Son of Chaos

by twow443

Chapters

Just a Day in Town
Past Reflections
With a Touch of Chaos
Scattering the Harmony
Chilling Truths
Breaking Innocence
Deadly Storm
Revelations and Renewal
Holding Back the Storm
Breaking Dusk
Destiny's Spell
Darkening Dawn
Beginning of Chaotic Love
Dimensional Warfare
Alternate Ending

Just a Day in Town

Chapter 2-Just a Day in Town

I stepped out of the portal into Twilight's library. “Hey Twi.” I said.

My unicorn friend turned from the book she was reading and smiled. “Shade! It's great to see you!”

I walked over to her and gave her a hug. “Good thing you had the portal open.”

She shrugged, “I was going to surprise you with a visit later, but you already beat me to that.”

“Yup.” I said.

“So, why are you here?” Twilight asked. “I thought that you were supposed to be in Canterlot for the next few weeks.”

“I was.” I said. “That stupid mark on my neck made me act stupid this morning, so Celestia suggested that I got out of the castle for a while.”

“Was it frustration again?” Twilight asked.

“No, anger. Luckily, Luna calmed me down before I could act stupid” Twilight sighed in relief.

I knew why Twilight was relieved. I had been helping to fix the barn at Applejack's farm. Big Mac and I had been trying to repair a section of the roof that had been struck by lightning. I was trying to maneuver a crossbeam into place and kept putting it in the wrong area. Then when I finally got it right, I ran out of energy and dropped it, almost crushing myself. I got frustrated and the mark acted up. I don't remember much of what happened, but Applejack told me that I had been throwing things and ponies everywhere. I didn't remember anything until I was lying on the ground with my aunt standing in front of me. That was not a good day.

“Hey, Twi. What are your plans for the day?” I asked.

“Well, I was going to head to the market and then meet our friends at the spa.” she said.

“I'm going to go visit Fluttershy. Is she home?” I asked Twilight.

“She should still be.” Twilight said. “Are you going to use your disguise?”

I shook my head. “I don't think I have the energy to fly all the way there. I might be able to use the wing spell.”

“But I thought that using that form didn't take anymore energy from you.” Twilight wondered.

“No, it's only this form,” I waved a hoof. “and my changeling form. Because I was in this form for so long, my body is adjusted to it.”

“Are you sure that you shouldn't shift?” Twilight asked, worried. “You do know that Celestia's announcement didn't make everypony like you.”

“I know.” I said. “But if I don't walk around like myself, everypony might just assume that I'm always pretending to be one of them. I need to earn their trust.”

Twilight nodded, “Your right. Just be careful. Someponys don't like you at all.” I nodded, taking in her warning.

“Oh before I go, do you have any food? I didn't finish breakfast.” I sheepishly asked. Twilight rolled her eyes and went into the kitchen.
. . .

I loved how peaceful Ponyville was when there wasn't anything crazy going on. I slowly walked though the town enjoying the fresh air. I also was feeding off of all the emotions that were flowing from everypony. Suddenly, I felt a rush of pure happiness flowing into me. That could only mean one pony....

“Hi Shade!” Pinkie popped up in front of me and gave me a big hug. “Where have you BEEN? I was going to throw a after party for the party that we had to celebrate the party that we almost had three months ago.....”

I put my hoof over Pinkie's mouth. “I'm glad to see you too Pinkie. Where are you off too?”

“I was going to pick up Applebloom from school!” Pinkie said. “Applejack's busy with some last minute harvesting so I volunteered!”

“Mind if I come?” I asked.

“Nope! Lets go!” Pinkie shot off. I had to hurry to catch up to her.
. . .

At the school, Pinkie and I were waiting for Applebloom. Well, I was at least. Pinkie was chatting with all the school ponies.

“So, where is Applebloom?” Pinkie asked.

“She got in a fight with Diamond Tiara today.” Sweetie Belle said.

“About?” I asked.

“You.” Scootaloo said.” As I stood there in shock, she continued. “She said that you were no better then that weird changeling queen that tried to take over Equestria. She also said that you were a spy for her and that you tricked the princess into saying that you were her son.”

“Did she say who told her those things?” Pinkie asked, actually serious for once. Scootaloo shook her head. I was thinking. Could it be possible that her own father was telling her those things? I shook my head, calling the thought dumb.

“Anyway, Applebloom started yelling at her and Ms. Cheerilee got upset. So she's talking to her.” Sweetie said.

I exchanged glances with Pinkie. She gave me a broad smile. Oh yeah, she knew what I was thinking. “I'll go get her.” I said.

I left Pinkie with the fillies and went into the school. Standing at the door, I hesitated before I walked in. Concentrating, my coat changed from blue to yellow-orange. My mane and tail turned yellow. My necklace disappeared and a Stetson appeared on my head. “Alright, lets do this...I mean. Let's get this over with.”

. . .

Celestia was in her room, going though some of her old books. “Hmm, I should let Shade read this one. It helped me take care of him before I was able to enchant him....” Lost in thought, she didn't sense the presence behind her until it spoke.

“Hello, Celestia. Been a while.” Celestia whipped around in fright and saw Discord standing there with a smile across his face and his arms across his chest.

Celestia stood there in shock, before blasting Discord across the room. “How did you get free?!” she yelled. “Twilight Sparkle and her friends used the Elements of Harmony against you!”

“Oh but my dear Celestia. You said so yourself that you weren't connected to the elements anymore. Do you really think that your student would be able to keep me trapped for long?” Discord asked.

Celestia knew that Discord had the upper hoof. She was woefully unprepared to take Discord in a fight. And he knew it also. “Why are you here? Do you plan to cause chaos over Equestria again?”

Discord laughed. “Why would I want to do that? I learned my lesson from last time. I have a perfectly harmless reason to be here.”

“And that would be?” Celestia asked.

“Well usually, I would give you a riddle and make you figure out what my plan is, but I don't have the time.” Discord looked Celestia in the eyes, saying with more then just a hint of malice in his voice. “I want to see my son.”

Past Reflections

Chapter 3-Past Reflections

I sat in the classroom with Cheerilee. Apple Bloom had already had a talk with the teacher, and she only needed to talk with her sister. Which at that point, was me. Wonderful.

“I'm sorry that I had to bother you, Applejack. This has been going on for some time now.” Cheerilee said.

I nodded. “Ah'm sorry. When we get home Ah'll be sure to have a good talk with her. Could you explain to me what was happening?” I mentally kicked myself. AJ never really had the time to hang out with me, except if we were working on something. As such, I had virtually no idea how to talk like the workhorse. I sure hoped that Cheerilee wouldn't catch on.

The teacher didn't seem to notice my issues with speaking. “You are friends with Shade, are you not?” I nodded. At least, I considered AJ my friend. I didn't know how long that would last considering that I was pretending to be her.

Cheerilee continued. “This all started to occur after Shade started to spend more time with Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. I'm not sure what Diamond Tiara's father has been saying, but I do know that he and his daughter do not like him.”

Wonderful. What did I do that made one of the richest ponies living here not like me? I never had any conversations with Filthy Rich, just nodded to him a few times when I walked by him. Heck, I was Celestia's son! You'd think that would make want to get CLOSER to me. Then it hit me like a bolt from the sky.

“He doesn't accept me as Celestia's son.” Now I was worried. Obviously attacking royalty would be out of the question. But if somepony didn't accept me as Celestia's son then if she didn't know I could easily be attacked.

Cheerilee sighed. I asked her, “Why did you not tell me before?”

“I was hoping that I could get them to stop fighting.” Cheerilee said. “Between you and me Applejack, I think that Shade might be in danger every time he leaves Canterlot.”

Wait a second. I had only ever been between Canterlot and Ponyville my whole life. Celestia hadn't wanted me to leave beyond these two towns after what had happened three months ago. So that means, somepony here in Ponyville might have it out for me. I knew this much, I needed to leave the school. Speaking like AJ was using my energy. Now I have more energy then the average pony, but because I was nervous, I was burning it to stay in AJ's form. I jerked as I felt my tail shift back to my changeling form. I slightly frowned and changed it back. Time to leave.

Cheerilee looked at me with a concerned expression. “Are you alright, Applejack?”

I nodded. “Never better. Don't you worry.” I said, standing. Cheerilee stood up also. “Ah'll have a good talk with mah sis, try to see if I can't stop all this fightin'.

Cheerilee and I shook hooves and as she turned to walk up to her desk, I almost ran out of the school.

. . .

Pinkie Pie, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were waiting for me outside. I dashed out of the school and skidded to a stop in front of them. Panting, I shifted fully back into my changeling form.

The three fillies and Pinkie were rolling around laughing. I glared at them. “What's..so funny?

“Ah can't believe you just fooled Miss Cheerilee!” Apple Bloom got out between laughs. I allowed myself a quick smile.

Just when I started thinking about absorbing their joy, they stopped laughing. Annoyed, I sat down and held my head in my hooves.

“Are you okay, Shade?” Sweetie asked. I nodded.

Pinkie sat by me and looked at me. “Silly, are you going to walk around like a changeling?”

Noticing, I looked at myself. Something told me that would not be a good idea. “Hey guys? What if you had a cutie mark in tickling?” The three fillies looked at me strange, but then I pointed at Pinkie. The fillies gave each other a devious smile. Just as Pinkie figured out what I was doing, she was jumped by all three of them. They tickled her and she....well, she laughed. A lot. I could tell that she didn't mind by the joy that was radiating off of her. I quickly absorbed it and put some in my necklace. “Okay girls, enough. We need to go.” I called.

“Thanks for that Shade.” Apple Bloom said. “Mah big sis would have mah tail if she knew that I was fighting again.”

“This is the third time you got into a fight with Diamond Tiara this month, at least that I know of. What's going on with you and her?” I asked.

“We just don't see both ways.” She told me. “But Ah was tired of her talking about you like you were nothing more then a bug!”

I was confused at why Diamond was trying to create a negative reputation about me. “When did this all start?” I asked.

“About three weeks ago.” Scoot said, angrily. “If I had the chance...”

“Guys? I really should be at Applejack's now!” Pinkie said. I had forgotten that she was even there.

I nodded at Pinkie. “Do you want to take them, Pinkie? I might go visit Fluttershy.”

“Actually Shade, would you mind coming with me back to the shop?” Sweetie asked. “I'm staying with her for the weekend, but she said to see if somepony could stay with me for a little bit after school.”

“I don't mind, but why?” I questioned.

“She said that she was showing some of her dresses off.” Sweetie said. “She should be back in about an hour and a half.”

“Alright then.” I looked back at Pinkie and the fillies. “See you guys later then?” Pinkie gave me an energetic wave and left with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. Sweetie and I made our way to the boutique.
. . .

Now you might be wondering why I hung out with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Well, it was after I had recovered from almost dying, about two months ago. I had been in Ponyville with Pinkie. I had just been following Pinkie as she wanted company when she was doing some errands for the Cakes. We were by the park and Pinkie saw Rainbow across the park. As she dashed over to talk to her, I had stayed where I was, still rather nervous about being out in public in my unicorn form. Back then, I was still learning how to control my emotions and powers. Because of the fact that I was still adjusting to my abilities, my nervousness had overridden my pony form and caused me to shift back into my changeling form. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of a park where young ones were playing. Considering that most ponies were still frightened of me, that didn't end well.

I left that area very quickly because the sight of me freaked out several of the foals playing. I used a random quick teleport spell so I don't think that Pinkie or Rainbow even knew that I had left. I had accidentally teleported into the Crusader's clubhouse. Emotionally distraught, I had remained in there for a while, crying. See, I normally was a strong pony, or changeling, but even I could get run down. That month had been the worst. Celestia had explained to all of Equestria that I was her son, and it didn't help that I was a changeling. I would constantly get dirty looks and be pushed around. I actually was kicked out of a clothing shop in Canterlot because of what I was. I didn't tell my mother because she was occupied all the time because of her royal duties. I suspected that she also had to explain about me too.

Anyway I was sitting in the clubhouse, crying like a filly when I heard a voice. “Are you alright?” I raised my head to see a white unicorn, a orange pegasus and a yellow earth pony. Instead of leaving in fear of me, they came inside and sat around me.

“I'm...Shade.” I had told them. In turn, the fillies had introduced themselves. I saw that they paid no attention to me being a changeling. I felt, at peace when we were hanging out. I had managed to shift back to my unicorn form and Sweetie noticed that I didn't have a cutie mark. She had asked me if I wanted to be an official member of the Crusaders. I accepted with no hesitation.

