, and capable of feeling, so I could live my life for both Susie and me. I owe her that much.

I look up at Applejack, actually look up at her, not stare past her, holding my smile. She return the expression, though half as heartedly as I did.

"Feelin' better?" Applejack asks.

I think for a moment, then nod.

She seems relieved, and sighs, "Glad t'hear it, sorta." I place the photo in its rightful place and put away the wallet. I finally look to the rest of the ponies in the room. Twilight has a crestfallen look on her face, Spike standing right behind her. Celestia is standing off the the side, again, something I notice she tends to do a lot. Fluttershy dug her head into her wing, though kept one eye fixed on me. Rainbow Dash is flying above them, staring at me with a look of contempt, for some reason. Rarity seems the least bit affected, casually standing next the the wooden pedestal with a plain look on her features. Pinkie is to my right on her rear from being shoved off by Applejack.

I focus on Twilight, getting up and stepping off the bottom step, approaching the unicorn. She avoids my eyes. Spike keeps his distance, but looks guarded. He's probably a little mad for me yelling at his sister like I did. I can't blame him. If someone yelled at Susie like that, they'd need a new set of teeth, and probably a neck brace.

I get down on in knee and place a  hand on her shoulder. "Don't sweat it, Twilight. I know you didn't do it on purpose." I smile warmly at her, trying to reassure her that I really am not angry with her. She looks up at me finally, wiping the wetness in her eyes away, and Twilight smiles then, too.

"I-I'm sorry for interrupting, but, um," Fluttershy stammers, coming out of her wing caccoon, "I was just wondering, um, that girl, your sister, sh-she sounded like--"

"Me," Twilight finishes. "You're right, Fluttershy, she did sound strangely like me."

"Yeah," I answer, "I noticed it when you found me in that forest."

"You could hear what I was saying?" Twilight asks with a raised eyebrow.

"A little, yeah. And believe me, it was weird, hearing my dead sister's voice coming out of talking horse."

Some of the ponies in the room begin to laugh, but a new voice enters the room, instantaneously grabbing everyone's attention.

"Hmm, yes, that is quite hilarious, isn't it?" It's the some voice from my dream, the same one that came from my throat a few minutes ago, deep, foreboding, and metallic.

Everybody starts looking for the source of the voice.

"I'm over here," the voice continues, and I realize it was emanating from the wall below the staircase. I swing my gaze at the wall, but the only thing on the side of the stairs is my shadow.

Wait a minute, I think quietly, immediately noticing that something was definitely wrong. Shadow? It's only a quarter before one, how can I have a shadow this long?

"Where are you?" Celestia's voice ringed. "Show yourself."

The voice chuckles a steely chuckle, as if it were amused by the princess' orders. I start to feel a ball in the pit of my stomach at the voice's casualness. I can tell the others in the room reciprocate the feeling, each of them taking up a guarded stance at the wall. It was as if the holder of the voice could do whatever the hell it wanted, but only chose to humor the order when it replies,

"As you wish, your majesty..."

On the shadow of my head, two red dragon-slit eyes that pierced your soul if you looked at them directly suddenly open. The ponies gasp; Fluttershy faints, evident from the light sigh and the thump that followed; I manage to keep my composure, somehow, though worms are working their way into my nerves. I look down at my feet, catching movement in my peripheral vision once again. The part of my unnatural shadow that clung to my being via my feet literally detaches from me, slithering back towards the red eyes on the side of the stairs, shortening in length. All of our eyes follow it. When the slithering section meets the border of the stairs and floor, it looks like a perfect silhouette me was standing against the wood. Then, something freaky happens, like out of a horror movie freaky. With this strange figure's eyes still fixated on me, the entire shadow seems to peel off the side of the stairs, like peeling off scotch tape from a wall. The feet are the first to come off, stepping onto the floor in front of them. As it continues, the peeled-off portions became three-dimensional. This time, we all back up, except for Fluttershy, who still lay passed out, hooves pointing straight up into the air with stars dancing above her head. The temperature must've dropped about twenty degrees in the room, and the light dimmed through the windows. This new atmosphere is like that of a haunted house.

