The Shallow

Darkness
-------------
Chapter 4

It was hard to differ between night and day. No light found its way through the thick clouds of the storm. Even though they had a bad reputation, they did a professional job. Light was watching them. The clouds, that consumed all the light in the sky, so that no sunbeam was to be seen. There was only darkness. Through it loomed the balcony of a certain tower, and Light´s sight fell on the princesses. They spoke to each other. He could not understand them, but it was clear to him, what they were talking about. They gazed upon the whole city of Canterlot, but in the end their sight always fell on Lights house.

Seems like they know. But even if they do, I won´t let Skystorm get away with his doings.

The unicorn turned over in his bed, the alicorns gazes in his back.

It is time. The last thing to blow his cover, even if it means I would have to go to some exile of their choosing.

-

He rose from bed and hid behind the wall, where the observing eyes couldn't track him.

“So, off we go.“ His horn lighted up.

It took some time, but then two scrolls rose from the nearby shelf. Carefully they floated to a table and opened up in the light of his magic.

So I can use magic again. It was odd getting along without it.

He took a seat at the table, armed with a quill, analyzing the paper. He took a short glance outside the window, to Luna and Celestia, before his concentration was fully on the letter.

It´s not hard to tell the end of this, I just hope it´ll pay out in the end...

It took almost an hour to fill the scrolls with content. Carefully he sealed the first scroll, put it into the second one, and sealed it as well. After that he put them away on the desk.

There will be different laws for me, after tomorrow.

-

Out on the streets of Canterlot Light thought about his next step. His eyes were fixed on the dark ocean of clouds atop the city.

He´s planning something, I'm sure of it. I need something concrete. I can not confront him with what I've got now, he could just deny all the charges, and I would just end up in exile.

On that thought he quickly looked for guards. He could not find any. He then made sure nopony was following him and continued on his way.

I've got to ask the ponies that are close to him. The only ones in reach are the Stormguards, but I doubt they´d help me. Should I use Force? No. That´s the last thing I need. As long as the City-Guard remains passive, I should do the same. So I got to trick them into giving me the information.

A Pony stepped into Lights way. He gazed towards the stranger.

Dammit, a guard!? No, wait. A Stormguard!

Lights body stiffened a little. “A red Unicorn. Light, am I right?“

“Yes, that is correct.“

What does a Stormguard want from me? I hope Skystorm hasn't took notice of anything, that would just complicate things.

The Stormguard came closer. The missing distance was uncomfortable for Light.

“Thunderbolt Cloudbearer sends me. I am supposed to show you something.“

Light perked up his ears.

“When he went to Cloudsdale yesterday he noticed something conspicuous on the storm. He delayed his journey just to inform me.“

The whole story sounds implausible, especially his Stormguard-suit bothers me. But he´s right at one point. I slept deeply the whole morning, even if Cloudbearer would have come personally, I would not have noticed it. But why is he wearing a Stormguard-Suit?

The pegasus pushed himself under Lights body.

“Whoa! What are you doing!?“, cried the unicorn, as the wings of the pegasus spread out.

“Oh no, you won´t!“

“You better hold on to me.“, and they flew off at that exact moment, directly into the mist of black clouds above them.

Light nearly lost his grip, but managed to cling to the body of the pegasus.
Bolts of lightning struck through the air, uninvolved should stay away from the storm for a reason, after all.

-

A few seconds later they broke through the bank of clouds, the sunlight lit up their entire surrounding. It looked like another world, one that was withhold from Earth Ponies and Unicorns alike. But Light hadn't had the time to admire this parallel world. He still lay on the pegasus´ back, gasping and clunching his hooves around the neck of it.

“There´s a reason the Stormguard is wearing lightning-proof suits, my friend. But you do know, that I am not wearing one, do you?“

Light did not dare to look at anything else then the pegasus

“And, well...I...I am really scared of heights, and right now I am floating like 3 miles ABOVE THE GROUND!“

The pegasus sighed “My suit would have prevailed lightning bolts from discharging on you, but being afraid of heights? That´s nonsense. I've heard so much about limitless unicorn magic, why don´t you learn some spell to cast away your stupid fears.“

Well I often say some of this kind myself, and to be honest, he´s right. But I do not remember any unicorns using this kind of sentence, at least not in my presence. Have I met him before?