We did have fun. Whenever I wasn't with any of my six older friends, usually one of the Crusaders would ask if I wanted to hang with them and more often then not, I would join them. Contrary to belief, they did do more then just try to achieve their cutie marks, although we got into some almost really nasty scrapes. In fact, there was this one time that Scootaloo tried hang-gliding. It got to the point where I had to shift into Rainbow and catch her because she FELL of the glider. It was actually really funny once we were safely on the ground.

Sweetie and I became really close friends. She actually found it amusing that I had used her form before I had been captured. Whenever the two of us were bored, we would chill out together in the clubhouse or at Rarity's boutique. Our favorite place was at Sugercube Corner. Sweetie and I together never really did any crusading, we would just walk around Ponyville and talk. I told her everything about my changeling powers, that I knew of. She understood about how conflicted I was feeling. For a little filly, she was very smart.

When Sweetie and I reached the boutique, we arrived the same time as Rarity did. “Oh, hello Shade!” she said. “Hello, Sweetie!”

“Hey Rarity.” I said as Sweetie walked up to her sister. “I was going to stay with her, but now that you're here...”

“Oh it's perfectly alright. You can stay for a while.” Rarity said.

I smiled, “Thanks, but I'll come by tomorrow. I'm going to try to visit Fluttershy. See you guys.” They waved to me as I walked off.

It was starting to become evening. As I was walking, I was looking at the ground. I saw that my shadow was...getting larger? Uh-oh. I looked up and lunged forward. My friend Derpy slammed down right where I was standing. “Derpy! Are you okay?”

My cross-eyed friend looked at me. “Uh, sorry about that. I wasn't trying to hit you.”

Now, Derpy was one of the few friends that I had before I went to Canterlot for the first time. She would come and deliver letters to the princesses and members of the Royal Guard. We got to talking and we became good friends. Her preferred name was Ditzy, but her friends were allowed to call her Derpy. I was happy to be considered her friend.

Meanwhile, back in the present Derpy had her mail bag on her. Reaching into it, she handed me a letter. “Here ya go! Just for you!”

“I have a letter?” I asked, confused. “Who sent me it?”

Derpy shook her head. “Don't know.” She flapped her wings and rose in the air. “Oh Shade, are we still going to hang out tomorrow?”

I nodded. “Yeah, we'll go to that new muffin place.”

She smiled. “Just for you! Bye!” She flew off.

I looked down at the letter. It was in a plain white envelope. I opened it with magic and levitated it in front of me. The outside was green bordered with gold and had a draconequus on the outside. I opened the card to read.

“If you are reading this, then you have 30 minutes to meet me at the field where you learned out to shift. If you are not there, then you will find the kind streak in your life to become very cruel.”

I stopped for a second to think about who would send me this. Suddenly I noticed something at the bottom.

“P.S. I owe you quite a few birthday presents, don't I?”

With a horrible feeling, I looked at the front of the card again.

As I watched, the draconequus on the front winked at me.

With a Touch of Chaos

Chapter 4-With a Touch of Chaos

I stood in the field, shivering. I looked around the field and sighed. This place held memories for me. It's where I first learned how to control my powers. Misty and I had hung out here. That thought alone upset me. Misty was the changeling queen Chrysalis’s daughter. I had fought against her when I was trapped in Sugercube Corner's basement. One thing that troubled me was that Misty had mentioned something about us “being together”. I didn't remember her showing any affection toward me during my training sessions. But Rainbow teased me about being dense around mares, so I wasn't surprised that I hadn't noticed.

I checked my necklace. I had tried to fill it with emotions as I dashed though the town to get here. It wasn't as full as I would have liked it, but it'll have to do. I sat down and immediately stiffened as I heard a voice from behind me. “Well, hello there.”

I slightly turned my head, “Discord?”

The draconequus laughed. “You got me!” Suddenly, he appeared in front of me. “And you must be Shade?” He snapped his fingers and I turned into Rainbow. “Or Miss Rainbow Dash?” He snapped again. “Or are you Twilight Sparkle?” He snapped a third time. “Or even Princess Celestia? My, my.”

“Cut that out!” I yelled at him, baring my fangs. I could never fully hide my fangs if I was agitated in another form. As I shifted back to my unicorn form, I shuddered. How could I stop him if he could control my powers?

“Oh, angry are we?” He said with mock fear. “Careful. You wouldn't want to lose control, would you?” As he said that, the mark on my neck flared up and I winced.

“What do you want?!” I barked at him, dripping anger. The mark was started to enhance my emotions. Problem is, because it was anger I would fight him. And I knew that I wasn't close to ready.

The draconequus smiled. “Please, Shade. Don't act like you don't know who I am. This is your father, Discord standing in front of you.”

I made a effort to calm myself. “Yes. I've been told that your my father. How did you find me here?”

He scoffed. “When I was free from that annoying tomb of stone and sent the Elements of Harmony on a wild-goose chase, I listened to Celestia talk with her sister. They mentioned letting you go out and see the world. I knew that she wouldn't want you far from her.”

“So tell me, How does a draconequus and a alicorn have a changeling foal?” I asked.

Discord's smile wavered. “Well, it's because of what we are. Our magic couldn't decide what species you were going to be, so it decided on its own.”

He wasn't telling me something. I frowned. “Your magic? Wait.” I suddenly knew what he meant. “Oh, you mean...EW.” I gagged.

Discord laughed. “You are a smart one. In fact, you might even give Twilight Sparkle a run for her bits.”

“Enough!” I snapped. “Why are you here? In fact, how did you even get free?”

“I'm not going to answer the second question. You'll have to figure that out for yourself. As for the first question...” He paused for a minute, trying to read my face. “I need your help.”

“With?” I questioned.

“Chaos.” He bluntly put it. “Listen to me. Because I've been encased in stone three times, my power has grown considerably weaker. But because you are my son, you still have some of my blood. And with that, comes the power to control chaos.”

“And you want me to use my inner chaos to help you take over Equestria?” I asked.

“Not necessarily take over Equestria, but take revenge on Celestia.” He said. “I will make her pay for what she did.” His voice took a dark tone, making me back up.

“What did she do?” I asked.

He looked at me and I saw the fire in his eyes. “She took my son from me.”

Now I was annoyed. I knew that Discord had been frozen 1000 years ago, or somewhere around that time. I also knew that he was frozen again and Twilight had stopped him, with our friends of course. But he said THREE times. There was a third time that nopony knew about. That must have been when I was born! But, why would he want me so bad? Was it simply because Celestia had me all this time? I was in the middle of a fight and I had no idea what the buck was going on! I looked at Discord in anger. Now it was time to get some answers. But not from him. From my mother.

“Sorry Discord,” I said, my eyes flashing magenta and yellow. “Celestia knows that I'd love to help, but she owes me answers. Besides,” I smirked. “I tend to cause chaos enough just by being alive. I don't need your help.”

“So, you would choose that one that lied to you all your life instead of the one providing answers?” he asked calmly.

“Seems legit, doesn't it?” I asked.

Discord looked at me for a long moment, then suddenly smiled. That worried me. “Of course! You've been trained by your mother, haven't you? I just need to show you how weak she is!”

“Good luck with tha-” WHAM! My head burst into pain as Discord rushed forward and punched me in the head. I flew thought the air and slammed onto my side, skidding on the ground. Dizzily, I stood up and glared daggers at Discord. “You just made a mistake, you know that?”

“I was hoping for that.” he said.

I started shifting the back half of my body first and used a quick teleportation spell. As I re-appeared behind him, I was fully shifted into Applejack. As he turned, I timed it and bucked him in the face, utilizing all of Applejack's strength. I launched him about 20 feet away from me. Instantly, he was by me again. I tried to buck him again, but he grabbed my back legs and swung me around in a circle. He suddenly let go and I proceeded to fly though the air. I flipped upside down and shifted into Rainbow. Using her speed, I flew toward him. As I sped past him, I smacked him in the face. After I did that about 4 times, he kicked upward just I flew past him. His foot hit me in the stomach and I was sent upwards.

“Ahhhh!” I yelled as I went flying. I hurriedly shifted into a pegasus and accidentally turned into Fluttershy. “Oh crap!” As I realized my mistake, Discord was right by me and he kicked me again. I looked back as I was flying away and I didn't see him. I looked up and he was right above me. He slammed his feet into my chest, sending me crashing into the ground.

Shocked by the pain, my body shifted into my changeling form. My chest was on fire and my back legs felt pulled out of their sockets. I heard Discord yell, “Are we done yet? I kind of need you healthy.”

“I'm not helping you!” I yelled back, wincing.

“Fine by me.” he said. Suddenly, the ground started to rumble under me. Then in a burst of color, I rose into the air. I looked down and saw that it was a geyser...of strawberry milk? What? I rose off the geyser of milk and shifted into Rainbow again. Then I took a bolt of cloud to the face. I shifted my weight in mid-air and landed on my hooves. Looking down, I saw a shadow. I glanced upwards, paled and dashed off as a rock made out of paper slammed down where I was. I walked over and touched it. It ripped like paper, but the rock had left a crater.

My eyes widened. “He's fighting-with chaos.” I heard a whistling noise and looked up to see more paper rocks falling toward me. “Wonderful.” I took off.

Using Rainbow's speed, I low flew around the rocks and avoided them. When they stopped, I flew in the middle of all of the rocks. I felt myself starting to grow weak. “I hope this works.” I thought. Drawing on my necklace, I absorbed just enough energy to heal my chest. Then I shifted into Twilight. I heard Discord doing something, but I was too focused to look at him. I ran thought the paper rock filled field, setting the rocks on fire. When I covered every rock in flames, I started running in circles around them, bunching them all together. I used a fuse spell to completely put the rocks together, then proceeded to preform the hardest part of the spell. I gripped the giant, flaming rock with a telekinesis spell then started swinging it in a circle. I swung it faster and faster, feeling the effects start to take hold of me. My horn felt like it was being pulled from my head, and my legs burned. I was starting to slow down from weariness.

“What's wrong Shade?” I heard Discord yell. “You see, this is why you should join me. All Celestia wants to do is hold you back. You see, the only reason she didn't tell you anything was because she wanted to use you as a weapon.”

“Not...true.” I gasped.

“And you see, Celestia tricked you. She betrayed you to Chrysalis, and told her how to claim you.” I heard Discord laugh. “You're nothing more then a puppet.”

I felt fierce anger rush though me. “I'm. Not. A. PUPPET!” Suddenly, I felt a burst of fire on my neck, and everything faded into red.
. . .

Discord watched as Shade continued to swing the flaming boulder. It seemed like he had finally gotten under the changeling's skin. But as he looked a little closer, he saw that Shade's eyes were glowing red and the mark on his neck was glowing bright green.

“Well, well. What have you done to him, Chrysalis?” he thought. He didn't have any more time to think as Shade let go of the rock and it soared toward him, hitting him directly in the face.
. . .

I watched though a red haze as I saw the flaming rock hit Discord in the face and explode. I smiled, but then paled as I felt the amount of energy that I had used hit me. I fell on my side, panting. I didn't even have the strength to move. Then with a fearful jolt, I sensed that I didn't have enough energy in my necklace to get me up and moving, just enough to keep from dying.

Discord landed in front of me, a bruise on his forehead. “Why wouldn't you just listen to me?”

“Because,” I panted. “I..don't trust..either of you. But..I trust...you less.”

Discord smiled, “Oh well, have it your way. But think about your words when your life is in chaos. Then you will want to learn how to control your true power.” He stepped back from me and disappeared.

I emptied my necklace, drawing in all the energy. I was still too weak to move. As I started to pass out, I thought as hard as I could. If chaos was the power that Discord's blood gave me, what did Celestia's blood give me? And why didn't Discord take me with him? I attempted to move, just a little bit, but it was useless. I sank into darkness, still feeling the burn from the mark on my neck.

Scattering the Harmony

Chapter 5-Scattering the Harmony

I stirred and opened my eyes. I looked around and saw that I was in Fluttershy’s room. Sighing, I shook my head. Ending up in here again just brought a round of déjà vu to my mind. But, I had something else to wonder about. Discord apparently needed me for something, but what? And even more important, how was he freed? Celestia had told me that Twilight and the others had frozen him again when he almost cast all of Equestria into chaos. It seemed like whenever he was frozen, the certain ponies that froze him were unable to do it again. So if Celestia and Luna had frozen him once, and my friends had frozen him again, who could do it this time?