When the figure becomes fully three-dimensional, it... looked like me. Excluding the eyes, of course, but the shadowy being in front of us shares my appearance, same clothes and everything, even the scars on my face and arms are identical. But there is another major difference separating us; its entire body -- skin, hair, clothes -- is a dark-hued parody of mine. My normally white sneakers are gray, my jeans almost perfectly black, and my red tee just a darker, blood-red version of itself. It's skin is a light gray. Other than that, our heights are equivalent. The eyes, though, the eyes pulled all of that away from you, leaving you with only them. It's like staring Death in the eyes. It smiles, revealing its pearly whites, which are all sharpened to a point. They, at first glance, appear a little too big to fit in its mouth, yet when it closed its lips, there wasn't any protrusions.

This doppelgänger of me swings its arms in the air, streching, while exhausting "Man, it feels good to be out!" He smiles a devilish smile as he does so, his teeth flashing menacingly like knives hanging on the kitchen wall, seemingly oblivious to all our wariness towards this strange new creature in Twilight's library. His piercing gaze suddenly shoots at me. "Sorry I had to put you through that, big boy, but I was getting bored inside your head," he says, addressing me. "Oh wait, no I'm not." My doppelgänger sneers at his own correction. His voice was exactly the same as before. My blood runs cold like liquid nitrogen. I stood stunned, not knowing what to say. My eyes were able to glance down at my feet, but they find no shadow whatsoever.

Is this thing really my shadow?

"Ooooooooo! Michael has a new twin!" Pinkie Pie exclaims unconcernedly, jumping in between me and the shadow me. He regards the bouncing pink pony with a condescending look, smirking whilst tilting his head, resting it on a fist. "That is the most amazing thing, ever! Now you won't be all sad about Susie anymore, Michael, and you can have all sorts of fun with this new twin." That last sentence, I'll be honest, stung a bit. Pinkie shifts back to the doppelgänger, smiling a smile that stretched ear-to-ear, eyes sparkling in blue stars. "What's your name? Is it Michael, too? That would be so confusing, wouldn't it? Because if someone called you two while you were together, you'd both be like 'What?' and that would be so hilarious, I could just--!"

"PINKIE!" Everyone else shouts. The mare shrink back into silence, scurrying behind the fainted Fluttershy to hide from the annoyed glares she is receiving. The shadow me only laughs with schadenfreude.

Rainbow Dash flies over to my side.

"Whaddya' mean 'Sorry about that', huh?" She growls, bringing her forehooves up like she's preparing to box my shadow clone. "Who are you, anyway?" He shoots his terrifying gaze at Dash, who, I can tell, quickly regrets trying to act tough in the face of this unknown being by hiding behind me. The clone chuckles again, amused by Rainbow's hollow bravery.

I look at him sternly and ball my fist, trying to put on a brave demeanor. "Answer the question."

Oddly enough, the clone only shrugs, and answers, "Very well, then. That spell that was cast on you down in the basement, remember that?" He asks me. I nod. "Well, when that irritating-as-hell purple light began looking for your memories, I saw that as the perfect opportunity to break you." He says that with as much casualness as you'd get from a possibly paranormal being. "I placed some of your more... treasured memories in that beam that shot out from you. When those final few images started to play, your psyche began to crack, and I managed to slither my way out of your subconscious, entering this world. Though you held me back a little when you accidentally used your body's true eyes when you yelled at Twilight here." He waves a hand at the lavender mare, and she shivers at the movement. "I must admit," he continues, returning to me, "I'm quite impressed that you got the hang of revealing your true nature so quickly, albeit not voluntarily. " He strokes his bare chin thoughtfully.

"What do you mean, 'my body's true eyes'?" I ask. "These, are my eyes?" I point to them in a "duh" manner.

The doppelgänger snorts. "Those? Those aren't your eyes. In fact, that's not even your real body."

"What?"

"That's not your real body," he answers apathetically. "Your real body is back in that other world. I look down at myself, inspecting my being, trying to figure out just what the hell this guy is talking about. "Yes, it looks like your body, the skin and hair and eyes, and all... but it's not your real body."

Now I'm really freaking out. "So what, I'm in someone else's body then?" The clone me nods tersely. I spread my hands out in a "What the fuck?" manner.

"Trust me," he continues, leaning on the staircase, "as much as I'd like to say, I just can't, not yet, at least."