“If you let go of me, we can get to what I wanted to show you, take a look around.“

The grip around the pegasus´ neck loosened a little. The first thing Light noticed was the low altitude of the sun.

From this direction...is it getting night already? Not really my thing to be isolated from the sky.

His second look made him gulp. All around him mountains of thunderclouds were building them selfs up, they expanded around the whole area of the storm. This concentrated mass of thunderclouds could easily devastate the whole town of Canterlot. The Unicorn remained silent for a moment, but then burst out in joy.

“HA! THIS IS IT! The proof, I've been looking for! Hard evidence that does not leave any back doors for Skystorm. He´s screwed.“

The Pegasus remained silent.

“So his plan really is to destroy Canterlot, after all. Celestia and Luna would never allow that, but there is no way for them to stop him before he´s done some serious damage. I have got to stop him before that happens. I owe it some ponies.“

His thoughts came to Senity and Paperpen. Not to forget the Princesses, as well as Cloudbearer and Skyseeker and all the inhabitants of Canterlot itself.

“I´ll take us down again. Hold on tight, Light.“

-

Back on the ground a small crowd of ponies had already gathered. His fast flight into the storm had drawn more attention to Light then he would have guessed. As he landed he instantly got surrounded by this very crowd.

“What are you doing, Light? Flying into thunderclouds without proper protection, that´s dangerous!“

“Yes, I know.“

What I don´t know is who that pony is.

“It wasn't my idea to begin with. But what I wanted to ask is why are you wearing that Stormguard-Su...“

As he turned around it knocked him for a loop, the pegasus he flew up with was gone. At his place now only was the crowd, drawing ever nearer to him.

Where did he go?

-

The situation escalated. More and more ponies joined the crowd, all of them wanted to know what was going on. Light only saw one possible solution to dissolve this situation.

“I do understand your worries, my dear ponies“, he shouted, but barely reached the whole crowd

“But I fear, that I do not have the time to explain. I got to be back on my way, right away.“

His horn began to glow and with a yellow flash of light he was gone, and popped up again a few meters outside the crowd. A bit wobbly, but still fast, he left that place.

-

Now that I have everything together, I just have to find Skystorm and force him to clear away the storm. That won't be fun...

The crowd behind him dissolved, going back to their daily business.

My first lead would be Asper. I just hope he knows where the Stormguard is located.

Fully recovered from his teleportation he went to the office of the clearing-crew.

The office was empty, the crew was probably working to not delay the storm.

“May I help you?“

A mare behind the reception looked at Light with a friendly smile.

“Yes, I am looking for Asper White, is he here? I really got to talk to him.“

“Asper, Asper...“

She got a bit lost in thought before she answered

“Ah, yes! Asper White is in a meeting with our Captain.“

“Thats quite alright.“

The mare hurried to stop Light, as he already made his way to the office.

“Please be patient. The meeting should not be disturbed.“

“I took notice of that and will take full responsibility.“

“You still cannot just simply walk into the meeting! Wait!“

Light sighed. “I would, if I had time to do so.“

“What could be so urgent that...“

Light opened the office door. The two ponies inside interrupted their conference and looked at him a bit angrily.

“Hadn't I ordered to not be disturbed?“, he addressed the mare.

“I beg your pardon“, she talked fast and in awe “but he just wouldn't-“

“I could not wait , if you excuse me, sir.“

Light looked at the white unicorn

“Asper I quickly got to talk to you.“ Asper rolled his eyes and came towards Light.

“What could be so important, my dear colleague?“

“Do you have any idea where the Stormguard is located, I've got to talk to their Captain.“

Asper laughed. “But of course I do, and you should, too. It was in the appendix of our assignment. I´m quite sure that you got those, too.“

I know I had them in my hooves. But where did I put them...

