Lunar: Caught Somewhere in Time

Chapters

Shadow
Royalty
The Warning
Nexus
The Drake and the Rose

Shadow

By: Darkened Powerslave

Chapter 1

'And with an arm raised, the slaughter was started, blood flew in one direction... While children and their mothers went the other. Most people would think, do you kill because you are protecting something, or is it that you kill which that they protect.'

The air was thin and the night was heavy in the Everfree forest. It was a humid night in July, but the fog on the ground seemed to creep by the trees and the whisper of the creeks in the willows seemed to echo alone. The forest was dead, and no sound was heard above the loneliness of the silence. The birds were asleep in their nests, and the bears in their dens, and nothing but the leaves against the air could be heard now… There was a distant thundering in the air, as a storm was approaching Ponyville. The air started to get cool, and the night blacker, as the winds would start to knock the leaves from their branches.

Twilight Sparkle awoke in her room to find drops of rain on her windowsill. She took a gasp of air and looked to the moon, remembering distant dreams and adventures. The thunder threw her off from her thoughts and she lay back in her bad staring at the ceiling, trying to get her rest. Spike was moving restlessly in his pallet on the floor, trying to readjust to get back to sleep. He stood up.

“Twilight,” He spoke, “Were you ever afraid when it rained?” She looked at him with a silly grin, but then understood because he was only a child. “Yes Spike, when I was small I was very scared of bad weather, but I would get my mother and father to tell me a lullaby for it to be alright.” Spike looked at her in a warm way, knowing she meant well, “Could you… Sing me a lullaby?” He asked. She looked at him for a little, “No Spike I, I don’t sing, go to bed.”

He laid his head down and shut his eyes; he felt the warm tears building up as he tried not to think about what a boring life would be like.

Outside in the cold distance, the storm grew to a devastating flood. The humid air swept into a freeze and the winds shattered on the houses.

Rarity awoke and stood as the windows on her house began to shake and tremor. She called in Sweetie Belle and hugged her tight, and they watched the rain pound their windowpane. The water started to build up on the dirt roads outside the houses as the floodwaters began to rise.

Near the edge of the forest, a mixture of downed trees and mud with water was rushing towards the town. Rainbow Dash, now awoken and looking outside, was made aware of this by looking towards the forest. She quickly rushed to the library to warn Twilight and Spike about the danger. As fast as she could fly she made it to the house in a minimum of twenty seconds. She barged into the house uninvited and proceeded to wake Twilight.

Spike woke on his own but woke to see that Twilight and Rainbow Dash were arguing. “I came to warn you not to bother your sleep! You need to be nicer about having to save the town!” Twilight answered back, “You need to see if you can do things on your own! I am not the messiah of this town, I can’t handle everything.” Rainbow Dash looked at her shocked. “We don’t have much time we have to go!” Twilight quickly ran out the door with her and Spike sat there left alone. He thought to himself, Well, I guess they didn’t need me this time, I’m glad actually, now I can see what it’s like to not be part of the danger. After a while of waiting, of what seemed to be an hour, Spike got worried.

They had been gone so long, and he waddled over to look out the window. Nothing much had changed, other than the color of the sky had gotten blacker; he saw that it was the same. Spike moved back to his pallet, and started to tear up at the thought of Twilight and Rainbow Dash failing. Suddenly, a crash startled spike, and a bright light illuminated the sky. Spike jumped up to rush to see what it was, only to be blinded by the light. He ran down to the door and tried to open it, and was sabotaged by water when he released the door.

Spike trotted through the knee high water, and he saw that other ponies had left their houses and shops to see what had hit the ground. Pinkie ran over to spike to pick him up on her back so he could get a better look of what was going on. “Spike, where is Twilight? Is she inside getting some spell ready?” Spike opened his mouth, but before his vocals could produce words, Rarity interrupted him and said, “Pinkie, do you know what is going on here? It was storming at first and then this huge meteor crashed around the Everfree Forest!” Spike thought, The Everfree Forest? But that is where Twilight and Rainbow Dash are… Rarity interrupted his thoughts by asking a similar question. “Spike have you seen Rainbow Dash? Applejack went over to see her but she wasn’t at her house.”

Spike answered with a worried sigh, “She was at Twilights house when they both left to go to the Everfree forest to stop a flood of Downed Trees. They have been gone for a few hours, and I haven’t seen them since.”

Spike was holding on tight as Applejack ran as fast as she could to reach the edge of the everfree forest. From the views of the four, there were fires, downed trees, and overall, it looked like it was daytime. The light from the explosion of the meteor flashed brighter than Twilight’s light spell. When they reached the sight at where the mudslide was supposed to be, it was clear with no debris; Rainbow Dash and Twilight where nowhere to be found amongst the forest when they searched. “Where do yall’ reckon they went to? I don’t think we could be able to find them tonight in all this forest, besides… Its Twilight and Rainbow, they are fine on their own.” Applejack said.

Rarity looked at her and nodded, and Pinkie answered back with a “I’m going home.”

Spike looked out to the forest at all the trees, it got quiet, and he suddenly forgot about the wind and rain on his face. He forgot about his missing friends and about what he has done in such a short life. He looked further and saw the clear night sky, and the moon, and he forgot what he was doing right now, and he wondered what it would be like to have a boring life.

Twilight woke in a field, she didn’t know where she was but she knew it wasn’t Ponyville. She looked around and quickly gasped in pain. She reached for her ribs and saw she was bleeding, and she fell over in agony. The grass below her was stained in blood and lots of it, from the look of it she had been bleeding for a while. She was quiet, so quiet that she could hear the heartbeat in her ears, and the wind whistle through the grass. She tried to roll to her left but it was too much pain to bear, so she stayed on her back, biting her lip so it would distract her from her lacerated kidney. She reached down to grasp the soil beneath her, just to feel at it with her hoofs. A thought came to mind, and she had to study that thought with ease. It was that the ground wasn’t like that of Equestria, and that the sky was different, something had changed, she noticed that it was daytime and the sun was shining.

But when she was last awake, it was raining and night, and she was by a forest. She grabbed a chunk of dirt and put it down. She then closed her eyes and thought about Spike and why she didn’t bring him.

Rainbow Dash was drowning as she awoke. She screamed and started to swim to the top but was quickly stopped by a pain below her thighs. Her legs had been broken, and she couldn’t swim with broken legs. She flapped her wings with all her might and started to lose breath, her vision got foggy and she got weak. The water seemed to get deeper and colder as she swam faster, and the pain in her legs grew as she tried to avoid using them. Finally after it seemed that she had been swimming for an hour, she reached the near top.

She was running out of breath and she grew to a deadly cold temperature. She blasted through the top of the water in her relief, and took a deep sigh as she reached down to nurse her leg. She looked up and to her horror; she was surrounded by nothing but water. She started to fly away but the pain in her legs stop her, and she has to stop beating her wings sometime soon, or else she will pass out. She lowers herself into the water to see if she can float, and she can, but the water is devastatingly cold. As she is staring up at the sky with the freezing water at her back, she is thinking about her broken legs… And why she helped Twilight.

Spike and Applejack return to the library, and the floodwaters have receded. “Alright now Spike, you get you some sleep. I know your protective of Twilight but she is gonna’ be alright. Now I’ve gotta get on back ta’ Sweet Apple Acres and tell Granny Smith bout’ whats happened.” Spike frowned at the loss of the company, and that he would be alone this night. “Alright Applejack, tell Big Mac and Applebloom I said hi. And, well… Good Night.” He closed the door and he walked up to his pallet on the floor. The light from the meteor had died down a while ago, but the strange thing was there was no meteor to cause the light when they went to see it, just light.

Spike got tired of lying on his mat and made himself comfortable on Twilights bed, as he thought she wouldn’t mind. He looked up at the ceiling and started to think of all the fun things they had done together, dating back all the way to when they first came to Ponyville. And one particular thought came to mind, Princess Luna. He thought of why everypony treated her bad and neglected her love. Of course Spike himself was a little resentful at some times to Luna, but she was the nicest pony you could get to know, other than Fluttershy. (In this time of the story, Fluttershy is on a trip to Canterlot to rehearse for the Royal Equestrian Opera.) But other than that, he thought of Luna as a whole.

Spike sat there thinking of what could have possibly changed Luna, other than the fact her subjects rejected her. Spike wanted to do something on his own, to fix a problem without anyone else’s help. Of course he could just write a letter for the princess to come down to Ponyville, but that wouldn’t be fun, and he thought about meeting Luna personally there, because secretly his favorite Princess was Luna. Spike rose from Twilights bed and hopped onto the wood grain floor, trotting to grab books off shelves, and pack a few sapphires for the road.

He looked out the window to see if the storm had slowed down, and he grabbed the last of the rations he needed for his journey. He stepped outside and gently shut the door to make sure nobody could hear him leave. He waltzed over to Rarity’s house and looked in to make sure they were asleep, and he started on his way. Spike started to follow the train tracks that would lead him to Canterlot when something illuminating in the Everfree forest caught his eye. He motioned himself over towards the trees and the willows to get a better look. Suddenly he saw something staring back at him, and he started to turn and run.