I rubbed my horn in thought, noting that I was in my changeling form. I needed to learn about my birth. Discord had to have been freed, but then frozen again. The answers lied in finding out who freed him, and why Celestia decided to have a child with him. That part confused me more then anything else. They were enemies, right? It didn’t seem right that Celestia would suddenly want to have a foal with her mortal enemy. She was hiding something and so was Discord. Considering the fact that Discord recently beat the living hay out of me, I decided that I needed to ask my mother, or find the answers myself.

I checked my necklace, it was still empty of emotions. I had used so much energy that I would have been out a lot longer unless I was somewhere that my body could automatically absorb love. I slowly rose out of her bed, remade it with a small spell and made my way into the bathroom. After I rinsed my face, I felt more awake. I shifted into my unicorn form and started to go downstairs. I stopped when I heard voices.

I knew that I shouldn’t be casting spells when I was still weak, but I didn’t want to go down there without knowing who was there. I wasn’t completely trusted yet in Ponyville. So, I cast a spell to hear who was talking. I could sense that it was only my friends so I started to descend the stairs. I stopped again when I heard my name. Worried, I sat down to listen.

“So, is he okay?” I heard Twilight ask, worry in her tone.

“Oh, yes.” Fluttershy said. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t found him Rainbow.”

“What happened anyway?” Rarity spoke up.

I heard Rainbow start talking. “I had finished clearing the clouds and moving some over to Sweet Apple Acres so AJ could have that rainstorm she needed. I heard a loud crash and saw a big explosion in the sky. I flew over there, and it was that field that I helped Shade learn to fly in. You know, after he got out from the hospital?”

“Yeah, we all helped him.” I heard Twilight speak up again. “I remember that he could do some weird magic for not being that skilled in it, but he got tired fast.”

“Anyway..” Rainbow continued. I smiled as I sensed annoyance in her tone at being interrupted. “I got there and saw craters all over the ground. Then I saw Shade laid flat out on the ground. I was going to get a cloud and wake him up with some water, but I saw that he looked like a changeling.”

“That might because he is one.” Applejack said.

“I know that.” Rainbow said. I sensed more annoyance in her tone. “You know that he doesn’t walk around looking like that. And I know that he wouldn’t take a random nap like that either.”

“Ahm just teasin, Rainbow.” AJ said.

Rainbow ignored her. “So I landed by him and called his name. When he didn’t answer, I opened his eyes, and they were pitch black.”

“Black?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, it freaked me out.” Rainbow answered. “I knew that Fluttershy lived close, so I picked him up and flew him here. He’s really light when he looks like a changeling.”

“Why did you bring him here?” Rarity asked.

“Because I knew that Shade would get better because he needed emotions. I knew that Flutters could help with that.” She answered. I sensed shyness flowing from Fluttershy and assumed that she was blushing.

I didn’t want to spy on my friends anymore, but they would know it was my if I went downstairs. I was going to walk downstairs, but I stiffened as I heard Fluttershy say, “I better go see if he’s okay. Excuse me.”

Great. If I tried to walk upstairs, she would hear me. If I tried to use a spell, then she would hear the flash of magic. I only had about twenty seconds before she knew that I was there. Thinking hard, I got an idea. I lit up my horn with a soft glow and cast a quiet spell. The light from the spell turned into a soft blue mist. The mist covered my whole body and quietly wafted toward Fluttershy’s room. When it was over her bed I ended the spell, turning myself back to normal. I shifted into my normal form and slipped back into the bed, just as Fluttershy came into the room. She was holding a bowl of, I think it was water.

Her face lit up as she saw me awake. “Shade! I’m so glad that you’re awake!” She came over and sat on the bed, handing me the water. “Are you feeling okay?”

I forced myself to relax, drinking the water. “I am now. Thank you.”

Fluttershy leaned over and gave me a soft kiss. I returned it, feeling love flow from her into me, making me feel much better. She leaned back and ran her hoof though my mane. “I was worried about you. You were asleep for a day.”

“A day,” I pondered. “At least it wasn’t a week again.” Fluttershy smiled, but I sensed that she was still upset. “What’s wrong?”

She softly sighed, continuing to stroke my mane. “Were you going to come downstairs?”

“Maybe.” I said, not wanted to reveal that I had been listening to their conversation. “Why?”

“You said that you would be in your changeling form when you were here.” She said. “But you are in your unicorn form now.”

I knew what she meant. She knew that I had gotten up. It wouldn’t have surprised me if she knew that I was listening in on the conversation either. About two months ago, Fluttershy told me that she thought I was cute in my changeling form, so I told her that whenever I was here I would be in that form, unless ponies were here that wouldn’t understand.

I was quiet, not really knowing what to say. Rainbow was right; I really was dense around mares. Fluttershy smiled. “It’s okay Shade. We were checking on you. I won’t tell anypony that you were listening.”

So she DID know. I silently sighed. Twilight had told me once that Fluttershy knew me better then I knew myself. If she knew how correct she was…

“I wish that you would take better care of your mane.” She said, still brushing thought it with her hoof. “It looks so cute when it’s all brushed out.”

Now I was the one blushing. “Careful Flutters. You’re starting to sound like Rarity. I don’t really want it brushed out all the time. Besides, you wouldn’t want any mares to try to take me away from you.”

She smirked at me, something she rarely did. “But I know you. That wouldn't happen.” That’s all she said, but I knew what she meant.

We heard a knock on the door. “You okay in there, Shy?” We heard Rainbow ask.

“Yes. We’ll be right out.” Fluttershy said. I rose up and stretched.

“Let’s go, huh?” I said. I turned and saw that Fluttershy was holding a hairbrush. I sighed, knowing what was going to happen next.

. . .

A little while later, and with a brushed out mane, I found myself walking with Rarity back to the boutique. The rest of our friends decided that we would try to meet up later that day. I wanted to talk to Sweetie Belle, and just hang out with Rarity as well.

“Shade, your mane looks wonderful! What did you do with it?” The white unicorn asked.

I sighed. “Fluttershy brushed it out. Don’t know why, considering that it’ll probably get messed up again.”

Rarity gave me a look. “If you trained it, it would stay like that. Not to say that your mane looks quite nice when it’s well…”

“Messy?” I asked, sticking my tongue out at her. We smirked then broke out laughing.

After we stopped, Rarity asked, “You are close friends with my sister, correct?”

I nodded, “She’s really fun to hang out with. All three of them are.”

“Sweetie told me that someponies in her class were saying things about you.” Rarity said.

I nodded. “Yeah, Apple Bloom got in a fight for me about it yesterday….Uh-oh.”

“What is it?” Rarity asked.

“I think that Cheerilee said that she was going to go by the farm later to talk to AJ and AB together.” I said, worried.

“And that’s a problem because…?” Rarity questioned.

“I pretended to be Applejack so Apple Bloom wouldn’t get in trouble.” I admitted. “I owed her a favor, but because AJ didn’t know…”

Suddenly, in a flash of purple light, Applejack and Twilight appeared in front of us. The workhorse looked absolutely furious. “Shade! Were you pretending to be me?!” She stormed up and got right in my face.

“Sorry, Shade.” Twilight said. “She didn’t remember to bring it up when we were at Fluttershy’s.”

“Oh, you’re fine.” I stammered out. I was more worried about the mare in front of me that had the ability to buck me into next month.

“DID YOU GO PRETENDEN TO BE ME?!” AJ yelled. I felt intense fear flow though me. Suddenly, the back of my neck felt like it was on fire. Everything looked like in was in a tint of blue.

“Yes! I’m sorry, Applejack! Don’t kill me!” I laid down, covered my head with my hooves and started trembling.

Applejack stepped back, surprised. “Why, I…”

“Look, his neck!” I heard Twilight yell. “It’s glowing!”

“Shade, look at me.” Rarity commanded. I did as she said and she gasped. “His eyes are glowing blue!”

“That’s the color of fear.” Twilight said. “Applejack, you scared him into submission.”

“But..I.” AJ was confused. I made an effort to get over it, but I couldn’t. I looked at Applejack and nearly threw up from the shudder of fear I had.

“There you are. I wanted to ask you…oh!” I heard Fluttershy from behind us. Though the haze of fear, I remembered that I had told her I was going to talk to Diamond Tiara’s father. She had wanted to come with us, and I had forgotten. Smooth move on my part.

“Shade?” Fluttershy came closer to me.

“Wait! Let me cast this spell on him!” Twilight looked me in the eyes and said, “Be calm.” Instantly, the feeling of fear flowed out of me and into my necklace. I shuddered and said to Applejack. “I’m sorry. I should have been more respectful of your wishes. I won’t do it again.”

AJ looked shocked and just nodded. I looked at Twilight. “Could you send us over to Filthy Rich’s house? I don’t know where it is to teleport there.”

“Sure, Fluttershy’s going with you, correct?” I nodded and Twilight lit her horn up. In a instant, we were gone.
. . .

The three mares that remained looked at each other. “What..the hay just happened? I wasn't tryin to frighten him.”

Twilight was quiet, rubbing her chin. Rarity shifted her weight nervously. “I got it!” The purple unicorn yelled. “Remember when Shade was helping fix your barn, Applejack. He was frustrated because he messed up a spell and started throwing wood everywhere?”

Applejack nodded. “Ah remember. His eyes were glowing yellow then. Ah had to buck him into the side of the barn to calm him down enough so you could cast that spell.”

“Exactly.” Twilight said. “Girls, come with me to the library. We need to figure out what's going on.” Twilight lead Rarity and Applejack toward the library.
. . .

Fluttershy and I appeared at Filthy Rich's doorstep. I was awestruck by the house. It was two stories high, and the lawn was pristine. The house was painted gold and silver which was an interesting color choice. I probably would have just stood there for another twenty minutes, unless Fluttershy hadn't gently poked me.

“It's okay, Shade. We'll be fine.” she said, rubbing her hoof though my mane again. She always did that when she knew that I was nervous or upset.

I kissed her and we moved up to the doors. Swallowing my fear, I knocked on the doors. We waited a moment and then Diamond Tiara answered the door.

“Oh, hello Fluttershy.” she said, making a point to ignore me. “Did you need something?”

“Hello, Diamond.” Fluttershy said softly. “Could we speak to your father for a moment?”

“Sure, come on in.” she said. I let Fluttershy go ahead of me, and Diamond proceeded to slam the door in my face. I used a quick spell to flash inside the door, next to my marefriend. Diamond glared daggers at me and continued walking. I looked at Fluttershy, who was about to say something and shook my head.

Diamond led us into her father's library. I looked around, trying to take in the surroundings. The room was painted red, and each wall had a large bookshelf of books. I thought that Twilight would have been jealous. But that wasn't why we were here. I looked at the brown earth pony sitting in a chair, calmly reading the newspaper. He looked up and his face remained perfectly straight. I took a step back as I felt a rush of anger come from him. This was not a good idea.

“Dad, they wanted to know if they could talk to you.” Diamond spoke up.

Rich nodded to her. “Thank you, Diamond.” The young filly left the room. Rich looked at us. “Please, take a seat.”

I let Fluttershy sit, I remained standing. “So, I've heard that you've been saying undermining things about me, sir.”

“Right to the point, I see.” He leaned back in his chair. “Alright then. Here's the thing. You are a menace to society.”

“And how so?” I asked.

“Think about it.” He calmly said. “Changelings haven't been seen in Equestria for over one thousand years. Now all of a sudden, they seem to be appearing up everywhere.”

“I assume that you are mentioning the attack on Princess Cadence's wedding?” I asked.

“Yes I am.” Rich was just getting started. “Sure, they were repelled from the castle. But, how could anypony know that they were all expelled? See, here's my thought. How long have you been living with the princess?”

“All my life.” I said. “I'm her son.”

“If you say so.” he said. “But I don't believe it. Nightmare Moon returned while you've been alive, didn't she?”

“The one thousand years were over.” I said. “She would have returned anyway.”

“Possibly.” I didn't like the tone in his voice. “Discord returned, and now the attack? Now I have no way to point the return of Discord, but what about the changelings? You are one, they are the same. Were you a spy for them? Leading them to attack, giving them all they needed to storm the castle?”

“I wouldn't plot against my own mother.” I said, anger growing in my tone. Fluttershy put her hoof on my shoulder.

“Maybe. But you weren't expelled from the castle.” Rich said.