“Just tell me where. We shouldn't delay this any longer.“

Asper sighed again.“So unthoughtful. Can´t believe they call you the best of us.“

He laid his front hooves on his forehead. “They´re at an hotel nearby, which is called...cloud...something with cloud, dunno, it´s near the city gate. You shouldn't be able to miss it.“

“The Sleeping Cloud, I know that one. Thank you.“

“It´s the last day, and you don´t seem to have done any kind of planing with Skystorm. I sure hope for you that everything will go fine.“

Asper didn't even try to hide his sarcasm. He wanted to see Light fail for a long time.

“I do hope so as well. More than you know“

-

A few minutes later Light reached the hotel. It grew noticeably darker. Possibly it was already night, the storm made it hard to guess the time of day.

I hope the Stormguard does not know of his plan. The incident with the unknown pegasus today clearly speaks against their knowledge. I should not gain to much attention when asking for Skystorm.

A stallion was standing behind the reception.

“Greetings, I am Light, and I am in charge of the organization of the storm. May I ask where I can find the Stormguard? They should reside here, as far as I know.“

The stallion sighed. “Light. Never heard that name. You can ask these strange pegasi for yourself. They´re in the dining room“

“Thank you.“

“It´s right ´round the corner, just follow the signs“

Loud yelling could be heard from that direction

“Well, I guess it shouldn't be too hard even without the signs.“

-

They were sitting around one big table as a giant group. It was a big commotion, everyone was talking. Even if it hadn't look like it to the outside, there was a strong companionship amongst them.

I hate these moments.

Light entered the room. The dinner was interrupted, everyone was starring at him.

These moments in the “spotlight“.

“My dear Stormguards, I have a question.“

The pegasi remained silent at their seats, looking at the unicorn.

“Does any of you know where I could find your Captain?“

If he told them, I´m done for. The fact that he built so much without anyone noticing speaks clearly against me. If all fails I may have to face them all. Wouldn't be my first time facing so many.

One of the pegasi stood up.

“He´s outside the city gates. At night he´s always examining the storm. Sometimes he continues working. He´s very ambitious.“

“And lonesome!“ another pegasus yelled, that instantly found great affirmation.

Then everyone continued their dinner.

So he is alone. Perfect.

“Thank you for the information, I´ll be going now. Enjoy your meal!“

The returned festiveness had risen the noise level again, so probably none had even heard him.

-

On the outside it was still the same darkness. It clearly was night.

At least I am already at the city gates.

Light sighed again, looking at the gate.

Will he interrupt everything if I confront him? I doubt it. Skyseeker already tested Skystorms strength, I´m not itching for his hooves in my face.

He thought of some of the ponies he knew.

Almost ironic, that I sacrifice everything so that the others can live normally. Maybe my old job wasn't so bad after all. But after the wild dispute of the princesses I doubt that I´ll ever do that again.

He plucked up his courage and walked through the gate.

-

The further he went, the darker it got. The lights of Canterlot behind him grew ever dimmer. His horn was glowing.

“I should be able to see like this.“

So, where are you Skystorm?

He took a good look at his surroundings, but in the black emptiness it was hard to find something. The field around him was completely dark. A dull wind was blowing.

“SKYSTORM!“

His shout sounded over the field, followed by silence. The wind grew stronger and with a bang Skystorm landed in front of Light.

“Who called?“

His physical abilities are astounding.

“Skystorm, we have to talk. About the Storm.“

Skystorms face darkened, he looked angry.

“It´s on. There is nothing to talk about.“

“It is way bigger than it should be... What are you planning?“

Skystorm closed his eyes and laughed silently.

“So you found out. And there I thought we were getting along just fine. You can not stop me. If you want to live, stay close and don´t move. I can´t risk to let any information go to Celestia.“

Light squinted his eyes. “Just give up, Skystorm. I will not simply tolerate that you destroy Canterlot.“

Skystorm burst out laughing

“You? You threaten me? How adorable. You know, I don´t want to destroy Canterlot, I have a much bigger goal.“

Light listened up.