He caught his foot on a branch snaring up from the ground, and he tripped, instantly breaking his nose and spewing blood into his vision. Spike started to scream but was out of range of Ponyville, so no one could hear his cries of terror, and he heard the Stranger drawing near. “Please stop screaming I don’t want to harm you, I just want to know where I am.” The stranger said. Spike couldn’t see him because of the darkness and the blood in his eyes, but he knew he was friendly, so Spike answered, “You’re in Ponyville Equestria, home to some of the friendliest ponies you’ve ever met!” The figure backed away and looked up at the sky, and at that moment Spike could tell he wasn’t a Pony.

The Figure looked at Spike and Spoke with ease, “Ponies… So I am where I am meant to be. Please creature, tell me your name.” Spike looked at him and told him his name, and Spike stood up to get a better look at the creature. Spike gazed upon his face for a long while and the creature allowed him for he knew Spike had never seen anything like him. He was a humanoid with long pitch black hair. His ears were of an Elvin race, and his eyes were shadows in the night. He seemed to adopt the Pegasus form of wings, but they were never really there, it was an illusion.

His facial structure was that of the most handsome mare you could find, but even better and he had a body that was of no feathers or fur. His skin was of the palest white, like the moonlight on a cold winter’s night, but colder than that, like the lands of the highest north of Equestria. He wore a black robe with symbols of ancient text over it, and a cape descending to the ground that might get snagged if he ran too fast. He then spoke, ruining Spikes study of him. “Where were you off to when I startled you little Dragon boy?” Spike answered back, “I was off to send a Message to the Princess of Equestria, Princess Celestia.” The man looked at Spike and said, “Then I shall accompany you.”

Twilight was crawling from her current spot and groaning in pain, she was looking in every direction to see if she could spot a tree line or a town. The only thing she saw that she wanted to crawl too that got her attention was an ocean, or at the least a really big lake. The sky was reddening and Twilight was starting to slow down. She started to remember what happened back in the forest, and how she and Rainbow Dash could have died. She stopped for a moment to think hard on why she was still alive.

Rainbow Dash and Twilight were arguing all the way to the floodwaters, and they were talking about If they should have woken any of the others or not. When Rainbow Dash reached the spot of the mudslide, she had to wait for Twilight to arrive as she had rushed ahead to avoid her arguing. As she was waiting she looked at the bright moonlit sky, and saw an asteroid heading for the forest. Rainbow Dash quickly moved towards the heart of the forest, where she could barely hear Twilight calling for her. The calls got louder as she stayed still, but she soon had to progress towards them, for she knew Twilight might be in danger. When she got to her, there was a branch protruding from Twilights side, and the tree that had fallen on her lay to the side of her.

“Are you alright Twilight?”

Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash, and nodded.

Rainbow Dash started to pick her up when a tree fell on her, crushing her legs and spilling Twilights’ bag. As they were both gasping for air, they look up to see the meteor speeding towards them, and they knew they didn’t have much time. Rainbow Dash tried to flap her wings but she was in too much pain to move. She then looked to Twilight to cast a spell, but Twilight had faded into Unconsciousness. The meteor hit with a force that shattered the trees and the ground, and sending a shattering light all the way to Ponyville.

Twilight lay there thinking how she was still alive and where she was. She knew she wasn’t in Equestria, but she wanted to know how she got here. She didn’t want to use her return home spell until she found Rainbow Dash, because she knew if she had been brought here, then so had Rainbow Dash. She proceeded to crawl towards to water, ignoring the pain in her kidney as she left a exceedingly large trail of blood behind her.

Spike and the Stranger started off on the Tracks to get to Canterlot, and the stranger wasn’t one for small talk. Spike wanted to talk to him but it seemed like the man just stayed quiet, or at least Spike thought he or it was a man. Spike was bored about seven minutes into their journey, so he started pestering the stranger again. “So… where are you from?” The Stranger kept walking for a little bit, then started to speak as if he was annoyed, “I really don’t know, but I can tell you this. I am here because I was sent here for a good reason, to stop something from happening.

Because something was going to happen that wasn’t meant to, but it is now. I don’t remember who sent me here, but they had a good reason. All I know is that, I am ‘Special (Remember that) and that I was something that was of great importance. I can do things other people can’t.” Spike looked at him in awe, “Like what?” “For example, look at my wings, they aren’t like dragons’ wings, or a Pegasus, but more like a Shadow and that is where I get my name. My wings are see-through, like mist, and I can take them away if I want. Or my tail, I can change it to whatever I want… Basically I can shape shift into anyone I have touched or talked to.”

At this point, Spike is now amazed and Canterlot is coming into view. The two keep walking and talking about each other. “So you’re a Shadow? Can you disappear, or even fly with those?” He answers back, “Yes I can fly, and no I can’t disappear. But I would like to know more about this ‘Canterlot’ of yours.” Spike looks at him and knows this is going to be a long talk.

“Canterlot is over One-Thousand years old! It is home to the two Princesses, Luna and Celestia. Celestia has ruled there all the time, but Luna was banished for 1000 years because she betrayed the Princess. But now she is back because she has been forgiven and they are helping each other control night and day. It is also home to all the rich and uptight ponies who can afford lots of nice things.”

Spike had been talking for almost half an hour on the Subject of Canterlot, and Shadow had just stood Listening. After it was done, there weren’t any questions that Shadow wanted to ask. Not even a “What is…” or a “Who is?” He just nodded and said okay.

The two continued walking as the rest of Canterlot came into view. The sun started to rise and the birds could be heard all around them. The dew made its home on the leaves as the cool air settled on the morning winds. The two were nearing the gates of Canterlot, unaware of Twilight and Rainbow Dash. They were unaware of the danger growing near Canterlot itself, and what was to come of Equestria in the coming years.

Royalty

Chapter 2

'Some people will ask what drives a man to ask questions... I ask them what drives them to answer them'

Rainbow Dash had been drifting closer to land for hours, but had not reached it yet, and the fact that the water was a chilling cold made it hard for her to stay conscious. Twilight gained the ability to get up and walk to the water, and from there she could see that Rainbow Dash was floating in the water. She was trying to scream out to her, but her voice gave way to the pain and all that came out was a crackling sound like she had built up mucus.

She had to walk farther than before, and her magic was useless because of the pain. All her strength was gone from her and she was using the rest she probably shouldn’t have had to go get Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was falling asleep, and this time she probably wouldn’t wake up, but she wouldn’t let that happen. She started to flap her wings, but she couldn’t lift herself out of the water, because her wings were frozen and she was too tired. The pain from her legs just returned to her, and she started to use her wings to paddle her.

She hit her head on the shoreline, and she turned around to face a warm ground. Her arms were weak but she still used her emotional strength to pull herself onto the beach. Twilight spots Rainbow Dash on the shore, and she starts to run, but she collapses and her wound opens up again, spewing with blood. She starts to scream, and Rainbow Dash is alarmed to hear her. Rainbow Dash gets up and tries to walk over to where the screams are, and she sees Twilight pouring with blood.

Shadow and Spike arrive at the Gates of the Canterlot Castle, but immediately, Spike is faced with the problem of getting Shadow into the castle. “Umm… Shadow?” Shadow looks down at him, “Yes Spike, what is it?” Spike looked up at him worriedly and asked him, “Could you take a letter for me?” “Sure, but…” He was interrupted by Spike handing him a Quill and Paper. “Ahem. Dear Princess Celestia, I have an Urgent matter and I request that I be let inside the castle with a stranger named Shadow. He brings grave news and he says that it cannot wait. Please tell your guards and Luna to let us through with no harm. You’re faithful… Dragon… Spike.”

After the letter was written, spike grabbed it and told Shadow to watch. Spike then engulfed the letter in flames and watched as it evaporated into nothingness. Shadow didn’t ask any questions because he knew that the fire was for a purpose. After a few minutes of waiting, Spike exhaled a flame that carried another letter out of it. It read ‘Dear Spike, I would much like to meet this Stranger. Your path into the Castle is cleared, and I have told Luna to watch over you. Pio, my guardsman pony, will be letting you in. Just tell him Celestia is expecting you, and say its Spike, he will know.’ Shadow also read this letter, and he was amazed the dragon boy had an audience with the Princess so easily.

Spike put a cloak on Shadow so he wouldn’t be looked at like he was different, and Spike told him he had to walk on all fours. Immediately there was a problem with that, he hadn’t touched a pony so he couldn’t imitate the walking style and he couldn’t copy the legs. He would have to sneak in and touch a pony. Spike led him to the side of one of the walls, where he saw a guardsman pony standing, blocking the entrance to the City Section. “This is just the entrance to the City; we have to get past these guys first.” Spike said.