“That's because I wasn't trying to hurt anypony!” I snapped.

“Then why didn't you help?” he asked.

“I wasn't skilled enough in magic to have done anything!” I yelled.

“Maybe.” He was pushing all my buttons. “I heard from somepony that you can...control emotions? It would have been very easy for you to manipulate the emotions of the princess, especially if she's your mother. And about this young mare right here.” He pointed at Fluttershy, and I knew he was about to make a mistake. “You say that she's your marefriend? Was that her choice, or did you force that upon her?”

“I did NOT TOUCH HER EMOTIONS!” I barked at her, my fangs bared. Fluttershy jumped and Filthy jumped. I was so close to slamming my teeth into him, paralyzing him, and then draining every ounce of emotions from his soul. I took a step toward him, when Fluttershy got up and held me.

“No, Shade. Don't.” She didn't need to raise her voice for me to know what I was about to do. I stepped back, looking her in the eyes. She was afraid, not for herself, but for me. And I knew that if I attacked Rich, I would be nothing more then the monster he had called me. I stepped back and took a deep breath. I sensed fear rolling from Rich in waves. I slipped past my marefriend and walked in front of the earth pony.

“Listen to me very carefully.” I said. “I will ignore everything you said to me. But if you ever even imagine the thought that I would hurt Fluttershy, I will end you. Understand?” He nodded. “Thank you for speaking with us.” I walked away, put my hoof around Fluttershy's neck and teleported us out of that house.
. . .

Filthy Rich took a deep breath, not knowing how close he had been to death. “Diamond, come in here.” he called.

The young earth pony sauntered in. “So, did it go well? Do I need to spread the word like that strange pony told us?”

Rich looked at his daughter and nodded. “Yes, I believe that you can.”

Chilling Truths

Chapter 6-Chilling Truth

Twilight sat on the floor of the library with Rarity and Applejack, surrounded by books. The purple unicorn was rapidly looking at the titles with her magic, levitating book after book in front of her.

“Twilight.” Applejack started. “What are we looking for?”

Twilight frowned and dropped the book she was looking at. “Here's the thing, girls. The princess told me that Shade's been rather...unstable after he was let go from the hospital. He was emoting all over the place, having constant and weird mood swings.”

“Must be from that mark.” Rarity said. “He was always nervous when he was visiting me.”

“Okay, here's my thoughts. Whoever put that on him, somehow has control over his emotions.” Twilight said.

“How in tarnation would that work?” AJ asked. “Doesn't Shade..run on emotions?”

“That's the point.” Twilight said. She flipped though a book, still talking. “We've all seen how Shade reacts when he's emoting a lot.”

“But when you think about it, it's like he can't show any feelings without losing control.” Rarity spoke up.

“Not necessarily.” Twilight said. “This has to be some sort of spell. When Shade was afraid of you AJ, he was showing genuine fear. You freaked him out. But the thing was, someone cast a spell on him though that mark on his back.”

Rarity gasped. “What was happening to him then?”

Twilight held her head in her hoof, thinking. “I think the spell was supposed to increase the emotion that Shade was feeling at the time. He doesn't have control over his powers so whatever happens, happens.”

“So, why is this happening?” Applejack asked.

“I think that whoever is doing this is trying to distract us, or mainly Shade from their main plan.” Twilight yawned. “Come on girls. We'll have to figure this out later. It's starting to get dark.” Leading them to the door, Applejack left first. Rarity was going to follow, when she turned back and looked at Twilight.

“By the way, are you going to that meeting at Town Hall tomorrow?” she asked.

“I wasn't going to, why?” Twilight wondered.

“Not sure. I did hear that Shade probably shouldn't be there.” Rarity left, leaving Twilight with many questions, but no answers.

. . .

Fluttershy was walking thought the house, making sure every animal was ready for bed. I was sitting on the couch, rubbing one of my fangs. They were always visible in my changeling form. As I sat there, I pondered what could have happened today. As much as a jerk as Filthy was, I couldn't believe that he alone was trying to put these fake pieces together about me. There was some other pony behind this. I couldn't imagine why. Ever since I had been released from the hospital, I had done nothing but try to prove that I wasn't a monster. It didn't help my own self-esteem when one of the most esteemed ponies in Ponyville hated me. Then with a shock, I knew what was supposed to have happened at that meeting. Filthy knew that I was dangerous, but why had he wanted to rile me up? He wanted me to attack him. He didn't have any proof besides Fluttershy that I had threatened him, but I knew that Fluttershy wouldn't tell anypony. It didn't matter though. I meant what I had said about my marefriend.

Speaking of which, she came around from the back of the house. “All the animals are asleep. Oh, they look so peaceful.” She must have seen the look on my face. “What's wrong?” she asked, sitting next to me.

“It doesn't add up.” I said. “Filthy Rich is normally a rather laid-back pony. Why would he go to such lengths to hate me?”

Fluttershy started brushing my mane with her hoof. “I don't know, Shade.”

I sighed. “Thanks Flutters.”

“For what?” she asked me.

“If you hadn't stopped me, I would have killed him.” I felt Fluttershy slow down with her brushing, but she continued. “I didn't want him to talk like that about you.”

“Shade. I know that I can be shy and fearful about things.” Fluttershy said. “But being with you has shown me that I don't need to be. I don't want you to worry about me.”

“And if I do anyway?” I said with a smart tone.

She lightly tugged on my mane, making me wince. “I'll tell you to stop?”

“Ow. Careful, that's my sore spot.” I complained. Fluttershy just giggled and did it again. I was virtually powerless to stop her, so I just let her play with my mane. A little bit later, she stopped and started to go upstairs, but then she stopped. Turning, I saw her face turn bright red.

“What is it, Shy?” I asked.

She looked me in the eyes for a long moment. “Shade, would...do you want to...?” I remained quiet. I didn't know what she wanted to ask and I didn't want to try assuming I knew. “Do you want to sleep upstairs...with me?”

Then I understood. Even after Fluttershy and I had became a couple, I had never slept with her. I didn't consider it my place to ask if she wanted any company with her when she was sleeping. Besides, I didn't want her to take it the wrong way. So, whenever I was at her house, I slept on the couch. It was a comfy couch and I never had any issues sleeping there. But as I looked at my marefriend, I saw that, she trusted me even more then I thought she did.

“Sure.” I said. “Why not?” I followed my marefriend upstairs as dusk completely fell.

. . .

“Accept your fate....”

“It's too late for you.....”

“Besides, the yellow one will die, and you are powerless to stop it.....”

“No!” I shot up, breaking out into a cold sweat. I felt Fluttershy waking up next to me, but I was too busy panicking to care.

“Shade? Was it another nightmare?” she asked, sitting up also.

I angrily hit myself in the head. “Why can't I remember them?!” I looked away from the pegasus, tears flowing. “I have Discord playing with me on one end, and Chrysalis on the other.” I sighed. “How can I do anything when I can't even control myself?”

Fluttershy tried to hug me. “It's okay. We can figure it out...”

“No we can't!” I snapped. Fluttershy's eyes widened and she removed her front legs from me. “I'm a danger, Fluttershy! Why do you think Celestia sent me here? She doesn't want me there!” I knew that I was feeling a lot of self-pity at the moment, but I didn't really care. “I don't think that I was supposed to exist.” I whispered. “Why else would Celestia hide me my whole life?”

I had expected Fluttershy to turn away from me, but she instead wrapped her legs around me again. “Shade. I love you. We both know that Celestia loves you and our friends care about you. Stop feeling like this.”

“But...” I started to say.

Fluttershy put her hoof on my mouth, keeping me from talking. “Stop. You have to focus on what Discord wants from you. Promise me you won't feel like this.” I turned toward her.

“You're right.” I said. “I promise. I'll find out what's going on.” Fluttershy smiled and gave me a soft kiss.

We laid back down. Fluttershy immediately wrapped her legs around me, as if to keep me from danger. As I fell asleep, I saw her smiling.

I had no nightmares that night.

. . .

“Are you sure about this?” Twilight asked me. “This isn't going to be pretty.” Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy and myself were walking toward Town Hall to hear the speech directed at myself. I was going to go in my changeling form, but I had decided against it. At Fluttershy's request, I went as her “cousin” Starlight.

“Twi, he had a reason to anger me yesterday.” I said. “Maybe we'll figure out why.” Twi shrugged and we continued on.

When we reached Town Hall, there was a fair number of ponies there. “It seems that he got most of Ponyville to come to this.” Rainbow said.

I sighed and immediately felt Fluttershy's hoof though my mane. “Remember Shade. We'll be fine.” she whispered. I was going to kiss her, but stopped.

Now here's the thing. Fluttershy and I didn't publicly announce our being a couple. Only the princesses and our friends knew, due to the fact that most ponies didn't like me yet. Now I didn't think that was a major issue, but Fluttershy had asked if we could keep it secret for now. I wasn't going to go against that.

“Quiet! Quiet please!” Mayor Mare had gotten up onto the stage and was speaking. Everypony around started to quiet down. “Mr. Rich has called this meeting today to address some things. So, here he is!” Everypony stomped as he walked onto the stage. I was deep in thought. How was Rich able to organize this meeting in such a short time? Something didn't sit right with me. I refocused as he started to talk.

“Hello everypony! I don't plan to take up too much of your time.” he started out. I saw that he had only brought himself on the stage. He didn't have any notes,or anything. I felt extremely agitated, but made an effort to not show it.

“I called this to talk about a certain resident of our town. The changeling Shade, Princess Celestia's son, or so she says. Truthfully, we have no way of knowing if she's being forced to say that, or if it is the truth. Personally, I would like some proof of my own. And another thing, how do we know that Shade is not evil, or preparing the way for more evil to come?”

Now that just wasn't fair. I had beaten Chrysalis, but that had been a secluded fight. Nopony knew because Chrysalis didn't want anypony to know. Rich didn't have any proof that I was evil, so I had no idea how he was going to win everypony over.

Rich continued. “But, my fellow ponies, I did not come here today to give you opinions or speculations. I came here to give you facts! And I have proof today that the changeling should not belong in Ponyville!”

Everypony started murmuring as the mayor yelled out. “Well, I think that you should show us before you make anymore accusations!”

I felt a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. Celestia had taught me a spell that would let her know if I needed help, and she would come straight to me. I had a bad feeling that I was about to need it.

“Certainly.” Rich turned, and everypony gasped and started talking. Fluttershy grabbed my leg, my other friends moved closer to us and I subconsciously shifted out of my pony form and into my changeling form. As ponies started to see me, I cast the spell. I looked up and saw Filthy giving me a small smirk. I knew that I was in serious trouble.

On the side of Filthy's neck, there was a changeling bite mark.

Breaking Innocence

Chapter 7-Breaking Innocence

Celestia reappeared in the throne room back in Canterlot. She flinched as an explosion shook the entire castle. Luna was standing and looking out the window, a thoughtful look on her face.

“Luna!” Celestia said, walking over to her sister. “Why is the castle shaking?”

“That would be thy son.” Luna replied, turning to face Celestia.

Another explosion shook the castle. “What exactly is he doing?” she asked.

“Well, Shade was rather upset at not being able to exact his revenge on that pony, so he has been blowing things up ever since we returned him here.” Luna said calmly. “We have provided items for him to work his anger on.” The two sisters looked toward the door as another explosion rocked the castle. “How did it go with thee?”

Celestia sighed. “I'd rather wait to tell you until Shade calms down. That way I don't need to explain it more then once.”

Luna smirked as the castle shook again. “Thy might be waiting a while sister.”

. . .

I sparked my horn and proceeded to bore a hole into the side of the rich earth pony, then blew him apart. It wasn't actually him, just a statue that Luna had placed in our training room. She had enchanted the room so I didn't blow up the castle, which I would have done.

I was furious. It had all been a elaborate plan from the start. Of course Diamond had to be at the house and vouch for her father when he said that I had attacked him. I had no proof that it wasn't me. I was going to ask Fluttershy if she could explain where I was, but the shy pegasus didn't want to talk to all those ponies. She would have, but I sensed her fear and didn't push the matter. Which meant I had to take the blows.

The kicker came when Filthy said that I had planned to control everypony in town, and that I had started with Fluttershy. At that, I teleported next to him and ALMOST sank my fangs into him. Unfortunately, my mother picked then to appear in front of everypony. She picked me up, and teleported me back to Canterlot. I assumed that she had instructed Luna to put a barrier around the castle, because I couldn't teleport out and the portal in my room was closed. I was so angry I almost attacked Luna. Knowing that we would most likely end up destroying the castle, she advised that I came here.