“I will darken the sky. Then, Nightmare Moon will rise again and bring us the Eternal Night!“

Light laughed.

“What kind of plan is that? Do you really think Nightmare Moon will rise that easy? Don´t make me laugh.“

-

“Silence!“

A hoof hit Lights breast. It wasn't a hard punch, but it did hurt badly.

“You still think you can stop me?“

His plan is idiotic but I just can´t do anything. If he does any mistakes, Canterlot will most definitely suffer, it´s still all above Canterlot after all.

Light build a magic shield around himself.

“Well that´s a start. Just keep sitting inside your barrier and watch the rise of Nightmare Moon.“

Skystorm turned away from Light. Then with a sudden boom, the shield exploded. The pressure threw the pegasus soaring through the air. With a little luck it still managed to land on his hooves.

“Alright then.“, Skystorm shook off the dirt, “My turn now!“

With his naivety he will turn this into a catastrophe.

-

Skystorm spread his wings.

“Right. You´re a pegasus. This´ll be fun.“

And off in the sky he went. He was way faster than the Stormguard from earlier today. Lights horn was glowing, he built 3 barrier shields around him.

That ought to stop him.

The roaring sound of Skystorms wings beating could be heard, and the first barrier broke. He had done a terrible dive, and pushed all of his body weight against the shields. The second barrier broke but Skystorms dive got weaker.

“That´s not enough, Skystorm! Just give up!“

The last barrier began to glow, exploded and catapulted Skystorm right in the air again.

“Nice defensive. But let me show you what a difference physical fitness does.“

Skystorm looked around, stopped at the clouds and flew right into them. Light built up his shields again.

What is he planning? Just disappearing in clouds...?

Big parts of the thunderclouds just broke out of the mass and just fell down on the field.

These clouds...they are part of your plan, Skystorm. What are you doing?

Skystorm was standing on one of the remaining clouds, and looked down on the unicorn. He flapped his wings, flew off and landed on his cloud again. A thunderbolt struck out and hit the shield. It bounced off and hit the ground near Light.

This was just a test, what is he planning?

Skystorm spread his mighty wings. He prepared for another dive.

He did not do this for nothing, I have to watch out.

He hit the shields like before. The first two broke the last exploded and threw him back in the air. But then Skystorm quickly flew into one of the clouds and a thunderbolt struck out of it into Lights direction.

WHAT?!

-

“Ha! Seems you weren't prepared for that, unicorn.“

Light felt down. The thunderbolt had hit a joint of his right foreleg.

Dammit...This hurts. It was too fast. I just could not react, and this will definitely hinder my movement.

“You did quite good until now, unicorn. You fight better then most unicorns I know.“

Everything he lacks in brains he invested in muscles.

The field lightened up. The gaps and fractures in the clouds let the moonlight shine through.

“Take a look at my cutiemark, Skystorm. You think you get this for planing and organizing?“

I've got to admit that thunderbolt took me by surprise.

-

Skystorm landed in front of Light. He looked at his cutiemark: A shield with a symbol. Light turned aside before Skystorm could make out more of it.

“No shields this time? You can´t be done yet.“

He´s right. I ain't.

Skystorm waited for a while. He struck a pose in which he could fly off at any time.

“Heh. You can´t really think that we´re even nearly finished, Skystorm.“

Lights horn glowed again and with a “Zap!“ he disappeared.

“What?“

Skystorm turned around. Light was behind him. It flashed bright between the two and Skystorm got thrown away. His body left a path of destruction in the field, on which he then raised with lots of scratches. Light collapsed.

The pain. I was never good with teleportation, but I can not give up.

“Not now!“ He got back on his legs.

“What was that?“ asked Skystorm, while he held his head with one of his hooves.

Shields are created in two ways. The first is to define a central point of creation around which the shield builds up. The other way is to choose a point from which the shield spreads out. You can´t change the circular body, but I did let the shield explode before it was finished.

As he got no answer Skystorm flew off back into his precious storm.

In its time of existence it offers protection and gives me a quick counter, because the smaller size takes less time to be brought to explosion. It does tire me as much as a fully functional shield, though.