Shadow looked out to the trees past them, and he was generating an idea. Spike was watching him think, it was as if there was a thunderstorm in his eyes. He suddenly melted into a shadow, like a mist at Spikes feet, and slithered behind the guard and brushed past him. As he was returning, he started to take the shape of the guard, but with the cloak on, instead of the armor. “Shadow that was awesome, I didn’t even see you get him but wow!” Shadow didn’t respond but he motioned spike to follow him to walk up to the gates to pass through to the city.

Rainbow Dash made her final efforts to walk over to Twilight, as of which damaged her legs to the fullest. She collapsed beside Twilight and hugged the purple unicorn, embracing her with both her arms and her tears. Twilight was out of breath but she knew that Rainbow Dash understood she wanted to hug her back, as she could see that the blood was pouring from her side she was unable to perform acts of aggression or sudden movements.

Rainbow Dash removed herself from Twilights personal space and she saw she was covered in her friends’ blood from where she had nuzzled beside her. The tears in her eyes built up like a tempest on the sea and the thoughts began to race to her mind as if she had held them back. She was wondering if they would make it, or if Twilight could survive or talk to her. Right away Rainbow Dash started asking questions. “Twilight, do you think we can make it, I mean I know you have magic and all, but my legs are broken… And I am… well, I’m afraid.” Twilight looked at her, and tried to open her mouth to speak, but all that seemed to come out was pain. She thought for a moment as Rainbow Dash cried and waited for a response.

Finally she uttered the words “Need… Water,” And Rainbow Dash looked at her in a shocked way, as if she couldn’t help her. Rainbow Dash took a quick look at the dying Twilight, then at the lake, or ocean, (Whichever one) almost a quarter of a mile away. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, and looked at Twilight. She then picked up the purple unicorn, and started to carry her down to the lake.

Shadow and Spike walked up to the Guardsmen at the gate with ease, watching how they approached them. The guard they had mimicked didn’t seem to take notice, but he did seem thrown off by the cloak Shadow was wearing. “Excuse me sir, Remove your Cloak.” Shadow looked up and was instantly reminded of the form he had just taken. The guard that confronted him was the guard he had mimicked. Shadow reached up above his forehead and mane to unbuckle the strap holding the hood onto his cloak.

The cloak was a long grey drape like object that hung to the ground, noting the constellations and the suns to their finest. He let it go and it fell to the floor, or cobblestone path as you might say. Shadow took the form of a guard that had quite a nice texture, a sleek light and dark blue mane. Green and red eyes, a mixture just to throw it out there, with a body built for fighting he was strong. His tail was the same as his mane, but his tail seemed to be cut short and same with his mane, the bad thing is that Shadow would have been recognized if he wouldn’t have changed the Cutie mark on the mimic. The guard looked at Shadow and stood staring for a while, wondering if he was a changeling, or some form of trick magic. “What is your name sir?” Shadow answered simply saying ‘Shadow’.

The man looked at him and said “You may pass.” Simple as that Spike and Shadow walked into the city, and with his disguise still on, Shadow wouldn’t be noticed as a threat or a stranger in Canterlot. They just had to get through the city, and make it all the way to the Castle.

Shadow was admiring the City, even though he thought it was low class for his tastes, he still loved that all the ponies were there talking. Wait, Talking ponies? He thought to himself, ponies couldn’t talk. But he quickly shoved that off and kept ‘trotting’ through the city with Spike. They found themselves at a passageway to get to the Castle faster. Spike looked at him and started talking about ways to get to the castle faster. “We need to make it up to the castle before nightfall, I have friends that are missing, and I have friends that will be looking for me. I need to get this over with, the Princess expects us so we don’t need to sneak in.” Shadow looked at him, and nodded. He started to look around and observe the area around him.

“There is a shop with a back alley way leading to a system of tunnels that will lead you to the Royal district. After you get through there you must pass the Royal Market and the crowds to go north to get to the Castle gates. Pio will be waiting for you there.”

Spike’s jaw dropped an extra inch, for he couldn’t see past the pony in front of him to see the shop Shadow started with. They started to move past the ponies that were in their way of the shop, but there was a problem right away. Spike was too slow to keep up with Shadow, so he was getting left behind in the midst of the crowds of people. He ran to see if he could catch up with Shadow, but now the problem was that Shadow was a pony… And he couldn’t tell the difference between him and all the other royal ponies.

Rainbow Dash had made it about halfway to the (Ocean maybe I haven’t decided) lake when Twilight stopped breathing. Rainbow Dash immediately stopped and fell to her knees, and the first thought that came to mind was failure. She fell to her back and looked up, finally realizing it had become night. A tear formed in her eye, for she knew that Twilight wouldn’t make it to that (Ocean maybe) lake, but she would have to try. Rainbow Dash started to drag Twilight to the lake, inch by inch, she would see that the water would draw nearer, and she felt the cool breeze approaching her as she neared the (Fine it’s a lake) lake. As she neared the sandy shores of the lake, the fish scattered from the bank, and Rainbow Dash cupped a hoof-full of water to give to Twilight. But this gift of water never reached her mouth for Rainbow Dash dropped it on the shore when she saw that Twilight had closed her eyes and faded into unconsciousness. Rainbow Dash laid her head on Twilights stomach and hoped for a miracle…

Something to happen that would, against all odds, save them. She looked up at the starlit sky, and let her tears wash her thoughts from her. She rested her broken legs in the cool waters as she, too, started to drift into a dream.

When Twilight woke, she found Rainbow Dash at her side, unconscious. She wrestled the blue Pegasus off of her and then motioned herself over towards the beach to get a drink of water. As she raised her hooves to her mouth, the cool liquid rushed past her teeth, like a wave of life.

She felt her throat loosen up, like a door opening, and she felt as if she was regaining energy, and she felt the cool water rushing into her. She reached down for more and she felt it freeze her hands, but she didn’t care… It was refreshing, and she enjoyed every chilly moment of it. The last refreshing drops she took of the water dripped past her tongue, and she paid no attention to Rainbow Dash. She got up and walked over to a patch of grass on the beach, where she tugged the grass from the ground and pressed it against her wound. The relief of being awake and mobile again soothed her, but now she was stranded, and it was in a place that wasn’t Equestria.

She looked around for signs of different biomes, but she found none, and her rustling through the grass seemed to have disturbed Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash woke with a groan and then a grunt of pain as she writhed towards her legs. Instantly Twilight saw her legs were broken. “Rainbow Dash, are you ok!?” She rushed over to help her friend. “No I’m kinda not, ya see, my legs are sorta broken…” Twilight looked at her with a gloomy stare, and then continued to aid her friend.

“I don’t think I remember the spell to heal, or to fix broken bones for that matter, and then again I don’t have my satchel with me, but I brought it to the floodwaters… I’m so sorry Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow Dash groaned in pain and then answered, “Aw, it’s ok Twilight, I think they will heal up eventually. You don’t have to worry about me, I was way more worried about you and your injury a while ago… But that was different; we just need to find a way back home.” She ended her sympathetic speech with a cough as she rolled onto her back to face the cloudy sky.

Spike knew that once Shadow got to the gate, he wouldn’t be allowed in without him. He rushed through the crowds of people to get to the shop, and he couldn’t see anyone that resembled the guard that Shadow had mimicked. He wandered aimlessly around the shop for a while to see if he could spot the shape shifter, but to his failure, he couldn’t find him. Spike would just have to follow the directions given to him, and make his way through the alleyway system to get to the castle. He started walking down a alley behind the donut shop, and he saw right away he was going the wrong way. He turned himself around to face a street of crowded fancy ponies.

As he waddled to the other side of the building, the streets seemed to disperse, because it was getting near dinnertime. Spike made his run for the alley and started a random path to get to the Royal District. He ran into walls and curves where he didn’t think buildings could be built like that, but still he found his way around to a passage near the exit. Spike was leaving and he saw the gate to the Royal Plaza, but he knew something was wrong…

There was no Shadow, and for that matter, no pony at the Royal District at all…

Shadow walked through the gates of gold and marble to the entrance of the castle. He saw way before that the friendly dragon he met wasn’t following him, but he thought he would catch up eventually. As Shadow approached the entrance, he spotted a guardsman pony, who he knew had to be Pio, and he started trotting casually towards the guard. As the guard watched this act, he readied himself for whatever might happen from this ‘civilian’. The guard stood in the formation he was addressed royally in, and he halted Shadow as he knew he should.

Shadow stood blankly, eyeing the guard, while gathering his thoughts and questions the thinks he should ask. The first thing that would come to mind would be to address himself as the man that would come to see princess Celestia at the Royal palace meeting later on that afternoon. “Excuse me fair guard, but I have a meeting with the princess to attend, it is I Shadow, and Spike sent me. You must be Pio, the guardsman pony.” Pio looked at him with an untrusting manner. “Yes it is I, but why would Spike leave his vessel to wander about Canterlot alone like this.

Seems a tad bit rude don’t you think. But otherwise, Princess Celestia has been waiting for you for a while now.” As Shadow moved past the gateway with Pio, the golden archway shut behind him, sealing his destiny forever, to which he would not know yet but he was stuck inside that castle to behold to the princess what the impending doom would be that crept toward her land.