And so I was, blowing things up. My vision was tinted red and I wasn't really focused on anything. Thus, when my mother came into the room and called my name, I whipped around and almost took her head off with a fireball.

She stood there, unfazed. “Shade, if you are finished, I need to talk with you and Luna.” She then turned and left the room. My vision slowly returned to normal and I followed her.

A little bit later, the three of us were sitting in the kitchen. I wasn't touching any food, still upset by what had happened.

“Shade, you need to eat.” Luna advised. “You can't go long without some sort of substance.”

“I'm fine.” I replied. “Got plenty at the meeting. The shock and fear of everypony filled me right up.”

Celestia sighed. “Shade, where were you last night?”

“With Fluttershy.” I immediately said.

“What about before that? Did you go over to Filthy Rich's house?” She continued.

Ah, crap. If Celestia knew that, I was in big trouble. “Yeah, I wanted to know why he was telling Diamond lies about me.”

“He said that you threatened him.” Celestia said.

Dang it! He was making himself look like the injured party here! And he was doing it by telling the truth! Suddenly a horrible thought hit me. Did my own mother think that I bit him?

“I did.” I said. “He said that I influenced Fluttershy to be attracted to me, and I didn't take too kindly to that.”

“Whether you know it or not, you gave him ammunition against you.” Celestia said. “Shade, I want to believe that you didn't bite him, but the evidence stacks against you.”

“Hello? Did you forget the two evil changelings that captured me three months ago?!” I angrily snapped.

“Watch thy tone, Shade.” Luna said. “Our sister is saying that you were the only changeling in Ponyville at the time.” I sighed. Having your elders be goddesses wasn't amazing. Don't let anypony tell you different.

“Did you sense any changelings, Shade?” my mom asked. “Your body should react if any changelings are where you are, because of your pheromones.”

Ah yes. Changelings can sense when another one is around. Luna had suggested that no changeling would be able to sense me because of my blood. Didn't matter though. Somehow, Filthy was bitten, and I was to blame for it.

“I didn't bite him.” I said

Celestia nodded. “Personally, I believe you, but I have to examine every possibility.”

“Why do you..oh.” If she didn't at least investigate me, it could be assumed that she wasn't trying just because I was her son. Oh, I was upset. I hadn't done anything wrong, and in one fell swoop Filthy ruined that. As my vision started to tint red, I heard Luna clear her throat.

“Sister, we are not fully accustomed to being awake in the day.” she said. “We will go rest until dusk.” Celestia nodded as Luna left the room.

“Shade, walk with me.” Celestia stood up. As she walked away, I was tempted to not move. Realizing that talking with my mother might help me feel better, I followed her.

We went into the throne room. “Shade, do you know why I brought you in here?” my mother asked. When I didn't respond, she continued on. “Whenever I need to escape from the world, I'll come in here and just look at the windows.” She put her hoof on a window that showed herself and Luna in a circle. “So much history in this room.”

“That's you and Luna, ruling.” I said softly. I looked at my mother. “You, weren't supposed to have me, were you? That's why you hid me.”

Celestia sat down next to me and motioned me to sit by her. When I did, she spoke. “Shade, Luna and I were never supposed to have any foals. The reason was that the foal would go though so much, just trying to live up to the reputation of being our foal.” I felt sadness flow from her into me. “Another reason, is that we cannot pass on our immortality.”

I knew what she meant. Even though I was her child, I would still grow old and die. Celestia would have to watch her child pass on. I felt horrible and it must have shown, because my mom put her hoof around me.

“No. Do not feel like that.” The sun princess said. “Having you with me, made the last few years purely amazing.”

“But how?” I asked, upset. “Now I know why you didn't tell me. You haven't had any foals, ever. Now you have to watch me die, and you can't stop it.”

Celestia gave me one of the kindest looks I've ever seen. “Shade. I love you. I never had any foals because of what you realized. But I wouldn't change the last few years for anything. I just wish that I could have made different decisions though.”

“It's fine...mom.” I said. Celestia smiled at me, and the two of us just sat and enjoyed being with each other, not needing to say a word.

About fifteen minutes later, I asked. “Why exactly did you pick Discord to have a foal with?”

Celestia looked at me. “Shade, what really happened was...”

She stopped talking as a green rubber ball came rolling toward us. “Hey, that's the ball I played with when I was a foal!” I exclaimed. “How did it get out of my room?” The ball rolled up to us and stopped moving. It started shaking violently. I quickly pushed Celestia behind me as the ball exploded. When the smoke disappeared, I was floating inside the ball! The ball had grown bigger and I was trapped inside. My mother was laid out on the ground.

“Celestia!” I yelled. I tried to cast a teleportation spell, but I was unable to. I wasn't drained, but it was like something was suppressing my magic. Or someone.

“Well, well. What's going on in here?” Discord rose up from the floor in front of me. I had long learned not to question how he could do these things.

“Let me out of here!” I yelled.

“Where's the fun in that?” he said. “Now I just needed to pick up Celestia. I don't want her to stand me up again.” He lifted her in the air, using a spell I assumed.

“Where are you taking her?!” I yelled. “Luna! Help!” I said in my mind.

“Don't you worry about it.” he said. “You know, I think that you should be around some friends for a while.” He pointed at me. The ball I was stuck in started to glow white. “Don't be afraid Shade. This ball's gonna let you sleep for a day or two.”

“I'll find you!” I hissed, my fangs coming out.

“Oh, I expect you to.” Discord said with a smile. “And we are gonna have some fun when you do.” He snapped his fingers and everything turned white.

. . .

Fluttershy was at the outskirts of Ponyville, just trying to enjoy the night. “Oh, I hope that Shade's okay. He was so mad..” As the shy pegasus turned to start walking home, something whizzed by her. “Oh my..” It happened again, except that it clipped her on the side, making her stumble and fall.

She held her hoof to her head. Looking up, she saw..Shade? Her face lit up. “Shade! You're okay!” She stood up to hug him, and he back-hoofed her, knocking her down. She landed hard on her flank, tearing up.

Shade gave her a disgusted look. “You know, I would have thought that you would toughen up at least a little bit.”

Fluttershy was confused and hurt. “I...don't understand.”

“I don't know what I saw in you.” Shade said with a huff.

Fluttershy was now openly crying. Twice she opened her mouth to talk, but was unable to say a word.

Shade rolled his eyes and his horn lit up. Fluttershy's eyes widened as he lifted her up, from the neck. “Well, at least you served a purpose. I don't need to waste my time anymore with you.” Fluttershy looked at him. Though her tear-filled eyes, she thought she saw something...wrong. She tensed up even more as he tightened his magical grip. “See you later.” The last thing that Fluttershy saw before she passed out was his eyes.

They were yellow.

Deadly Storm

Chapter 8-Deadly Storm

“Uhh, my head.” I groaned, returning to reality. “What happened to me?” The last thing I remember was....” I gasped. “Discord!”

I quickly stood up, then swayed as I almost passed out again. When Discord had zapped me away, it must have drained all of my energy. It even took all the energy I had in my necklace, as I shook it.

“Wonderful.” I whispered. “Where am I anyway?” I took the time to look around, and saw that I was behind Sugercube Corner. “Could've been worse.” I mumbled. “I should try to get some energy.” I thought as my stomach rumbled.

I was about to cross around to the front, when I remembered why I had been back in Canterlot in the first place. “Right. Thanks, Filthy.” Annoyed, I shifted into my disguise of Starlight and crossed to the front and into the town.

As I walked, I sensed a lot of fear and...anger? I assumed that it was because everypony though that I had bitten Filthy. That reminded me, I needed to go talk to him about that. I kept my head down and made my way towards Twilight’s house, feeding off of the emotions around me. That stopped as I heard a voice call out the name of my disguise. “Starlight!”

I turned and looked up as I saw Derpy flying towards me. I waved as she landed. “Hi, Derpy! What's up?”

She focused on me, not having her usual smile on her face. “Where have you been? Did you hear what happened to your cousin?”

“Fluttershy?” I said, not having to fake my panic. “What happened?! Is she okay?!”

Derpy shook her head. “No. You remember Shade, the changeling?” I nodded, keeping a straight face. “Two days ago, Rainbow found Fluttershy unconscious at the entrance to the Everfree Forest. When she woke up, she said that Shade attacked her!”

“What?!” I yelled.

Derpy continued. “We haven't been able to find him, but Twilight said that she was gonna put a spell on Ponyville.”

“A spell?” I wondered. “Do you know what it was supposed to do?”

“Um, I think it's supposed to force Shade to look normal.” My cross-eyed friend said. She lowered her voice. “I don't think that he did it though. I spoke with Shade and he would never attack her.” She looked down, then looked back up at me with her normal smile. “Gotta go. Letters to deliver!” She took off into the sky.

I was furious, but worried. Who attacked Fluttershy? It couldn't have been Chrysalis or Misty. They fled the country after I had scared them by acting like my mom. It had to have been Discord! But, how did he know that Fluttershy and I were a couple. That was the reason our necklaces had different gems, so nopony would be able to easily tell. I felt my fangs starting to grow, so I ducked my head and ran. I needed to find somepony I trusted.

. . .

I burst into the library and shut the door behind me. Tired, I didn't notice that I had shifted into my unicorn form. I jumped when I heard a voice say, “Shade?!” I looked over and saw Spike standing at the bookshelf, giving me a strange look.

I held my hoof to my mouth and pointed towards the stairs. “Twilight's here?”

Spike nodded, then walked toward me. When he reached me, he motioned me to sit so we would be eye-to-eye. As I did that, he proceeded to slap me across the face.

“Ow. I'm pretty sure I deserved that for something.” I winced.

Spike grabbed my mane, effectively forcing me to look at him. “Tell me the truth. Did you attack Fluttershy?”

“No. Why would you think that?” I replied.

“I don't know.” Spike responded with a trace of sarcasm. “Maybe the fact that when Fluttershy woke up, she was crying and we could only understand that you apparently attacked her.”

“I was in Canterlot!” I barked at him. “And I don't have time for accusations! My mother was captured by Discord two days ago!”

Spike's eyes widened. “What?! Where is she?”

“I don't know.” I sighed. “That's why I was going to talk to Twilight. She might be able to help.”

Spike shook his head. “No. You need to get out of here right now.”

“Why?” I asked.

Spike started pushing me to the door. “Because Rarity and Applejack are here, and they think that you hurt Fluttershy. If they see you..”

Oh, right. I quickly turned to dash out the door, when a magical force grabbed my tail and yanked me to the middle of the room. I looked up to see Rarity and Applejack towering over me.

“Uh, hi?” I managed to say.

“Twilight!” Applejack yelled, even though Spike was motioning for her to be quiet. “You might wanna come down here!”

I tried to stand up, but Applejack put her hoof on my chest. “Wait! I can't talk to her yet! I need to talk to Fluttershy!”

“That's exactly what you will NOT be doing.” Rarity said sternly.

“But I..” I stopped as everypony heard hoof steps.

“Okay, so I was thinking about that spell and there's s different one that I can use...” Twilight stopped as she saw me lying on my back with AJ's hoof on my chest.

I felt a cold shiver of fear run though my body as I felt pure, unbridled rage flow from Twilight. This had been a horrible idea coming here. “Shade. Why are you here?” she coldly asked.

Rarity and Applejack backed away from me as I stood up. “I needed your help. Do you know where Fluttershy is?”

Twilight walked up right in front of me. I felt my legs shaking in fear as she stared at me. “You would come back here and ask me where my friend is after what you did to her?” I could have sworn I saw fire flash in her eyes. “I was right before. We really can't trust changelings.”

“That's not true!” I yelled.

“Yeah?” Twilight barked, lifting me up into the air with magic. “You only used Fluttershy for her love, and then threw her away! Well you know what? I'm going to make sure that you NEVER have the chance to do it again!”

Twilight dropped me on the ground. Before I had a chance to focus enough to teleport away or use a spell, Twilight put her hoof on my shoulder. She shut her eyes and her horn started glowing white. Then, with a blinding flash, everything disappeared.

. . .

Rarity, Applejack and Spike shielded their eyes from the light of Twilight's spell. When the room cleared, Twilight and Shade were gone.

“Applejack!” Spike yelled. “Why did you tell Twilight that Shade was here?”