-

Big chunks of clouds gathered around the field now. Light built up his three shields around him again.

That is the maximum I can do.

His injury left him no room for dodging attacks.

“Going turtle again, he? You look rather exhausted. My thunderbolt did quite the damage, I reckon.“

Just then Light realized how heavy he was breathing, the whole situation was only worsened by Skystorms wide grin. The excessive use of magic had really worn him out.

Skystorm landed on a cloud, looking down on his enemy he said “Light! Better get ready. For I´m only just starting.“

What a difficult character.

With spread-out wings Skystorm began to fly circles in the air, starting slowly but getting faster and faster.

I've read about something like this. If he keeps flying in such tight curves he´ll create a tornado.

The air began to flow around Skystorm, and the faster he got, the more the wind began to shape a tornado.

Thats bad. I can´t do anything with my wound.

The nearby clouds gathered around Skystorm.

He can´t be serious...

The thunderclouds merged with the tornado, and it turned black and thunderbolts began to struck out of it.

-

The tornado began to crawl slowly into the direction of Lights shields.

Damn. I can´t do anything. The storm´s not fast, but with the wound running away is not even an option.

A thunderbolt hit the shield, it got reflected but the raw power of the impact did let the shield quake.

The barriers won´t hold. If that tornado gets me directly, I´m done for. I can only hope to survive this.

The tornado devastated his whole surrounding, the thunderbolts burnt deep scars into the grass.

I can forget teleportation, too, I´m still too tired from before.

Light lay down.

Think...Wait! The tornado is slow for a reason. Skystorm has to be careful with all the thunderbolts in there. A small disturbance could clear that thing up, or fry me alive.
I've got no choice. It has to hit me directly.

The closer Skystorm came, the more thunderbolts did hit the shield. Only a few meters where left, when the first shield broke. More and more thunderbolts came out of the tornado. The moment the storm touched the second one it broke, too.

It´s critical now. I can´t make any new shields, I´m unprotected when the last shield breaks.

As the storm touched the last shield, it shook chaotically, but it reached a few centimeters into the eye of the storm.

That should do it!

-

The explosion disordered the tornado. You could hear a few sounds from Skystorm, mainly curses, but the storm imploded at last. As it faded the last thunderbolts unloaded into the near surroundings. Luckily Light only took minor injuries, but Skystorm got hit in his right wing.

-

The Pegasus fell down to the ground and remained lying there.

Is that it?

Light watched him for a moment.

What an ending. To get finished by his own attack...

“Not.....now!“ The pegasus rose up again in great pain.

Tough one. Is it really worth it risking his life for this stupid plan?

Skystorm spread his wings. The thunderbolt had burned the wing and he had lost some feathers, that we´re now spreading on the ground. Light checked his breathing.

Faster than before. I have to put everything on my next attack, or I´m done for.

Skystorm took off.

He can still fly with his injury...okay then.

Light built up his three shields again, while Skystorm was preparing his last assault.

“I´m going to give everything in this attack, Light. You hear me? Everything!“

No answer.

“It will be over with your arrogance. Victory is the only thing that´ll count now.“

Skystorm began to dive on the shields.

He is slower than before. That is-

All his three shields broke in one strike. Skystorm used the remaining impact to push Light to the ground.

“Heh. I...I have won, Light.“ Skystorm was full of energy again.

“Is it time already?“ Lights horn began to glow.

A single shield built up around the two of them. This one was different, he glimmered in the sunlight.

“The suns up, Skystorm.“

With a renewing glow of his horn the shield too began to glow stronger.

“And? It´s over. I won. I´m inside your stupid shield.“

“Here´s the summary: With my magic I use the power of the tides .“

That´s the reason why Luna could disperse the moonlight-drenched shield in the archives.

“To put it differently: I can use sun or moonlight to strengthen my magic. The effect differs from spell and daytime, and the more I use them during one time of day, the weaker it gets. Everything stays balanced. My next spell using the other power source gets unusually strong.“

Skystorm leaned back a bit

“You used magic the whole night. That means this shield...“

“Yes but not only that. Sunlight allows just a single shield, but a specially strong one, that is.“

Skystorm gulped.