Twilight Sparkle turned and faced Rainbow Dash, who was starting to lose pain in her legs. She then left Rainbow Dash to walk a little and relieve herself of the pain in her side and see if she could find a tree line or a mountain somewhere. She couldn’t spot anything, but she noticed the pain in her side was gone, and she started to feel that she was able to get her magical powers back.

She rushed down to Rainbow Dash and told her of the news, good and bad. As she walked down to the grass where Rainbow Dash was laying she could see that she had gotten better, or at least good enough to sit up and move around a bit. Twilight moved close to her, and looked at her a bit, trying to comprehend that she still had a broken leg to assure her that it wasn’t safe to move around.

“Rainbow Dash, you still cant fly or move with those broken legs, even though they may seem healed they aren’t. You have to stay in the same position, like I have to stay calm with my lacerated spleen. And, I have worse news; there isn’t a sign of forest or mountains for miles.” Rainbow Dash frowned at the purple unicorn glaring over her in dismay, “I guess we will have to wait out the night,” She stopped herself, for she knew they had been out there for over a day and night hadn’t occurred yet. “Or day, either one, here, and we will have to stay here until something changes out fate to which we will be able to leave or at the best find shelter.”

Twilight agreed and she showed this by happily, or contently plopping on the ground beside her.

Spike was lost, completely and utterly lost, but for the worst part, there was nobody to help him find his way to Shadow. The Royal District was completely empty, and he couldn’t see anypony for miles. (Yes it’s that big) He started running (Yes he can run) to the edge of the royal district to find the exit to the Royal Plaza to find the Entrance to the Castle. The Castle wasn’t far off from view, but it’s one of those circumstances where you can see your goal, but there is a lot between you and it. And you can’t see whats between the goals.

Spike hated those situations and so did many people. But he had to get over that now; he had probably let a mad killer into the Princesses castle, and worse, with all of the other civilians in the castle that might be harmed. Spike rushed faster and faster as the thoughts rammed into his mind, colliding with the other thoughts that are telling him Shadow is just as lost as him. He turned a corner and saw a trail of blood, leading off into the alleyway, and immediately Spikes blood ran cold as he halted in front of the entrance to the horror scene.

Shadow was walking into the Castle unknowing of the danger Spike was getting himself into, but though he could sense the danger from galaxies away, he couldn’t help his dragon friend.

Shadow took his steps into the golden gates of Canterlot Castle, proceeding to walk into a chamber with velvet lining on the patterned banisters that held themselves on the walls. The columns and marble arches patterned along a quarts floor, holding in place a golden roof that stood with colossal force above everything else.

The walls were decorated with stained glass windows of ancient battles fought, or ponies that became heroes and were decorated with honor for their bravery. The floor had limestone decorated into the marble and quartz as a pattern leading all the way to the princess’s throne. He saw the princess in all her entirety, and saw the beauty that was before him, a gentle white mare, with the flowing mane of the most beautiful color combinations that could have possibly been put together by any kind of mind.

After he stopped gazing at her flank and other portions of her body, he turned to her face, which was a pale whitened gray color with the nicest pink eyes. Or were they red? He couldn’t tell, but that didn’t matter, as he progressed to approach the princess everyone called ‘Celestial’, or was it ‘Celestia’?

He would find out soon.

Spike moved closer towards the blood trail that veered up the alley. He started to move away, but he knew that he had to find the source of the blood, and that he had to be brave to help, in his mind he thought, What would Twilight and the others do, I know I have to be brave like them, I need to help out and be strong like Rainbow Dash or Honest like… Oh who am I kidding let’s just get this over with.

He moved down the alleyway as the blood trail thickened. He heard footsteps and growling as he progressed towards the end of the alley. Spike stopped to take a look at a few shadows moving, and the sounds got louder and louder as he listened to them. Suddenly a sharp cracking sound shocked Spike into falling over, and he saw the shadows approaching. What he saw was a giant beast, of about 8 feet or more in height. Spike got up to try and run, but the beast was too fast, it grabbed Spike and tore a piece of flesh from his side and Spike screamed in agony.

The Beast slammed Spikes head into the ground and blood splattered onto the walls around him, causing Spike to lose control of his screams. The beast threw him onto the ground, Spike then getting his last dying breath and views of what the blood was from. He looked at the giant mass of dead fillies on the ground that the beast had been eating on, and the blood was pouring from the pile. As Spike drew his dying breaths he felt a lone tear roll down his face, soothing his burning wounds for only a second as his body went warm. If only he could have known what a normal life would have been like.

The Warning

Chapter 3

‘Many people are skilled at talking, but what are your words worth when you are faced with death.’

Shadow moved towards the princess with a strange gait, or so it seemed for him, for he thought every princess should be approached with a royal manner, but he didn’t do so here. “Your majesty, I am the messenger fro-”

He was stopped short by her interruption.

“Where is Spike? He was supposed to be with you. Never mind that, I heard you have a message of great importance for me, but first, I thought you were supposed to be… never mind.”

Shadow drew in deep breaths, but he couldn’t get his mind around how he lost spike, and at this moment he was thinking hard on things that he never had thought about before. He was thinking about his origins, about what he was or what he used to be, and the thoughts were rushing to him.

As he stood before the princess, a strange feeling overtook him, as if a memory flew into his mind like wind through trees.

‘It was a long time ago, about 1000 years. The terrestrial ball was given life to bear as the first animals started to form families and reproduce. The atmosphere was thin but it could sustain even the most formidable of creatures. To this you had the humanoids, a species unlike any other on the planet, gifted with the power of speech with the heavens above. ‘Prayer’ as they like to call it, they would speak to their ‘god’ and wish for mercy and forgiveness.’

‘But there were men that were evil, humanoids disobeyed their gods, and were sentenced to the nexus. Nexus was time in eternity, which was never-ending torment as a nightmare. Most people that were sentenced to nexus were usually banished to the outermost regions of space. Some were gifted with strengths so they can redeem themselves. The planet was destroyed after 200 years of existence, and the cause was unknown.’

‘Nexus was lost, but the punishments weren’t, and those who were punished were sentenced to redeem themselves. It was a long time ago, but it seems to Shadow like yesterday, for this world seemed familiar, but it never seemed to him like he could put his finger on what he got the memory from.’

He was thinking and taking up the princess’s time. He looked up at her and spoke in a shocked manner, “Actually ma’am, I don’t know where Spike is, I lost him on my way here in the Royal plaza. But he is very smart I assure you, he will be here very soon. But about the warning, I need to tell you. There is a great danger coming to the land of Equestria, a dark force has risen, or at least I am told. I don’t know who has told me, but I was sent here to warn you of this force. I don’t know who sent me, or where I’m from, but all I know is that they knew that you were in danger before it was going to happen.” Celestia looked at Shadow, and a very long one.

“So you are not from Equestria?”

He looked back at her, his eyes fixed on her beauty, “No milady, I am not even a pony, look, and please don’t be shocked.” He stood and closed his eyes, changing himself back into the humanoid form he was used to. As this was occurring he thought to himself ‘Oh god walking on all fours was annoying, I wonder what she will think of my real form…’ When he was finished the look on her face was a smile, which shocked him.

“Why aren’t you shocked? I am more shocked than you!”

She widened her smile, making herself at home with the new ‘creature’. “Well, I figure since I am the Princess of Equestria, I have to expect the unexpected, and I have to stay alert. You are no shocker, or at least I can’t show it on the outside. I believe your story of danger, and I understand you aren’t from here. But that doesn’t explain why we are in danger.”

It was raining, or at least a misty sprinkle and this aggravated Rainbow Dash, to the point where she stuffed her head away under Twilights flank. As the rain progressed, Twilight huddled up to her rainbow coated friend and casted a spell of shielding. Usually casted to prevent hot objects or damaging debris from hurting the caster, this time it was used to shield the two from rain.

Twilight was gaining strength back, but at a slower rate than she usually would. The day slowly started to fade away, and for the first time, the two got a glimpse of the moon. It was different than what they were used to, brighter, and wider, which made it closer to where they were.

Rainbow Dash was eager to leave, and her mouth was ready to move. “Twilight, you know I’m feeling better, we have to go.” Twilight turned her head, the rain tapping the shield behind her.

“Where to?”

The simple question was enough to boggle the mind of the Pegasus pony in an instant.

After a little thinking, even though it wasn’t smart and rational thinking, she spoke above the weather. “Anywhere but here, I want to leave, and we need to leave. We need to move far, far… Far away from the coast. I would like to see how far inland we can get.”

“So be it, we will rest first, and after we sleep it over, we can leave. That is, if you still feel up to it after the nap.” Her smile soothed Rainbow Dash’s gentle eyes, breaking the silence in the calm air, or at least visually. The two laid down beside each other, slipping into deep dreams, and gently falling asleep for the night. Both of them unaware of the danger in Equestria, and how they would get home…

It was 9:00 Pm sharp. Rarity had woken up to the sound of rustling in the kitchen, which to her “amazement” was none other than Sweetie Belle.