“Because he needs to pay for what he did.” The orange farm pony replied.

“Yeah, but with DEATH?” Spike replied.

Rarity gasped, “Spike, whatever are you talking about?”

“You weren't here when Rainbow told Twilight what happened with Fluttershy. She was so mad, she tried to teleport to where he was. Thirty-seven times.” Spike said. “She couldn't reach him, but she said that if he gets near her, she'll erase him from existence!

“So you mean?” Rarity said, paling.

“Yeah.” Spike said. “Twilight's gonna kill him.”

Revelations and Renewal

Chapter 10-Revelations and Renewal

It was afternoon, at least it was supposed to be. Sweetie Belle, along with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were in the process of leaving school for the day. Or was it actually night? Nopony could really tell anymore.

As her friends talked, Sweetie was quiet. She looked up at the sky. Two days ago, the sky had been dark as night when it was supposed to be day. The sky had a lighter tone, but was still dark. The sun was nowhere to be seen. And when it was night, it seemed a little darker than usual. The three fillies hadn't had much time in the past two days to be together. Apple Bloom was trying to help her sister with the farm, and Scootaloo had her own agenda.

Sweetie had been busy also, but for an entirely different reason. Two days ago, when this had all started, she had gone into the CMC clubhouse and seen her changeling friend Shade. He had spoken to her, saying that he was about to leave, but he had passed out. Sweetie had taken it upon herself to take care of the tired changeling. But she was worried. Shade hadn't stirred in the last two days. She kept him warm, and tried to feed him. He wouldn't eat or drink anything, which worried the little unicorn.

She had ran and checked out a book on changelings from Spike when Twilight was away, knowing that the purple unicorn didn't fully trust him after that meeting. Reading that, she knew that Shade could eat normal food, but was mostly fueled by emotions. Whenever she was with the unconscious changeling, she would try to show as many feelings as she could. She had no way of knowing if anything she was doing was helping.

“Hey! Equestria to Sweetie Belle!” Sweetie was jerked out of her thoughts by Scootaloo waving her hoof in her face. “You zoned out there.”

“Sorry. I was just thinking.” Sweetie smiled at her friend. “I'm rather tired though.”

“Yeah.” Scootaloo replied. “Miss Cheerilee looked upset today.”

Apple Bloom spoke up. “Did ya hear? Miss Cheerilee might have to close the whole school down!”

Sweetie gasped in disbelief as Scootaloo asked, “Why?”

“I guess it's got something to do with that.” The young earth pony replied, pointing at the sky.

“I hope that whatever is going on, stops soon.” Sweetie said. “Ponyville's falling apart.”

“I don't get it.” Scootaloo said. “Maybe we should have a meeting to figure out a plan.”

“Uh, sorry girls. I need to go. Maybe another time.” Sweetie dashed away from her friends.

Scootaloo gave Apple Bloom a look. “Has Sweetie been acting weird to you also?”

“Ah guess.” Apple Bloom said. “She started avoiding me when the sky stayed dark.”

Scootaloo rubbed her chin in thought as they continued walking. “Let's meet up at your house later. We'll talk about it later.” Apple Bloom nodded, waved to her friend and ran off.

. . .

I finally opened my eyes. The first thing I noticed was that I was in my changeling form. I started to shift into a pony, which brought on the second thing I noticed. I had absolutely NO energy. None. I could barely raise my head to look around. I was actually in the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse. Because I had lapsed into a coma, I thought that it was just a hazy dream that I had been there. Turns out, it wasn't a dream.

It didn't matter though. I was helpless in a clubhouse, but that wasn't the worst. I was miserable. I felt hurt, lost and betrayed. And now when I was discovered, I would probably be handed to Chrysalis on a silver platter. Upset, I started to quietly cry.

My back was to the door, which is why I didn't notice the pony behind me until she spoke, “Shade? Please don't cry again.”

I felt worry rush over me, and quickly drew the emotion into my body. Forcing myself to roll over, I saw Sweetie Belle sitting next to me. Guess that hadn't been a dream either. I tried to move back from her, but I didn't get very far. “Sweetie?!” I was afraid. She knew where I was, so she could turn me in. Or even worst, tell Twilight where I was! Impulsively, I tried to cast a teleportation spell, but the strain of that caused me to nearly pass out again.

“Shade! Relax.” Sweetie put her hoof on my leg.

I took a deep breath. “Please don't tell anypony that I'm here. I'll leave Ponyville when I can move again, just please don't tell anyone.” My heart was racing and I was sweating. No matter what happened, I did NOT want her telling anypony that I was still in the town.

Sweetie gave me a smile. “Shade, you've been unconscious in here for two days. I've been taking care of you.”

Sweetie's words washed over me. “You mean, you haven't told anypony that I'm here?”

She shook her head. “Nope.”

I laid my head down, tired again. “Thank you...”

I felt Sweetie move around in the clubhouse. “Get a actual nap, okay? I'll be back in an hour.” I managed a grunt before I fell into a deep sleep.

. . .

Sweetie burst into the Carousel Boutique, heading straight for the kitchen. “Okay, I know he doesn’t eat food, but it might help. Gotta think of an excuse..”

The young unicorn was so wrapped up in trying to get some food for her friend, she didn't hear her sister come inside. She jumped when she heard Rarity yell, “Sweetie? Are you home?”

Sweetie was as quiet as she could as she started placing some fruit and veggies on the kitchen table. She cleared off everything from the table that wasn't food. Hearing her sister call her name again, she sped up.

“Sweetie Belle? Answer me!” Rarity was getting upset. Knowing that her sister wouldn't let her back out of the shop if she continued to ignore her, she called out. “Sorry Rarity! I'm in the kitchen!”

“Oh, well. I would like to talk to you before you leave again!” Rarity yelled back.

Sweetie judged that Rarity was at the top of the stairs, so she had about thirty seconds before her sister came in the room. She grabbed the edges of the tablecloth and swiftly bundled up the food. Tying it off, she stowed in behind the door and pretended to be washing dishes when Rarity came in the room.

“Oh, Sweetie! It is nice to see you doing some chores.” Rarity said.

“Uh, yeah! Just wanted to clean a little bit before I went to hang out with the girls.” Sweetie nervously said.

Rarity sat at the table. “Sweetie, I need to ask you something important.”

“Yes?” Sweetie replied.

“Your friend, Shade. Have you seen him lately?” She asked.

Sweetie looked at her sister angrily. “What do you mean, “your” friend? He's your friend too, isn't he?!”

Rarity looked shocked at her sister's anger. “Why yes!”

“Then don't just call him “my” friend.” Sweetie turned back to the sink.

“Well, I was just wondering if you have seen him lately.” Rarity said.

“No, I haven't. Why?” Sweetie asked.

“Well, my friends and I need to speak with him.” She replied.

“About what? How he supposedly bit Diamond Tiara's father, hurt Fluttershy, and caused the sky to stay dark?!” Sweetie snapped. “I've heard. Everypony in town thinks that it was him!”

Rarity attempted to reason with the angry filly. “Sweetie, the evidence against him is a lot....”

Sweetie whipped around from the sink. “He never did anything to hurt anypony, and now we all act like he's Nightmare Moon reborn?! Just because of some stupid lies?!” The filly angrily slammed the dishes down and stomped over to her sister. “I don't care what you say, he didn't hurt anypony!” She grabbed the tablecloth of food she had and walked out.”

“Where are you going with that food?” Rarity yelled.”

“I'm having a picnic!” Sweetie yelled back and slammed the door.

Rarity stayed sitting at the table, as a realization came to her. “Oh my, I must speak to Twilight!”

. . .

Sweetie Belle was the best pony in Equestria. As I proceeded to stuff myself, I felt joy radiating from my young friend, and in turn, it fed my soul. I felt more alive then I had in days. As I ate, I told Sweetie everything that had happened to me after Celestia had taken me from that meeting. She was shocked, especially when I told her that Twilight had tried to kill me.

“So, Discord has Celestia, everypony thinks that you hurt Fluttershy, and Twilight tried to kill you because of it?” Sweetie asked.

I nodded, but then stopped eating. I took a moment to reflect on her words. “I don't understand.” I said. My voice started to break. “I don't understand, why they would all hate me? Why they think I would so suddenly turn on them.” I started to cry again. Sweetie was quiet as I cried. “I've been trying to prove to everypony that I'm not evil, but I've really been trying to convince myself.” I broke down then, shamelessly weeping. "My life's been a lie, my father wants to use me for some sick reason, I can't control my powers and I don't care anymore!

I felt two forelegs wrapped around my neck. “Shade. I believe you. None of this was your fault. You have to believe that you aren't evil. Make sure that you know what you are, and then it'll be easier to prove to everypony else. Just please don't give up.”

We stayed there for a little bit, Sweetie just hugging me as I let my bottled up emotions run out. When I was done, I wiped my tears away. “Thanks Sweetie. Personally, I'm glad I have feelings.”

Sweetie giggled. “Me too. Gives me things that I can tease you about later.” I lightly shoved the filly as she laughed.

As we relaxed, we started to get serious. “We need a plan.” I said.

“But what can we do?” Sweetie asked me. “I'm the only pony in Ponyville that knows you didn't do any of those awful things.”

“Hmm. We need to go straight to the source.” I said. “This all started with Diamond Tiara's father, so lets start there.”

“Do you think that he'll talk to you?” Sweetie said.

I shook my head. “I know he won't.” I thought hard.

“What about Diamond?” Sweetie asked. “We could ask her for any clues.”

I grinned at her. “Great idea! I think that...” We both froze as we heard Rarity yell up to us. “Sweetie Belle? Is somepony up there with you?”

“Buck.” I hissed. “Sorry for my language Sweetie. Could you take a peek down there for me?” I watched as Sweetie looked out the window.

“It's my sister, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle.” Sweetie said. I shuddered at the mention of the purple unicorn. “Why did Rarity bring them if she just wanted to tell me to come home?”

I gasped. “They know that I'm here. Twilight's here to stop me from using magic, and Rainbow's here to chase me down. The only reason that they haven't done anything is because they can't prove I'm here yet.”

Sweetie gulped. “What should we do?”

I shifted into my unicorn form. I started to start my spell, but I stopped looking at my friend. “Sweetie, you know that they are going to be chasing me down. You too, if you come. You can stay, pretend that I ordered you to not tell anypony...”

Sweetie shook her head. “Nope. You know that I'm coming with you. Besides, Rarity would just question me for hours.”

“You sure?” I asked. She nodded. “Okay then.” My horn started glowing and just as Rarity poked her head into the clubhouse, we were gone.

. . .

“He WAS here!” Rarity jumped down and landed by Twilight and Rainbow. “I though that she was hiding something, always running out of the house with food. I can't believe she LIED to me!”

Twilight paced. “What is he doing though?”

“Who cares?” Rainbow said, flying in circles around her friends. “We need to find him. He has Sweetie Belle!”

“Rainbow.” Twilight started. “Sweetie Belle is helping Shade.”

Rarity sat down. “You know, Twilight. It might be possible that you scared Shade. That's probably why he's running.”

Twilight looked at her. “Well...Um....I guess.”

Rarity looked at her with a exasperated look. “Dear. You teleported him to a different dimension and almost killed him. Now, maybe we should just ask him what's wrong instead of accusing him. We've been doing this all wrong.”

Twilight sighed. “You're right, Rarity. I was just so angry that Fluttershy was hurt, I just reacted when I saw him.”

Rainbow groaned. “Great. Now we have to search all over Ponyville for a changeling that won't look like himself. Not to mention we have no idea what his plan is.”

“Let's get all of us together.” Twilight said. “The six of us should be able to find him easily.” Rarity and Rainbow nodded as Twilight teleported them to her house.

Holding Back the Storm

Chapter 11-Holding Back the Storm

I teleported Sweetie Belle and myself behind Twilight's house. “Phew. Thought we wouldn't make it for a moment there.” I panted.

Sweetie wasn't looking at me, more focused on our surroundings. Then she whipped around and said, “Shade! Shift!”

Without thinking, I shifted into Spike. “This isn't going to fool anypony for long.” I said. “I can sense Spike inside the library.”

“You told me that he wasn't too angry at you.” Sweetie said. “Maybe he can talk to us. Do you sense anypony else in there?”

I frowned, casting out to sense out the whole library. “Nope. Twilight wouldn't be here yet anyway, we left her at the clubhouse.”