Celestia steps in. "Excuse me, but if you would be so kind as to tell us who, and what, you are, that would most appreciated." The clone turns his head groggily and raises an dark eyebrow at the princess, as if thinking Really? Although his devil-red eyes had moved onto her, the princess remains unfazed. My doppelgänger finally answers, with another devilish grin,

"What am I?" He turns back to me, staying in place, but still managing to creep the hell out of me. "I am the product of another world's magic, or rather, another realm, if you prefer, brought to life by--" He stops abruptly, glancing at Celestia. "Actually, you'll meet him soon enough." The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, goosebumps blanketing every inch of skin on my being. This guy, whatever he was, is bad news.

"Th-Then why do you look like me?" I stutter. My clone appears amused by it.

"I look like you 'cause you look good," he answers with a smirk, keeping his gaze fixed on me.

"Huh?" I ask with a surprised eyebrow, hoping he doesn't mean what I think he--

The clone snickers, leaning further onto the stairs. "I'm just kiddin'. No, you're actually one of the ugliest creatures I've seen. I mean, look at you! You're almost completely bald." I glance down at myself self-consciously.

I'm not that hairless...

My clone brings his hand up and inspects the nails. "But I gotta admit, I am really diggin' these fingers." He flexes them around experimentally. "And these opposable thumbs... talk about rebellious. And I love me a little rebellion." He looks back at me.

Somehow, his gaze hypnotizes me every time he locked onto me; it made me stand still, paralyzed, as if I were facing a T-rex, and I had to stay still in order to avoid being seen. He stares intently at me, his eyes never blinking, which just makes it more unnerving. I can feel my hands were shaking, but I don't dare move them.

I finally work up the courage to ask, "What was in that dream? Was that you talking to me?"

The clone raises an eyebrow tiredly. "It was me. What of it?"

"What were you doing inside my head to begin with? And just what the hell did I see in that portal?"

"Ugh... questions, questions, questions, enough dilly-dallying with pointless questions," my clone says testily. "It doesn't matter what I was doing in your head, and it doesn't matter what you saw, because like I said, you are disconnected from that world. Permanently." Removing his gaze away from mine, he reaches an arm out to the steps. I feel slightly relieved, I don't know how much longer I could've gone on with him staring at me like that, but his answer did nothing to quell my growing disquietude. "You have a job to do, Michael, a job that hasn't had a filled position in millennia. And beginning today, you'll get a glimpse of what that job is, right here, in this happy-go-lucky pony town." He grabs the crimson tome that lay on the steps. He holds it in front of his face, his dragonesque eyes scanning the surface top to bottom.

"Do you know this book, Celestia?" Shadow me asks her, holding up the book for the princess to clearly see. Celestia looks at the chronicle, but no sign of familiarity or remembrance makes itself evident on her royal pony face.

"No, I don't," she answers finally, shaking her head.

My doppelgänger purses his lips. "Can't say I'm surprised, since the pony who sent it to this library in the first place never finished it."

"And," Twilight rings in, "just how would this pony you speak of have sent it here? I'm pretty sure I would've remembered somepony delivering a red book with a dragon on the front to my library in the past three years."

"More pointless questions," my clone quietly exhales to the ceiling, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Let's just say he... he has his ways."

"And just who is this pony?" Celestia asks.

"Your brother."

Stunned silence is all that meets that comment. All eyes turn to the equally surprised princess, her eyes wide with incomprehension.

"B-Brother?" She stammers, as if the word "brother" was a long forgotten vocabulary word to her. Then, realization dawns on her face.

"What was his name, again?" He taps the side of his jaw in mock contemplation. "Hmm... Oh yeah, Ouranos Black." Keeping his head pointed upwards, shadow me glances at Celestia one more time, grinning somewhat maliciously. The princess' head hangs down low, staring at the wooden floor, eyes tearing up. Twilight approaches the white mare cautiously, as if getting close too quickly would make the taller pony shatter like glass.

"Princess...?" Twilight whispers. Celestia continues to stare, several salty droplets falling off the bottom curve of her eye.

"The princess--" Rainbow Dash speaks from behind me.

"--has a brother?" Rarity completes.

Celestia only chokes out, "Ou... Ouranos...? M-My..."

My clone flips through the red book. "More like, 'had' a brother," he says, his attention on the flipping pages in front of him. "Like, around three thousand years ago, give or take a few centuries?" He's... appropriately apathetic to the emotional pony, something that suits him perfectly. "Ever since he ceased to live among the living, he's distinguished himself as a pony without family. I don't see why you're crying about it, though. After all, you did practically kill him."