“Sweetie, I want you to explain to me, what in the blazing beauties are you doing up so late?”

She didn’t get an immediate response, but she knew she would get one. Sweetie Belle looked shocked at the most, probably because she was caught stealing some of Rarity’s favorite sugar-coated raspberry muffins.

“Sweetie Belle answer me now!” The roar of Rarity’s voice echoed through the household like a lightning strike hitting a tree.

Sweetie Belle retreated to a corner of the room, which this brought sorrow to the face of Rarity, but quickly Sweetie answered, “I was just hungry, I’m sorry sis.” Rarity smiled, “Its ok Sweetie, eat up. In fact, I’m a tad bit hungry myself, why not get Spike over here since the rain has stopped, and get him a few of those cookies?”

“That would be great!”

Rarity marched out of the door with her fine leather boots on her hooves to avoid too much mud. As she trotted over to the library she noticed that the lights were on, or at least some of them. She motioned herself up to the door and knocked with at first, a few subtle pounds. When there was no answer, she then threw her hoof against the wood grain door, thrashing the wood, but then stopping herself. She knew how Twilight respected her library.

After a little waiting, Rarity got tired of being ignored. She opened the door on her own (And oh how she hated breaking and entering) and waltzed into the foyer of the library.

“Spike!” She called, “Spike, are you here?”

She started upstairs, but to her horror, Spike was gone.

Shadow was pacing himself around the hall, waiting for the Royal review. Wait, Royal review? The princess is the most powerful being in this land, who else could possibly be the one to help “Review” such a risky situation with a high power? Or at least these are the thoughts running through his head. He walked over to a chair, not built for him, but suitable for relaxation, and he comforted himself by ecstatically lounging down onto the chair.

As he waited he had begun to think about where Spike was, and how he hadn’t come back yet. In his mind he thought maybe his tiny dragon friend deserted him, or maybe someone took the ‘baby’ dragon.

Slowly the door in front of him creaked open, revealing two royal guards. They passed through the room, stationing themselves in two different corners to watch a conversation about to take place. Immediately Shadow recognized Celestia, by her beauty of course, that’s the only thing he focuses on. She then passed by the doorway, her hair pulled into braids for a diplomatic occasion, gold bands securing the knots in her smooth hair. (He thought hair, not mane)

But after Celestia, came another pony, this one was a little different, well scratch that. He studied her well, because she was almost equally as beautiful. Her hair had about 4 different colors in it, or at least that he could count. It had purple, pink and a yellowish apricot. She was wearing a white satin dress, accompanied with a bouquet of ribbons in her hair. She was pinkish overall, and she was basically the same makeup as Celestia, a horn and wings.

As he studied on he noticed that her tail was the same as her mane. The mare caught him staring and he blushed wildly. He sat up strait in the chair, fixing his seat against the giant table at which the two other ponies sat.

“Shadow, I would like you to meet a very great friend of mine! This is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.”

He sat up straight not knowing how to greet her, seeing as she had a hoof and he had a hand.

“Hello Shadow, nice to meet you. I am the Princess of the Crystal Pony Empire, and ‘married’ (Boy she put a lot of emphasis on married) to Shining Armor of Equestria.” She glared down on him.

After a second or two of thinking about what he was going to say next, he rose up from his cramped position and opened his mouth to speak. “It is an honor to meet you Princess Mi Amore Cadenza-” He was stopped short by her interruption.

“Please, just call me Cadence.” She winked at him, and he followed this up with a mad blush. Celestia glanced at him, then back at Cadence with a devilishly evil glare.

“All right, Princess Cadence.” The words were choppy coming from his mouth as the sweat rolled from his brow, for he was surrounded by two beautiful, ponies. What was he thinking? They were ponies for sweet sake, but for some reason they were very attractive ponies.

“I am Shadow, from-“ He stopped himself again, well this time he really couldn’t speak, he didn’t have anything to say. He didn’t know where he was from.

“From a place… (Wow dull, just dull…) I can’t remember who I am or who I was, but all I know is that for some reason fate has led me here to your Kingdom of Equestria.” Cadence looked at him with half derped eyes, still stuck on the fact that shadow wasn’t a proper name to give someone with such a colorful background, or at least she thought, it was too dull.

“Are you sure your name is Shadow, not Shadow bolt, or Shadow speed, something ‘cooler’? (She put a lot of emphasis on cooler) Just asking.”

He stared back at her getting the feeling she completely ignored what he had just said to her, but at this point Celestia was getting neck high fed up with tomfoolery. “You two know we do have serious matters to discuss, (Staring at Shadow while saying this, trying to justify it was him that was disrupting the importance of the meeting) Shadow here is trying to tell us that we are, or Equestria is in great danger of an evil force.”

Shadow responded to this immediately, “Exactly Princess, what I wanted to continue on with was that I was sent here, I don’t know what I was meant to do afterwards, but I know I am here to warn you of grave danger. And- Umm… Princess, where is Spike?”

“I, I don’t know,” she started to say. “We sent a guard out to look for him over an hour ago, he couldn’t have gone far.”

Shadow thought to himself after hearing this, Couldn’t have gone far… true, but If gone, where would he go? The facts didn’t add up, and they were starting to bother Shadow to the point of him wondering, Is Spike all right?

Twilight Sparkle woke to the sound of birds, but strange birds it seemed, because as she recalled she had never heard a bird that sounded like this. Its pitch was low, and a slight echo, almost a repetitive growl. She quickly shoved off the fact that it was strange and brought in that there was life other than the two ponies that were stranded.

She rushed over to Rainbow Dash and slammed her hoof into her back, jostling the pegasus into consciousness.

"What is it Twi'? I'm trying to sleep..." She said with a groggy tone of voice.

"Its birds, we aren't the only life forms out here! C'mon we gotta get moving so we can see where they are headin!" Twilight had already observed that they were moving inland, and she knew that birds migrated. When a bird migrates it usually picks a safe spot to call home, Twilight knew that she could find a shelter by following the 'birds' to their migratory place.

Rainbow Dash wasnt very happy about getting up, first of all considering that she had a broken leg, and second she was tired from a sleep that only consisted of about five hours.

She stumbled to her feet only to see that she was too dizzy to walk, let alone hobble or stand. Twilight motioned over towards her and held onto her shoulders, gripping her very tense around the neck area so she wouldnt fall over.

"Ok, I think Im ready to go. Just walk with me for a bit longer, ok?"

Twilight nodded and they started to walk, both of them at least trying to keep an eye on the birds in the sky. After a few moments of steady footwork from both of them, Rainbow Dash managed to 'limp' on her own, steadily trodding in Twilight's footsteps.

The constellations lit the way for the two as they trudged the pathway that the birds led, at least that some led. Twilight noticed that not all of them were going to the same place, and she made a decision to follow the biggest flock of birds heading, well wherever they were going.

As the two of them progressed through the damp night, it seemed that the land was just a checkerboard, and never changing in the way it presented itself to the two. Eventually, she thought, we will run across a forest or mountain...

Eventually

Applejack kicked off her striped boots to releave the swelling on her hooves, as she headed for her rocking chair.

She sat down and pulled out her favorite copy of 'Daring-Do' (Cause who doesnt like to read every once in a while) while rocking to the thought of old country blues. She flipped through the pages to find her favored chapter, as she stopped to gaze at the fancy illustration and small print. As she was admiring the courage of Daring, somepony knocked on the door, and you could hear Applebloom wake up in her bedroom upstairs.

As aggravated as it made Applejack to take company this late at night, she had to, regarding the incedent and the quick dissaperance of Twilight and Rainbow Dash. She waddled (because of her swollen hoof) over to the front door. The night was reflecting onto the shadow outside, so she couldnt see who it was, but she knew how to fix that. She walked over to the side of her door and flipped the light switch, revealing Rarity in a bright yellow raincoat.

"What r' ya doin out so late girl?"

"Well, I thought I should stop by and deliver news..."

Applejack stood blank, but understood that it was important to listen. "Go on ahead!"

"Spike is missing, and so are most of the alchemy spell books in the library."

Applejack called down Big Mac immediatly and put a hold on the conversation with Rarity. Big mac came rushing down the stairs of the house, his hooves thoundering in the silent night air (Which it should have stayed silent) as he stampeded towards the two.

"Eeyup?"

His dull questioning was just as good as his responses...

"Big Mac, watch over Applebloom, we got ourselves a kidnapper."

Shadow stood watching as Celestia conversed with the Guards in her chambers to watch over his room as he stayed his first night in the castle. She was saying to them it would be a honor to do this, since he gave the warning.

The Warning, what exactly did Shadow give? A mere thought of being threatened, the thought came to his mind of it just being a false alarm. Maybe these ponies are just really gullible, he hoped not, for he was playing them for fools then if he was wrong about all of this.