“She won't be there for long, Shade! Come on!” Sweetie shoved me. I smiled at her, then proceeded to shift into Twilight. We hurriedly crossed around and entered.

“Spike?” I yelled in Twilight's voice. “You here?”

“Yeah!” We heard the little dragon move around. “I'm coming down!”

“Sweetie, lock the door.” I said.

“Why?” she asked.

“Trust me. We aren't going to have a lot of time here.” I said. Shrugging, she turned and locked the door.

Spike came down the stairs and walked over to us, giving me a hug. “Glad your back! Did you find Shade?”

“Well, not exactly.” I said, shifting into my unicorn form.

Spike's eyes widened and he fell back. “Shade?! Don't do that!”

I smiled as Sweetie started laughing. “Sorry Spike.”

He grunted and we all walked into the middle of the room. “So, why are you here? You know that Twilight's still looking for you.”

“That's the thing Spike.” I said. “We need to know where Diamond Tiara and her father are.”

“Oh, well I think that Diamond's at home.” Spike said. “At least, I assume so. I don't know where her dad is though.”

“Hmm.” I thought. “I sure hope her dad isn't there. It wouldn't be good if I saw him right now.” As I said that, my fangs extended out of my mouth.

Spike shuddered. “Yeah, maybe you shouldn't try now then.”

“One more question, Spike..” I started, but stopped as Sweetie shouted.

“Shade! Twilight, Rainbow and Rarity are coming!” She said.

“For the love of my mother!” I hissed. “Why are they following me everywhere?!” I swept Spike up in a hug. “Thanks, I owe you a bowl of gems.”

My dragon friend wriggled free. “You sure do. Do you have any idea the questions that I'm going to be pelted with?”

The three of us laughed at that. I paled as we heard knocking on the door. “Spike! Open up, I don't have a lot of time!” Twilight yelled.

“And neither do we. Ready Sweetie?” I asked. The young filly nodded and jumped on my back.

“I want to travel in style this time!” I rolled my eyes, nodded to Spike, and cast a teleportation spell just as we saw the door open.

. . .

“Ugh, could you PLEASE stop cutting it so close!” Sweetie complained.

“Sorry.” I said as we landed on Filthy Rich's front porch. “Isn't my fault that Twilight's always on my tail.”

Sweetie huffed. “Whatever. Hey, we're here.”

I decided to keep my sarcasm to myself and just nodded. “Wait.” I said as Sweetie was about to knock on the door. “There's no way he'll talk to me like this.”

“Oh, right.” Sweetie said. “Why don't you just shift into Scootaloo or Apple Bloom? We can say that we wanna hang out with Diamond.”

“Good idea.” I took a deep breath, then channeled my inner energy. I felt myself shrink, then my back started itching for a split second. Suddenly, I felt nothing.

“Wow, you look just like her!” I heard my friend exclaim. I held up my hoof, which was orange. “That's weird. I was aiming for Apple Bloom.” I said. “Why did I change into Scootaloo?”

“Aw, we'll figure it out later.” Sweetie said. “Come on, we don't have a lot of time!” She banged on the door.

As we waited, I was thinking hard. I never had any issues shifting before. Could it be that because chaos was happening around me, it was starting to affect my body? Discord had said something about me having the power of chaos. I didn't want it, but if this kept up I don't think I would have any choice in the matter.

I resisted the urge to sigh as Filthy opened the door. “Hello girls. Did you need something?”

It took everything I had not to shift back to normal and bite him. In fact, I felt my fangs growing, so I looked down. Sweetie took the hint and spoke for us.

“Yes sir. We were wondering if Diamond was here.” She said.

“Yes. Her friend Silver Spoon is here also. Would you two like to come in and play with them?” he asked.

Sweetie and I nodded as he let us inside. We started for the steps as he walked back to his library. Suddenly, my neck flared up in heat and my vision tinted red. Sweetie must have noticed because she rushed at me and virtually pushed me up the stairs. Apparently she was a lot stronger then Scootaloo, because she pinned me.

“Shade!” she whispered fiercely. “Control yourself!”

“This is all his fault!” I hissed, my fangs fully extended. “Let me go!”

“To do what? Kill him?” the filly shot back. “You'd just prove his point! Nopony would ever believe you, and even if you stop Discord, it won't help! I know you! You wouldn't harm anypony that isn't a threat to you. Yes, he ruined how everypony looks at you, but we can fix this! Now listen to me and CALM DOWN.”

She might have said all that in a barely contained whisper, but I caught her meaning. She was right, if I killed Filthy, I wouldn't have any chance at redemption. Sighing, I forced myself to relax, feeling the burning pain on my neck cool off. My vision cleared and I slumped down, feeling my fangs retract. “Thank you Sweetie.”

The filly sighed, sitting next to me. “You know, if you are your own worst enemy, that might just be what's wrong.”

I gave her a glance as she continued. “Well let's think. All Discord did was mess with how everypony looked at you. You are especially sensitive to emotions, so it's hard for you to stay calm when everypony's mad at you for no reason.”

“So, we need to get away from everypony so we can find him.” I said.

Sweetie nodded. “Yeah, by the way. Why are we here?”

I looked at Diamond's room. “I had a hunch.”

. . .

Spike sat down quietly as Twilight angrily paced back and forth. “So he was here, and you didn't find anyway to make him stay?!”

“I'm sorry, Twilight!” The young dragon said. “They caught me by surprise!”

“Spikey.” Rarity started. She was also there with Rainbow. “You said “they”. Was my sister here also?”

Spike nodded. “Yeah, she told Shade when you guys were coming to the house.”

“I don't get it Twilight.” Rainbow said. “Why can't you just teleport to where they are?”

“I don't know!” Twilight snapped. “I've tried over and over. I remember that he told me that he enchanted that necklace he wears. I think that it's interfering with my magic.”

“Can't you just locate his body, Twilight?” Rarity asked.

Twilight shook her head. “His body is different then from ponies. I never had a chance to really examine him.” She looked at her assistant again. “Spike, what did Shade ask you?”

“Well.” Spike started. “I think he said something about Diamond....oops.” He held his claws over his mouth, but the damage was done.

“Of course!” Twilight yelled. “He would go to the source of all his problems!” Suddenly, her eyes widened. “We need to go!”

“Twilight dear, what's wrong?” Rarity asked, worried.

“That mark amplifies his emotions!” Twilight said. “If he gets angry..”

“Right! We need to go!” Rainbow said. “Use your magic, Twilight!”

Rarity and Rainbow stood still as Twilight cast a teleportation spell. They disappeared from the room, only to reappear two seconds later. “Um.” Rainbow started.

“That necklace must have a temporary shield spell on it.” Twilight moved. “That explains why he's always in a building. That spell keeps anypony from teleporting close to him for a while when he goes in a building. We could wait, but it'll be too late. He's teleporting from building to building.”

“We can run there!” Rainbow yelled. “Come on! We can't let him get away again!” Rainbow and Rarity dashed out of the library.

Twilight started, but stopped to look back at her dragon assistant. “Spike, we need to talk later.” The baby dragon gulped as the unicorn dashed out.

. . .

I had asked Sweetie if she could ask Diamond Tiara if she knew how the story about me had started. When she had finished, I teleported us to Sugercube Corner. I made sure to land us in the back so nopony would see us. “Well?” I asked.

“Okay. So apparently that day I was sick a week ago, there was this weird red and black pony with yellow and purple eyes. He had wings and some of us THOUGHT he had a horn. Anyway, he was going around saying that you devoured the souls of an entire town when you had been in Canterlot.”

I thought back to that period. Celestia had taken me on a trip to Manehatten, so I could see a little more of the world. I told Sweetie that and added, “It doesn't add up. I think that Discord wants me to leave the town.”

“But how would that help him if he wants you to hurt somepony so that you'd get kicked out?” Sweetie asked.

“It doesn't matter for him either way.” I said, it suddenly clicking. “All he cares about is that I go and find him. That's why he kidnapped Celestia.”

Sweetie was quiet. “So, now we have to go look for him.”

“I do.” I said. “You aren't coming with me. It'll be too dangerous.”

Sweetie looked at me defiantly, “That's not gonna happen. I'm staying with you!”

I sighed. I knew from past experience that Sweetie would not quit until she won an argument. “Fine, but when we find Discord, I'm sending you straight back, understand?”

The filly nodded. “Fine, we have one more stop to make.” Still looking like Scootaloo, I laid my hoof on Sweetie's shoulder and we were gone.

. . .

Twilight was discouraged. She had gone over to Filthy Rich's house, but she had missed them. Filthy had been outraged that Shade had tricked him, but Twilight assured him that she would find him. Rainbow had flown off, so it was only her and Rarity that sat downstairs.

“It's all my fault.” Twilight groaned. “If I hadn't attacked him, maybe we could have gotten some answers. What really happened to him.”

“We can't change the past, Twilight.” Rarity said. “Right now, we just need to work harder at finding him.”

Twilight was about to reply, when her horn flashed white. A beam shot from it and struck the ground. In a flash of light so bright that the unicorns had to cover their eyes, they looked at the figure of Princess Celestia.

“Princess?” Twilight asked.

“Twilight, my faithful student.” Celestia said with a tired smile. “And it is nice to see you also, Rarity. I don't have much time to talk right now.”

“Princess, what's going on?” Twilight asked. “Ponyville's seeming to tear itself apart.”

“It's Discord.” Celestia said, much to the two unicorns surprise. “I know that you and your friends sealed him up with the Elements of Harmony, but he has been freed, and has captured me. I'm speaking to you with a spell, but I do not have the energy to maintain it for long. Where is Shade?”

Twilight put her head down, clearly upset. “He's running Princess. It's all my fault. Somepony tricked everypony into believing that he attacked Fluttershy. So when he came here for help, I almost killed him.”

Celestia was quiet for a moment, but spoke up. “We will talk about it later. For now, you must find him.”

“Why is that, Princess?” Rarity asked.

Celestia's figure started flickering. “Because he is going to come look for me. And if Discord gets his hands on him, Equestria is doomed. I have faith in you.” Then with a flash, the princess disappeared.

Twilight and Rarity exchanged glances. “Come on Rarity. Let's go gather our friends.”

. . .

Fluttershy was at her home, calmly cleaning up. Ever since the “incident” she had taken to staying indoors most of the time, especially after dark. The shy pegasus was truly upset by what had happened during the last week. Her friends had advised her to stay home or with them until everything had been sorted out.

Fluttershy sat down in her living room and sighed. “What can I do to help?” She looked toward her window. “I know that it just isn't true. It couldn't have been him.” She jumped as she heard a knock on the door. “W-who is it?” she stuttered.

“It's me, Miss Fluttershy! Sweetie Belle!” At the sound of the friendly voice, Fluttershy relaxed and moved toward the door, opening it. She saw Sweetie Belle with Spike laying on her back.

“Oh hello. Come on in.” she said. The filly walked in and shook Spike off her back.

“Hey, I was tired!” he complained.

“Hush up.” Sweetie shot back. She turned to the older pegasus. “I know that this might be too soon, but he wouldn't let me go with him unless we came here first. I'm going to wait by the door.” She scooted off before Fluttershy had a chance to ask her a question. When she turned back to Spike, he wasn't there. Instead, a young male changeling stood there, tears running down his face.

“Hey.” He said, trying not to lose it. “I told you I would look like a changeling when I was here.”

Fluttershy didn't move, still in shock. Then her gaze fell on his neck, prompting her to rush forward and tackle Shade, giving him a big hug and kissing him hard. Sweetie made it a point to NOT look away from the window.

When they broke apart, Shade looked at Fluttershy with a confused expression. “But, I thought....They said I hurt you!”

Fluttershy put her hoof on the confused changeling's mouth. “Shade, I thought it was you, but then I knew that it wasn't.”

“How?” he asked her.

Fluttershy smiled. “He looked like a unicorn, but his eyes were yellow.”

“But I can change my eye color all the time.” he said. To prove that, he flashed his eyes several different colors.

“He wasn't wearing his necklace Shade.” Fluttershy said softly. She watch Shade's face as he understood what it meant. She smiled again as he started jumping around the room, excited as a filly.

“Yes! I knew it! I knew it wasn't me!” He calmed down too soon for her liking. “But it doesn't help. Everypony still thinks that it was me that hurt you.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “I'll convince them. You need to go stop Discord.”

“How did you know....Oh.” Shade understood. Fluttershy had seen Discord before, so she would remember his eyes. Fluttershy blushed as Shade leaned in for another kiss...