Celestia's head snaps up at statement, outrage evident in her eyes and voice. "I did not kill my brother!"

Her voice cracks at the outburst, all of the regality and control she had maintained up until this point gone. Everyone jumps back from the sudden hostility, Twilight the most visibly shaken up. The princess stares down the doppelgänger with intense hatred, taking deep, harsh breaths through her nostrils, as if she hopes he'd spontaneously combust where he stands. He demeanor keeps unfazed from the shout and her glaring.

"Oh, that's right. You and your sister shut him out of your lives when you signed the contracts with the celestial bodies, casting him out forever. That's much better, don't you think?"

Celestia couldn't hold it back anymore. Breaking down where she stood in the room, she collapses on the floor; guilty, muffled sniffling can be heard. All the ponies are silent, flabbergasted, watching their monarch have an emotional breakdown. Twilight, recovering from her shock, hurries to comfort her mentor, affectionately stroking the multi-colored mane and nuzzling her cheek.

Rarity stands up to the dark creature in the room, glaring him down. "How dare you?! Making the princess lose her composure in front of her loyal subjects, utterly and completely humiliating her!" Twilight shoots daggers at the alabaster unicorn. "What? It's not like I'm wrong, right?" The purple mare rolls her eyes in an "I give up" manner, and returns to trying to calm down the weeping monarch.

Unbelievable, I think, but I didn't know whether it was from Rarity's inconsiderate comment, or my doppelgänger's malice.

Shadow me scratches the back of his head, apparently bored by the drama ensuing. "Alright, this is getting too touchy-feely for me," he murmurs. He turns to me. "Look, I'm not here to bring up anymore bad memories than I already have, I'm just here to give you a warning and to prepare you." He tosses me the book. I snatch it out of the air before it could hit the ground. "Keep that book, it act like an instruction manual for you. Plus, you said you love history. It'll make for a good read for when you're bored. Not that you'll be having a lot of reading time for the foreseeable, come to think of it..." His form begins to literally melt, like he were a chocolate statue that was left in the sun for too long. "Also, try to practice using your true nature more often. It'll save your life..." And with that, my doppelgänger sinks back into the ground, and the resulting dark blob swiftly slides under me. I jump up surprised, thinking he was going to do something to me, like attack me, but upon seeing my regular, non-talking shadow return, I relax. The room lightens up, as well, both in temperature and light. It becomes warm and sunny, like it was earlier, almost like nothing had changed.

My mind however, was reeling. What. The fuck. Was that?

The library is continually filled by Celestia's quieting sobs. The ponies and Spike had surrounded her at this point, helping to attempt to calm the princess. I walk up behind them, holding the book at my side. Celestia looks even more exhausted than she was when she first came to the library, her slightly leaky eyes red around the rims, her head resting on her forehooves on the floor. Twilight lay right next to her, watching over her beloved teacher. I was told that Twilight and Celestia were close, but I didn't realize until now that they practically viewed each other like mother-and-daughter.

"P-Princess?" Fluttershy asks, who had finally recovered when the clone vanished back into the shadows. Celestia looks up at. "Um, what did... whatever that thing was, mean when it said y-your brother? I didn't know you had a brother."

"Actually, I don't think anypony knows you had a brother," Pinkie Pie adds.

Celestia raises her head, eyes closed, and takes a deep breath before saying,

"I think it's time to uncover a little of the past." Celestia sweeps her gaze around everyone as she speaks, "My sister and I haven't always been alicorns. We were born a little over three thousand years ago. I was just a unicorn, Luna was a pegasus.  Our eldest brother, Ouranos, was also a unicorn. When my sister and I stood up to Discord and overthrew his reign of terror, the sun and the moon needed guidance in the aftermath, since Discord's chaos had damaged even the most fundamental parts of reality, including the celestial bodies, leaving them confused as to how to rise and set themselves. They, along with all of the ponies in Equestria, turned to us to guide them to peace and harmony. Luna and I agreed to be the regents of the moon and sun, respectively, becoming alicorns, as well as the immortal rulers of Equestra."

She pauses to let all of that sink in. My mind is trying to keep up.

So, when a pony has a horn and wings, they're called alicorns. That much I can grasp.