“And of course I changed it´s polarity. It will explode....inwards.“

The shield turned into a flash and disbanded roaring into the red morning.

-

Head to head they lay next to each other, their faces turned towards the sky.

“I can´t move no more. Can you, Skystorm?“

The pegasus sighed

„...No.“

“Your plan would not have worked anyways. Will you listen to me?“

They looked at the sky, at the slow clearing of the storm, with the sun in its background.

“It´s not like I had a choice.“ “

Your cutiemark fits you and your destructive abilities quite well. A black tornado filled with thunderbolts. Exactly what you used against me.“

“I just combined. It appealed to me with all the thunderclouds up there.“

“Not bad. But what I wanted to say. My cutiemark. The symbol on it is a combination of sun and moon. A symbol of balance. The shield means that I want to protect this balance. The balance of the world flows into the peace Celestia and Luna bring upon this world, and with it the Elements of Harmony. That is why I protect them. I had lost my goal, but you reminded me of it. I thank you for that.“

Skystorm remained silent.

-

“I don´t know why you wanted to wake Nightmare Moon in Luna and threaten all the worlds balance by doing so, but I think we´re not so different after all. I think...you lost your goal, too. Try to remember why you became Captain of the Stormguard.“

Skystorm closed his eyes. “Back then in the past. I...I was looking for my special talent. I did not had my cutiemark, even after school. Everyone made fun of me and looked down on me. Without a cutiemark you just don´t know what you can do as a job, and even if you apply for something it is hard to be accepted, because you´re just so blank. My fate did lead me to the Stormguard. They were looking for Ponies, because they seriously lacked members. Of course I then found my special talent with them, and earned my cutiemark in their midst. I... felt special in a way. I had something I wanted to share with the world, moreover something I could share.“

“Not to know what you can do. You mentioned it. I can´t really feel the pain you had to live through, when everypony was looking down on you, but I felt similarly when I began to doubt my cutiemark. Having a talent that's bound with a way of living, is hard if you can´t trust that way no more. But when you spoke about it. We both have talents we want to share. Skill not to change the world but to shape it. I hope you catch my meaning.“

Skystorm gazed into the sky, as if he was thinking about Lights words.

The only thing I had to do, was waking him up from his dream. He´s not a bad pony.

A smile appeared on Lights lips.

He does remind me of Skyseeker. They entirely different but share so much at the same time.

-

Skystorm interrupted the silence. “There´s so much I never thought about and now it's too late. The idea alone. How could I possibly wake Nightmare Moon with nothing more than a storm above Canterlot. And now my own stupidity has brought me here. I doubt I can be a Stormguard any longer.“

Light gave a quick laugh. “True, true. But that´s what shaping is about, isn't it? Look for a different job to give something to the world with your skills. It does not look to different on my part. It´s the fault of both of us that there is no storm.“

Light reached with his hoof towards Skystorm, who hesitated, but then lifted his hoof still shaking. Light slided a bit closer, so that the hooves hit each other, and his smile became a bride grin and Skystorms face began to relax a little, too.
“I've got one more job for. I do count you as one of my friends, so don´t disappoint me. In my house, on my desk, there is a scroll. Could you bring it to Celestia? Just ask Paperpen or Senity if you don´t know where I live. The key´s under the mat in front of the door. I put it there for tonight.“

Skystorm thought about it for a moment

“Alright. I´ll bring her the scroll, but why-“

Light stood up.

“Excuse me, Skystorm, but I don´t have any time to lose.“

“Where are you going?“

“Who knows. Away from Canterlot, I guess.“

Skystorm looked at Lights Cutiemark, next to the shield and the symbol there were a few stars.

“These Stars, do they have any meaning, too?“ Light turned away from Skystorm

“I´ll tell you next time we meet.“

And with this words he went off into the woods before Canterlot. Skystorm watched him until he faded into the thicket.

“Friends, hmm? What a beginning for my first friendship.“