As soon as she was done, she walked over to him, seeming to tower with authority she spoke, "We have your room ready, Princess Cadence will guide you to your sleeping quarters. I forbid you to wander off at night, and I ask of you, to stay out of the kitchen please."

Shadow responded with a yes ma'am and a nod, maybe he should have worked on being more polite.

As they were walking, Cadence and Shadow didnt talk much for the first few minutes, but Shadow had to go and open his mouth about Shining Armour.

"So when did you two meet, you and him?"

She looked into Shadow's eyes and saw curiosity, and she was glad to answer him. "We met about twelve years ago, and I met him because I was the Sitter for his little sister."

Shadow laughed at that, even thought it was serious buisness. But how does a sitter become a princess? He left that thought behind, anything can happen.

"I needed to say this and I didnt say it in the meeting..."

Cadence focused in on his words.

"I really dont know about my words, if it will happen or not. But I do feel something, deep inside. It hurts, and I never feel like this, I just dont. Something is coming that cant be stopped, and I dont know how i know this I just do..."

Cadence shushed him, and stared into him with a worried look, "Most of us dont realize this untill we are old or near death, but we were destined for a certain greatness, and when you fulfill that greatness, you know that was your destiny. Everyone has one, and everyone will reach their own eventually, whether it is love, or just getting your cutie mark."

"Whats a-?"

"Dont ask, its not important. But what is important is you, realizing your destiny, and that you should be here, warning us that we are in danger. By the way, this is your room."

She unlocked the door, revealing a master suite, with a bed ten times bigger than her or Shadow. The windows were barred but beautiful, and draped with velvet. The carpet was apricot with a tinge of a lemon color, and the room was a size for five. She waved goodbye and left Shadow standing there, as he thought about what she had said... he needed to realize his destiny, whether it be love, or whatever else.

Nexus

Side Story

Chapter 4

It all Started over 2000 years ago. The dimensions were forming together with streangth and peace. A mighty king named Claww was the ruler of such great times, and the people, little there was, rejoiced at the sight of him. These people were of the Humanoid race, far from knowing anything about interdimensional travel, or of 'ponies.'

The humanoids were capable of many things, and one of those things was worshipping a god.

Little did King Claww know that behind his back the others were worshipping gods without his permission, and at that, they were believing in a higher being.

One day, a minion of his was caught with a representational idol, of the god they called Aplhato. They said it meant end, and Omega meant end. This enraged the kind to his limits, now knowing that they not only had one god, but they had two gods, with false idols and names. The King grew enraged, and he summoned up his streangths to create his own gods out of sheer creativity and raw power. He gave each of them an ability, or as he liked to call it, a 'curse'.

The false gods were given a temple, or a Nexus.

A meeting place for when to discuss topics of war or other famines. The King decided to name them; Alpha, Omega, Orion, Morph, and Delta. Because of the amount of power put into making the gods, the young king died.

The Gods lived on, but with a different view for the universe in mind, and a terrible one at that. They harvested the power from the Humanoids, and this caused the Nexus to become a point of Purgatory, or the realm of Death for when neither good nor evile souls go when they reach the end of their days.

Nexus was a deciding point for horrid punishment, or a Destiny to carry on wills for fallen souls that failed them in past lifes.

The decisions were made by none other than the gods, which were cruel creatures, horrid and nasty demons masked with gold and gleaming armor to hide the terror that reflects on the murder they shine upon the community.

Eventually they would let people out of their 'Purgatory' and set them roaming free, but this was also considered a punishment, because you would forever roam, untill your soul gave way to nothingness.

The best thing is to be given rebirth, which is an opportunity to fulfill anothers destiny. The Nexus was eventually lost after 1000 tyrannical years of controll by the gods, and how it was lost, no one knows.

There was claimed to be no survivors. But some say the ones with the personal destinies still live on, trying to await their moment to fulfill the quest to leave Purgatory.

There was a strange few tales of Souls in Nexus that were famous stories, like the story of Rathsrin, a half Vampire and Half man. His past life was unknown, but he was charged to murder a boy, a young boy. And he would be freed.

He refused to do so, because he had devoted his life to kindness and tranquility. So the gods slayed him and raped the boy, causing more trouble than needed, burning his village. If the Vampire had listened he would have saved more lives than lost.

But there was never a pony in the Nexus, it was never written in the ancient archives that there was a pony...

For some reason Nexus seems as thought it still lurks, and still chooses our destiny, slowly crawling out every once in a while to pick one unlucky soul to controll.

The Drake and the Rose

Chapter 5: The Drake and the Rose

‘What is Democracy?’

-“It has something to do with young men killing themselves.”

‘When my time comes, will you want me to go?’

“For Democracy, any man will give his only begotten, son.”

It had been several long hours, as Twilight grew tired once more, feeling the drowsiness in her. She looked towards Rainbow Dash, seeing that she was in way better condition than her, she was studying her gait, admiring the fact she could walk so steadily with a broken leg.

It was hard for Twilight to focus on the birds that led their path, but she could tell that the birds were catching on to them. They had seen that she was following them, and they had started to increase the speed at which they flew. At any normal given day, Rainbow Dash could catch up to them, in a heartbeat. And Twilight would be able to use her teleportation powers to catch up to the flock, but at this point, the weather was getting frigid and the night was at its peak.

They were losing the birds, and Rainbow Dash was starting to get colder and colder to the point of where her teeth were chattering. She could tell the birds were leaving them, and she had to speed up. Her teleportation powers were useless because of her condition at the moment. Rainbow dash was trying to keep up, but she was freezing to death, or so it felt like to her, and she couldn’t walk as fast as she was able to before the cold had set in.

The terrain hadn’t changed much, but there were many small hills, and a few rocks that were bigger than them here and there scattered amongst the landmass they could call a continent. It seemed they had been there for a few days, but to tell the truth there had only been one day and one night.

Supposedly there was some migratory spot they were trying to reach by following these birds, or at least Twilight thought. What if she was wrong and they had been led to a barren wasteland?

“Are we almost there? Can you see further?” A voice took her out of her deep thoughts.

Rainbow dash had been growing restless of the long walk and started to ask a lot more questions than usual.

“Yes Dash, we are almost there, just a little longer ok!”

Her sweat poured over her brow, but it wasn’t a hot sweat, more like a chill that shouldn’t have been. As they progressed, the air got dense, and the walk seemed heavy on both of them. It was as if the clouds above had dropped right on them, causing the air to pressure itself right on their shoulders. But the worst thing of all happened at the worst time, it rained.

Of all the things that could have happened in the cold, it started to rain, and this caused it to feel colder than it should have. Twilight was rushing to find some way of locating shelter. Her protection spell wouldn’t work this time, she was too weak to cast it, and she had to stay with the birds.

Rainbow Dash was falling behind to the point of where she could barely see Twilight in front of her. The rain was fogging her view of what was in front of her, causing her to lose sight of Twilight. She stumbled to the ground, losing balance of her feet, and falling to her side.

Twilight was rushing ahead and not paying any attention to the friend she had just left behind her, as she moved closer to the top of a hill. She motioned herself to the top, trying to maneuver the jagged side, which was different terrain from which she had experienced. She took her last steps up the crooked side to reveal something she never would have expected.

Rainbow Dash quickly crawled to her feet, and the pain she felt was unlike any other, she could tell that it was strange that she didn’t collapse but she was thankful she didn’t. She started to walk towards the spot that she last saw Twilight go, and she saw a Cliffside in her pathway. Seeing this made her unsure if she was able to go one, but she knew she had wings, but was unable to fully use them.

She leapt in the air and her wings started the motion of flapping towards each other. She could feel the winds and rain dividing to make way for her wings in the air. She started to glide into the sky pass up the hill, past the rocks and the small trees. As she was gliding up, she noticed Twilight at the top, but her voice was too hoarse from the lack of food to make a sound to say something to her.

She reached the top of the hill, or cliff if you want to call it, just to see what Twilight was seeing. She stopped in awe, as she gazed out into a plain of Roses.

Shadow woke in the room he was assigned by the Princess last night, which by this time smelled of cherry blossoms and fresh roses. Had the housekeeping come early? Or had he just slept in too late? Maybe it was just the second one, he was laughing for a moment to himself about that. He looked around and thought what a beautiful room, and then widened that statement to what a beautiful world’.

He strutted over to the door and moved his hand to open it. He stopped himself because he heard the sound of hooves rattling on the somewhat of a linoleum floor. He stopped himself to study the floor, ‘what a nice floor’ he said.

He looked around for things to hide himself from, he didn’t want to be seen sleepy, especially in the presence of such beauty.

He walked over to the window and clothed himself as fast as he could as a rattle on the door sent a scramble to his mind. He wasn’t dressed yet and he knew it, he would be walked in on while he was naked. The thought came to his mind, what it if was a boy pony? Or even worse, Spike. He called out with a scent of anger in his voice, “One minute I’m dressing to get ready.” But this didn’t help the knocking on the door continued and a voice bellowed from behind it.