"And, although you probably think that all alicorns are immortal, I'm afraid only Princess Luna and I are so. This is because as the sun and moon must be immortal, so must my sister and I. All other alicorns in Equestria, and around the world, are born as only a very slight genetical probability. So, Twilight, this means your sister-in-law will be able to grow old and die with her husband, like any other pony."

The unicorn nods.

"But..." She hesitates as she goes on to the next part. "But the knowledge of our older brother, Ouranos Black, has faded through time, something that... that was inevitable, I suppose."

"Princess, is... is what that thing said true? Did you shut your brother out of your life when you and Luna became rulers?"

Celestia bites her lower lip before answering. "It is not something I am particularly proud of, Twilight, nor is it something I prefer to remember, either. I... I would very much appreciate it if we could leave this for another time."

Twilight nods once, then smiles. "Of course, Your Highness."

"Thank you," the monarch says gratefully, getting back up on four hooves.

"Well, now that we got all the "depressing past" stuff out of the way, you girls know what we should do after all of this not-feeling-good and crying and shadows coming to life?" Pinkie Pie calls. She jumps into the air, probably to answer her own question, like she usually does, I've noticed.

Mother of God, please don't say...

"A part--!" But she cuts herself off. Falling to the ground, Pinkie's body begins convulsing, rapidly shaking up and down like a phone on vibrate. It's like a bomb or an earthquake had gone off in her insides. She proceeds to shake violently for ten seconds, until which she blasts off into the air like a rocket, falling to the ground with the sound of a deflating balloon coming from another dimension who's entrance shall remain hidden. Everyone's eyes follow her as Pinkie continues with this full-body meltdown, floating downward like a dead balloon. Upon somehow landing on all four hooves neatly, Pinkie's eyes become wide with intense fear, staring off into nothingness, not saying a single word.

Well, that definitely isn't normal. Or good.

"Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash asks carefully. "Was that... another one of your doozy shakes?"

The pink pony nods slowly.

"Well, what's gonna happen, sugarcube?" asks Applejack, concern making itself evident in her posture and tone of voice. "Tell us."

Pinkie Pie's gaze ever so slowly angles upwards, to the ceiling. "Trouble," she whispers, her voice constricted with intense fear. Everyone is silent.

"Can somebody mind explaining to me what just happened?" I asked, wanting answers. "Did Pinkie just have a seizure?"

Rarity trots up to me and answers, "Well, you see, dear, sometimes, Pinkie Pie gets certain feelings in different parts of her body. And if you've lived in Ponyville long enough, you learn to listen to Pinkie whenever she gets these sensations. She calls them her 'Pinkie Sense'. For instance, when her tail twitches, that means that something will fall out of the sky and will more than likely land on top of your head. Do you understand so far?" I nod, though my tried brain was still trying to process how something could possibly work like that. "And, don't try to figure out how the Pinkie Sense works, darling. Twilight here already tried that, but eventually gave up, nearly costing her her life in the process." Rarity casts her gaze towards the other unicorn. Twilight nods once in confirmation, her ears flopping down sheepishly.

"But whenever Pinkie's entire body shakes like it just did," Applejack adds, "then that means somethin' fierce strange 'n unexpected's gonna happen." The orange farm pony looks concededly at Pinkie, her voice turning shaky. "'N judgin' from the way Pinkie's starin' up at the ceiling like that, it don' bode too well fer any of us."

I blink. "Okay then..." I turned to Pinkie, her gaze still stuck on the ceiling. "So, what exactly is going to happen now, Pinkie?"

I am answered by a shrill scream coming from outside, followed by another, and topped off by a chorus of earth-shaking roars that cut across the world and made us all flinch and bundle into ourselves. I can't tell how long it lasts for, but it was too long for enjoyment, that's for sure.

"What in the name of--?" Twilight starts when the roars fade, but is immediately cut off by Celestia.

"NO!" She cuts across the room and busts open the front door, charging outside to see what in the hell caused that shriek.

We all follow in pursuit. Outside, we stop just behind the princess, who was casting a terrified gaze to the northern sky. We look in the same direction, and terror quickly fills my body, shutting off all voluntary functions.

"A-A-A-Are th-th-th-those...?" Fluttershy squeaks, managing to slip it by her paralysis.

Celestia never takes her eyes off the scene in front of her. "Dragons..."