“We think you have locked us out of the royal Guest suite, maybe we should wait for thou to precede with thy dressing ritual. We shall leave you alone.”

The voice seemed like the most royal person in Equestria. More than anyone else he had ever heard while he was in the stay here so far. Even though he had only been there for two days, it felt like he was getting used to the environment around him very quickly.

He continued to dress in his very orderly fashion, fastening his braces around him, and then putting on a cape, which draped down to the floor like the last. This outfit was a pale white, which sung out night like the mockingbirds that slept in it. The pale lining of silk gauntlets that struck his arms shined around his wrists like the moon itself, and the bracers climbed up his arm like snakes up a vine. The hood he wore was velvet, like a deep blood color, that poured over a white floor, as smooth as the skin of a baby.

After he was done, putting his clothing on, he admired himself in the nearest window, which he loved because it was a very fine texture of gold, which he could tell was very expensive. He couldn’t tell what karat it was, but he could tell it was worth a lot of money.

However, he did not know what money system these people, or ponies, used here in Equestria. Spike had not explained everything that was important to him when he was traversing the railroad, but even if he did Shadow did not really listen to everything that he said.

Shadow walked over to the door and was ready to open it this time. He grabbed the handle and turned it, slowly pushing outward. He looked to his left, then to his right, and found there was nobody waiting for him in the Hall. After Shadow moved outwards to the main passage to the foyer of the Castle, he started gazing at the tapestry and the amazing artwork that hung from the sides of the hallways and the passages.

He thought nothing of the sort that he was treading on Royal territory, and that there were no guards, or at least any he could see. He just kept walking and wondering about the voice he had heard at the door a little while ago.

Rainbow Dash stood in shock at what she saw, for it was true beauty.

The field was blood red, as if it had poured from the sky, raining blood. You could see the roses everywhere, as far as the eye could see from that point was roses and hills. Twilight had lost sight of the Birds already, but it didn’t matter, the two of them could eat roses, and there were plenty for them to eat. Rainbow Dash was eager to take a closer look at the field, for she was admiring the stone pillars.

The Pillars stood about twenty feet from the ground, as if they were taller than a house. They shined as the sun bounced off of them, reflecting the light given. They had some sort of crystal like make up inside of them, and the sides seemed to be littered with jade.

Rainbow Dash darted over to the side of a pillar and scratched her face against it. “Wow Twilight, this place is cool! I wish we had huge fields of roses just lying around back home.”

“It Is pretty amazing, but it’s a strange phenomenon for all these jade stones to be symmetrically placed like this.”

Rainbow Dash looked at her.

“What do you mean?”

“Look around,” Twilight pointed knowingly towards the stones. “They form a pattern of circles and those form one big circle.”

Rainbow Dash looked around to see if she could find out what her Unicorn friend was talking about. She saw that the patterns resembled that of a circle, yes. But her feeble brain (At least compared to Twi’s) couldn’t begin to understand what Twilight was getting at.

“Well if they are symmetrical,” Twilight began to say again. “Someone must have put them there, because nothing in nature is that perfect.”

Twilight advanced towards the middle of the field of roses, where she noticed a huge settled area of grass, or at least cropped. She saw that something big had been lying here, and she knew that it wasn’t safe to stay here for much longer.

“Rainbow Dash, you might want to leave.”

Rainbow Dash looked at her in a confused manner, “Why?”

Before Twilight had the time to respond to her derped question, a massive gust of wind knocked both of the ponies to their backs. A swooping sound echoed through Twilights ears as she saw a massive shadow pass overhead. Twilight cocked her neck and tried to swerve her head to view what had caused them to fall.

A massive Dragon was lying in the spot that Twilight had just been previously observing, which was about the same size as it. The Dragon paid no heed to the ponies; I guess he found them no threat. He curved his neck around and grazed on the roses, letting the blood red pedals settle on his tongue and his nose. He seemed to be somewhat of a blue and black color, with a silver glow.

He swerved his head from side to side, surveying the area, and observing the two ponies in the roses before it. He changed his position from lying to crouched as he rose to a threatening height. Twilight got from her shocked position and stood before the dragon, quivering in fear, as Rainbow Dash rose next, following in her fear.

The Dragon peered at the two from burning eyes, which seemed to have a smoldering red in the ghastly pale white sea. His scales shimmered with the sunlight, as he brought himself to speaking. “What are you two doing in the Field of Sorrow?” His eyes glared at them like a owl would peer at a mouse.

Twilight Spoke, “We were passing through, just admiring the view of your beautiful roses. However, the problem is that we are not from here. We are lost; you see we aren’t from this place at all.”

The Dragon stopped her there with a raised hand; he then spoke, knowingly, “I see, you say you are of the lost, but you seem to know where you are right now. Let me help you, you are in the Field of roses, and I am the one they call the Drake. I can predict what is to come of the things around you in your coming years.

Twilight looked at him in dismay, “What is this place, where are we?”

“Nobody ever has trespassed hear in these lands they call the Fields of Blood. I call them the Fields of Roses, because if I have to live here, why live in a dreaded environment. I used to be a normal being, back before time started. Way before anything like this land ever existed.”

“What do you mean?”

He stood there gazing at the sun, his eyes like pearls in the wind, and his teeth were like blades that glistened with every new flash of light.

He started to speak, remembering back when there was a time that was different from this one.

‘It was a long time ago, probably over 500 years, give or take a few. I was a young boy, about the age of twelve, standing at about five foot eleven. The skies weren’t so grey back, then. In fact, they used to change more often, in a shorter time period than which they would now. I was living in a ruffian’s town called Shalksa, about the population of 300. I didn’t know much when I was growing up, all I knew was that we were at war with another part of the tribal plains. They called themselves the Visionists, and they said they had a plan for all that was supposed to happen to the world as they saw it. We thought we should just let the world plan itself out, and not interfere with the changes occurring. We were people of the land you see, just living off of what we could get and harvest. I however did not care to take sides on the war or let alone discuss the political views the others had.

‘I cared, for one thing in particular, which was love. This I looked upon as a gift, as to which was given to me by sacred gods. I had my eye on a woman, whose name was Rose. She had the tender skin like a baby bear. And she was as pale as the lit night. She had lips as red as the darkest veins, and she had the deepest eyes that would swallow you with the glare she gave. Her looks were stunning, and she always wore the most beautiful things. She could put on anything and make it beautiful, like a stunning cashmere gown woven into a webbed corset lacing itself into silk lined stockings. She had the most beautiful black hair you could imagine, and she wore it with pride in any fashion she wanted to. But I found out that she was not the beautiful woman that I had planned her out in my mind to be. I had asked her for a dance one night, and she said yes.

‘It was on that night that my whole life changed, for you see, she wasn’t a regular woman at all. I found out when she explained to me, she was a Witch, and to my shock she was a murderer. I immediately told her that I refused to love someone who killed others for enjoyment, who cursed them for pleasure. She looked at me with the eyes of fire ablaze, and I knew right then what I had done wrong. I had angered I witch, which was a tragedy, the turning point in my life was when I did that. She had cursed me, for if I had found another lover in my life, the curse would take effect. I would turn into a hideous beast, and my life would be cut off from love again. Of course I heeded her words, but not for long.

‘I grew older in the coming years, and at the age of 16 decided to join the rebel militia. For someone to join the militia at a young age they have to have a reason, I however, didn’t have a reason. I was one of the few that didn’t have a reason to do much of anything. If I walked down the street and stabbed a man I wouldn’t be able to tell you why I did it. My parents by this time had both died; father by war and mother by cancer. I grew into my military fit quite quickly, but it wouldn’t be long before the worse would happen. I was at the battle field one day, at the center of the action on the Hills of Catarys. Because of my arrogance I was near killed in battle by arrow wound. The Visionists were faster than out men, and we had to retreat to the town that we grouped at. I was injured badly, to where they hospitalized me.

‘The doctor there recommended me to a nurse of great healing; I thought I was going to die of course. Without a thought of the Witch in my mind, I reached towards the young nurse as a younger sister, as she healed me day by day I grew closer to her. And she knew that soon I would fall in love with her, she started to grow close to me, and ask questions. I would tell her stories of my family, and she would sit by me, eagerly listening. But lo and behold I forgot about one thing, the curse. The Witch was the one that had so dreadfully cast this evil spell on me. I had forgotten not to fall in love, and so I had transformed into what I am now, I would say she made the mistake of calling me hideous though. I killed that nurse, and all of the other soldiers and patients in the room with me that day.

‘It is my fault the world is like this, the Roses here, the world here is changed so much. After I left that hospital my mind went in a different direction than I did. I started to go insane to the thought of living as a dragon for the rest of my life. So I called upon the god of death to rid me of the suffering I felt. He glared at me for the time being, looking into my very soul, and glancing at my thoughts. He found the thing that ailed me most and killed it. People. People were the thing that ailed me most, but that was only in my mind, and I was distraught when I found what the young god had done. He had completely wiped the world of humanoid life, killing it of its peaceful population. But it was my fault because of my wish to be ridden of the pain. Really in my mind he saw the wish for no more wars, and for the fighting between peoples to stop. But the young god knew that the only way to stop that was to terminate the life. Since then, I have planted a rose for every person I used to know, maybe a little extra.

‘I go around planting these roses, and moving the stones because it signifies the hard work that I have put into my life.”

Rainbow Dash looked at the Drake, astounded by the story, but confused about half of the things that the magnificent creature had just said to them. “So you mean you caused the world to stop living like this?”

The Drake answered back, “Yes it was I who uttered the words that ended the life of Humanoids on the planet. Now listen, the world is not dead, there are creatures far beyond the comprehension of your minds. Things that bend time to travel to other sides of planets or galaxies. Sea monsters that rip holes in water that widen from a mile to at least the size of a big city. This is no lost planet let me assure you, it has just gone to the creatures of evil.”

“How big is the planet?” Twilight asked. “It can’t be that big, I mean it can but, that’s just ridiculous.”

“It’s very big, I mean I can fly and I haven’t even traversed the whole planet side.”

Rainbow Dash gulped, showing that she was impressed that the Drake flew so much, and that must have meant the planet was immense. “So can you tell us how to get off of the planet?”

Twilight looked over at Rainbow Dash, because she had just stolen her question. But that was all right; at least one of them had asked it. But it was a silly question, considering the fact that you can’t really leave a planet, other than the time that Luna was banished. But that was totally different, and with very different circumstances.

“You will need to find the Mask of Sorrow, the only thing that still lets you access the lost Nexus.”

Twilight was confused already. “Excuse me but we don’t know what either of those are, can you please help us understand by first explaining what this Mask of Sorrow is, then get onto the next part?”

The Drake took in a gasp of air as Rainbow Dash plopped to the ground ready for an explanation of what and where they would have to go, how they would get there, and how they are going to get home.

As the hall deepened to a room with tables and beautiful dining sets, Shadow was wary not to touch anything. He knew this was probably the dining room, and if he messed anything up in here, he would be in big trouble. Instead, he just passed by, gazing at the wonderful artwork and tapestries, which hung from the banisters on the wall. Most of them were meaningless, but one caught his eye in particular, one that resembled some sort of sorcery. He glared up really hard at it to study the details, which at this point were really small and textured into the picture.

It seemed to be some sort of Witch, or Wizard, cursing another man. And the details he was looking at were the spells enchantments upon the man, which were what they would have done to him. It seemed there were little encryptions of dragon fire, or holy crosses and many different little religious symbols littered about the artwork. He couldn’t tell what it meant but he was sure it wasn’t something good, or maybe it was a sign showing something in the past had been done.

He couldn’t tell.

Nevertheless, the one thing he could tell was that the noise in the hallway was guards, and they sounded upset because they didn’t find him in his room this morning when he was supposed to be asleep. He knew that the princess would be upset about him wondering the castle in the wee hours of the morning when he should not have been, but he was curious, and he was worried about some things that should have been answered a while ago.

He wanted to know more about the castle that Spike did not tell him about, he needed to know about the princess of theirs. He wanted to know all about this tapestry, and what it meant. He needed to know about all of these other ponies that spike had been talking about and if his prophecy was going to be correct or not.

Shadow heard the guards coming up to the door to knock, but why knock. The people practically owned the place, he guessed they were trying to be polite, or something like that.

They stood there knocking at the door for the few seconds they had to, and it sounded like a rude voiced colt at the door was frustrated with the guest that had been staying, so he just told him to get out.

“Excuse me sir, you have to get out of there, it is the royal dining room and we request you leave at once… Now.”

Shadow listened and he waltzed out of the room with no trouble at all, because why give the people that are housing you trouble when all you want to do is help them.

He followed the guards that lead him throughout the halls of the castle, which at this point had seemed to be turning into a maze. Even the guards themselves were getting worried they didn’t know the way of which they needed to go to bring him back to his room. But nevertheless there was the one brave guard in the front who found the way for the rest of them while running ahead and scouting out the path. Not like there was any danger in the castle, but it was the fact that most of Celestia’s guards were a big joke, and they were afraid of most of the things that they came upon.

Shadow arrived in the foyer of the Castle, looking back around at the beautiful tapestries and décor in the main room, which amazed him how so little ponies could put this together, even if it did take 1000 or so years.

He quickly turned around for he had heard footsteps behind him nearing his back, just to reveal the stunningly dressed Princess Celestia gallantly trotting upon the marble floor, which made her look regal. She requested a bow from, him, and he did; his knees a little shaky on the lowering and the rising portions of the bow, but as he rose he felt good about himself.

“Shadow, I have wonderful news for you!” She said.

Shadow looked at her, but he wondered what could be so wonderful about a time like this when he has delivered a warning, and Spike has gone missing. “What is it Princess?”

She smirked through the side of her pampered face, revealing she had something big planned soon, even though it really wasn’t a surprise. “We are holding the annual Grand Galloping Gala this year, and it will be a night to remember, I do hope you can attend.”

Shadow was dumbfounded, first at the fact he didn’t know what a ‘Gala’ was, and the second one was that he didn’t really care about happy events, he was more worried about the fate of the land; and another thing was that this was the princess, shouldn’t she care more? His thoughts rambled through his head like a train speeding town the track, but he ceased to find the ones that would really make sense, and he went with the ones that he didn’t care for as much.

“Well I would love to come, but first, what is a Gala?”

Celestia giggled, and this made Shadow blush madly, “A Gala is a formal event, usually a dance or dining get together. Many proper ponies from all around are gathered to celebrate formal wear and casual dances with soft toned music.”

Shadow understood halfway, at least he tried to, but he didn’t want to accept the offer, it was just his big mouth that got him into this situation. But now he had to attend, and he would have to be a pony for this just so he wouldn’t freak the public population out. But first thing was first, he had to get to know the people around the castle.

“The Mask of Sorrow,” The Drake started saying as he drew deep breaths which seemed to freeze the air around Twilight and Rainbow Dash, “is an ancient artifact from a distant time, originally used by witches in my era. But before that, it was used by the gods, and they used that for transporting the people that were to be judged of their fate to the spot of redeeming. Mostly, the spot of redeeming would be the Nexus, a portal to the dimensions that linked the Purgatory with living realm and rift traveling. The Mask of Sorrow was named so for the original king who created the Gods; his face was sculpted into the mask, after he died from the lack of power to support his life. It is said that once the Mask of Sorrow is used though, evil gets its right to travel to a dimension of its choice.”

“The Nexus is the gateway in which you would be brought to if you were asked to choose, if not you would be sent to the Purgatory in the rift, which is a place of no description. I can’t explain much more about what to do when you find the mask, or what it is; to tell the truth I don’t know what it looks like. But I can tell you where to go, but instead of you going alone you will need to go with me. I think I could give you directions on the way as we travel…”

Twilight looked over at Rainbow Dash, who just shrugged it off and thought it was ok if the Drake went with them. Twilight then looked back at the immense Drake, raising her head to speak in a tone of voice she rarely had to use.

“All right, you can come with us; just don’t try anything silly, even though we basically can’t stop you considering our injuries.” Twilight glared up at the kind and somewhat seeming to be gentle face of the old dragon. She understood his troubles, and his lust to help them, so she said ok.

“All right then you two, follow me; and try to stay close, don’t worry I won’t fly either.” He started to walk, which was basically running for those two, and at this point they would find the Mask of Sorrow in no time, or so they are thinking. Twilight has her doubts, and she thinks that maybe, just maybe there are those odds something will happen that could cause this to be a terrible upset.

The Drake led them over the first set of hills, traveling at a speed that was wearing Dash’s newly healed leg out faster than she wanted. She was slowing down, but she could still keep up even though she was moving slower than the other two. Twilight was running, jogging actually, to keep up with the Drake, and it seemed he was leading them right into a dark forest. Twilight looked up to his face as he looked down at hers, and she knew that this journey had just begun.

Authors Note: The next chapter has Zecora in it, and I didn’t think about it until after I had thought about the storyline after the fact, but she rhymes in every conversation she has. And I am terrible at rhyming, that is why I am no songwriter. I tried to find another character for the chapter who could fit the bill, but I was screwed after I had etched the story into my head, and it fit pretty well with the chapter name I had planned out. So if my rhymes are a little cheesy, please don’t blame me for trying to try, everyone gives it a shot every once in a while.

I just wanted to thank you all for reading and please comment on my story, I would also like someone to help (It’s just a request from anybody who ‘wants to’) Make a cover art for the story. Anybody that does deviant art or imgur, either one. I have no drawing talents, and as you can see I have a slightly good writing talent that I don’t really credit myself with, I let you do that for me. Anyway, contact me on my steam ID when I get it back up, or my imgur. Also my live messenger account, jburton1997@live.com. Thank you for comments and further help with cover art!