“Shade! We got company!” Sweetie yelled.

“I was waiting for that.” the changeling said, sighing. Sweetie ran over to him as Fluttershy said. “Wait, you're taking her also? Won't it be dangerous for her?”

“I promised to send her back as soon as I find Discord.” he said. “And don't worry. I'll stop him.”

“Shade.” Fluttershy said as the duo prepared to disappear in front of her. “Don't forget. No matter what you are or who you look like, you're still my stallion.”

Shade winked at her with a smile. Sweetie Belle waved as the two of them disappeared.

Breaking Dusk

Chapter 12-Breaking Dusk

Filthy Rich was in his library at the dead of midnight. He sighed as he was writing a letter. “Maybe this was a horrible idea.” he thought to himself.

“Dad?” Filthy jumped as he heard a voice. He visibly relaxed as he saw that it was only Diamond standing in the doorway.

“Diamond? What are you doing up?” He asked, standing up. “Don't you have school tomorrow?”

The filly shook her head. “No, remember? It's closed until the sky is light at day again.”

“Is something wrong?” he asked, walking over to his daughter. “Did you have a nightmare?”

Diamond lowered her head. “No.” Filthy reached her and put a hoof on her shoulder. She looked up, her eyes flashing green. “I'm LIVING in one.”

Filthy was confused, until he looked at her eyes again. They were solid green now. “Wait, GREEN?” he thought. “Oh, no.”

Suddenly Diamond leapt up, shot toward Filthy and pinned him against the wall. She was levitating and her her hoof around his throat.

Filthy gulped. “You-you aren't Diamond, are you?”

“Took you a minute to figure that out, huh?” Diamond's voice changed to a male's voice. “Yeah, it's me, Shade. The so-called “evil” changeling.”

“What do you want?” Filthy asked, trying not to tremble.

“Hmm, I don't know.” Shade said, reverting his voice back to the filly's. “Maybe I'd like to know why you hate me. Or why you held a meeting to make others hate me. Or I want to know how in the BUCK you were bitten by a changeling!” Filthy flinched at the changeling's yell. He temporarily stopped breathing as he saw his daughter grow fangs. “Or maybe I just want to kill you.”

Filthy knew that his life was in danger. “Well, if you did that, you wouldn't know anything.”

Shade laughed. “You think I'm bluffing? Here's something I don't tell others. If I wanted, I could just rip those memories from your soul. Sure, it would leave you to be a soulless doll forever, but I think I could live with it.” He moved closer to bite him...

“Wait! I'll tell you!” the earth pony cried, fearing for his life. “I had no choice!”

The changeling tapped twice on Filthy's forehead, then dropped to the ground. Filthy found that he was essentially stuck to the wall. “Explain.” Shade said.

“It was five days before you came to talk to me, you and Fluttershy.” he said. “I was visited by a strange red and black unicorn, or was it a Pegasus?”

“Alicorn. Move on.” Shade calmly said.

“Right. Anyway, he asked me how much Diamond meant to me.” Filthy said. “I told him the truth.”

“And that was?” Shade asked.

“She means more to me then anything.” Tears sprang to the pony's eyes. “So, he said that if he wished for her to continue living, that I needed to do as he asked.”

“And what did he want?” Shade asked.

Filthy sighed. “I needed to convince Ponyville to hate you.” He looked down at Shade. The changeling had raised an eyebrow, but was silent. So he continued. “I started at the bottom, the young ones. I convinced Diamond to spread a rumor about you, that you were just trying to get the changelings to return and gain power and that you had tricked the princesses. I knew that one of the fillies would tell you about it and that you would come here.”

“And you wanted me to attack you.” Shade said, his face showing realization.

Filthy slowly nodded. “I'd heard about your “flaring emotions.” I knew that it would be rather easy to anger you and then have a valid reason to kick you out. But I didn't expect you to bring Fluttershy with you.”

Shade slowly said, “Either way, I would have only threatened you. It wasn't until you said, that about Fluttershy.” He looked up at him. “You really have no idea how close to death you were, do you?” As Filthy shook again, he asked. “One more question. Where did you get that bite?”

“I don't remember.” As he saw fangs start to come out from Shade's mouth again, he repeated. “I really don't! It was dark, and I heard a muffled sound. I turned and didn't see anyone. I was going to continue on my way, and then I felt a sharp, horrible pain on my neck. I woke up the next morning in my kitchen.”

Shade was quiet for a while, causing Filthy to wonder at what he was thinking. Finally he spoke, “Did that alicorn give you any idea to where he would be?”

“Yes, he said he'd be visiting a friend for his millennial visit.” Filthy said, remembering the strange saying. “I didn't know what he meant.”

Shade was quiet again, and then stomped the ground. As Filthy fell to the ground, Shade shifted out of his daughter’s form and into his unicorn form. “Thank you, Filthy. After this is over, I think that you should have a real talk with a changeling. And his mother.” Shade disappeared as Filthy rubbed the back of his neck.

. . .

I woke up as the sky lit up, a little bit. I could sense from the position of the sun that it was about eight in the morning. Sweetie Belle was still asleep next to me. I didn't want to go far away from Ponyville just so we could sleep. So I had set up a cloud in above the field I trained in. I had cast a cloud-walking spell and a heating spell on Sweetie so she wouldn't freeze or fall though it.

I sat there for a moment, watching Sweetie. It didn't seem fair that she had been dragged into all of this. But the problem was, if I had sent her back she would have to deal with all the questions that I knew she would get. I wasn't terribly worried about her being in danger. I knew what I needed to do, and I planned to have her be safe.

I realized something as I watched her sleep. She trusted me completely, just like Fluttershy did. Neither of them had any reason to, but they did. I smiled as I figured out that Discord's plan was to make me just want to leave. And frankly, I had wanted to. But I knew that even I had to leave to fight him, I would return.

I reached out towards Sweetie with my senses and saw that she was going to wake up soon. I shifted into my fake pegasus form and leapt off to find us some food.

. . .

“Rarity would never let me have this for breakfast!” Sweetie exclaimed, chowing down on a hay burger I had gotten for her.

“Yet another reason she's going to hate me later.” I said with a wink. The filly just laughed and kept eating.

I had headed into town and saw that McHays was open. I had no idea that it was open at all hours of the day. I had a few bits that I had taken with me from the castle, so I had grabbed something for us. I needed to hurry because I could sense an extremely magical presence in the area, namely Twilight. So I had gotten the food and booked it out of there.

“Either way, it was too dangerous.” Sweetie reprimanded me. “I could have gotten some food from my house..”

I shook my head. “And have Rarity corner you and pelt you with questions? There's no way I could have gotten you out of there.”

Sweetie tapped her horn. “Magic?”

“Not if Twilight was there.” I said. “She is much stronger then me there.”

“You could always change into her and use her power.” Sweetie said.

“Yeah, but that would drain me quickly.” I said. “I have to save my strength.”

Sweetie's face lit up. “Oh, is this it? Do you know where he has the princess?!”

“I think.” I finished the last of my hay fries and took a drink of water. “Here's the thing. Discord wants me to find him, right?”

Sweetie nodded. “I think so.”

I continued. “Here's the thing though. When he captured my mother, he sent me to Ponyville and knocked me out for two days. Why would he make me miss two days?”

“So..he could set something up?” Sweetie guessed.

“Yeah!” I yelled. “See, if he was just taking her somewhere far away, he could have just left. But I didn't SEE him leave the castle! So that could mean....”

Sweetie started jumping in excitement. “He has Princess Celestia at Canterlot!”

I smiled. “He must have done that whole thing with Diamond's father because he knew that it would slow me up! I need to get to Canterlot!”

“You mean, WE do.” I started to talk, but she raised her hoof. “Uh-uh. We haven't FOUND Discord yet, we just know where he is. I'm still coming.”

I sighed. “Fine. You are heading straight to Rarity’s as soon as I see my father's face.”

Sweetie smiled, but then frowned. Right. I had never told her who my father was. “So...”

“I don't get it.” I said. “I've thought it over and over. There's no way that Celestia and Discord would have a foal. But I can feel the sun rushing though me. That's how I always know what time it is. And I can feel chaos.” I put my hoof on my chest. “It's in there. But how?”

“Let's find him.” Sweetie said. “Then we'll get some answers.”

I nodded. Sweetie started to pack up the food. I had fueled up on emotions in town, so I was fine. Concentrating, my mane shot out and became rainbow colored, as did my mane. My horn disappeared and two cyan wings popped out of my back. My coat also became a blue color and my eyes turned a rosy color.

Sweetie was giving me a weird look. “I've never seen you do it that slow before. Why did you do that?”

I cleared my voice and said in Rainbow's voice. “If I take my time with a shift, it's easier to use their abilities. It also doesn't drain me as fast to use them.”

“Are we taking a trip then?” Sweetie asked.

“Yup. Nonstop flight to Canterlot Castle, leaving now!” I said. Sweetie giggled and hopped on my back. I reared back and we took off.

. . .

Sweetie and I landed at the front of the castle about an hour later. Surprisingly, it didn't look different. At all. “Well, this is disappointing.” Sweetie said. “I was expecting a giant banner to say, “Welcome Home.”

I nudged the filly playfully. “Very funny. Stay here for a second.” She nodded and I shot up into the air. I landed on a cloud, shifting into my unicorn form, and teleported back to Sweetie. “There.”

“Why did you do that?” Sweetie asked.

“Cause of this. Hop on.” Sweetie hopped on my back and we walked toward the door.

Now the palace guards were instructed to not let anyone in unless they had a invitation. That was because Celestia and Luna had needed a break after the announcement that I was the son of the sun princess. Not for me however. I nodded to the guards and we walked right in.

“How did you do that?” Sweetie asked.

“I'm the son of Celestia.” I said. “Comes in handy when ponies get past the fact that I'm a changeling.” She nodded and we continued on.

As we walked down the main hall, up to the stairs that led to the personal quarters of the castle, Sweetie must have seen something because she hopped off my back. She trotted over to one of the guards. “Hello? Hello!”

“Good luck.” I said, seeing something weird on the ground. “They will NOT talk unless one of the family speaks to them first. I tried a lot before I knew I was Celestia's son.” Intrigued by what was on the ground, I shifted into Rainbow again and lifted into the air.

I heard Sweetie say hello a few more times, and then she was quiet. “Shade?” she said in a scared tone. “I don't think he's....alive.”

“What do you mean?” I shot over to her. I tapped the guard, and saw something truly frighting. He was made of stone.

“Oh, no.” I shot into the air again, and saw that there was a message on the ground.

“What does it say?” Sweetie called up.

“It says, “This is how I felt. Now you will feel the same.”” I said, shivering. “He turned everypony to stone.”

Sweetie paled. “But that could mean...” She stopped as we heard hoofsteps.

I landed in front of her and shifted back to normal. “Stay back. Hide over here.” She nodded and hide behind the petrified guard.

I walked to the middle of the room, looking around for anypony. “So you finally returned.” In burst of light, I was knocked away as a white unicorn appeared where I had been standing.

My vision was blurry but I remembered the voice. “Blueblood?”

True enough, the white unicorn was standing in the middle of the room. “Yes. And it's nice that you showed your alien face around here again.”

Blueblood and I had never truly gotten along. Things had gotten even more tense between us after I had discovered that I was Celestia's son. Now, I had no idea what he was planning. “Wait, why weren't you turned to stone?”

“Because I didn't need to be.” He arrogantly said.

“Come again?” I asked.

Then, completely out of nowhere, two beautiful white wings extended from Blueblood's sides. My eyes widened and I was in complete shock. “Um. WHAT?”

“Please, do not act like it is such a surprise. You also have wings and a horn.” he replied.

“I'm a changeling! We're born like that!” I yelled at him. “You are a unicorn! How the hay do you have wings?!”

“Well, I guess your FATHER decided to help me out.” Blueblood shot at me. “He instructed me to detain you, so that he could prepare something for you. But, you know what? I think I might just rid Equestria of your miserable presence!”

Something was wrong. Blueblood was a jerk, but he never harbored murderous thoughts toward me. Discord had to have been manipulating his emotions. Suddenly, Blueblood dashed at me, stuck me in the jaw, and propelled me upwards.

A flash of pain rushed though me. I glanced downwards and saw Blueblood racing straight up at me. Thinking fast, I flipped around and slammed my back hoof into his face, sending him straight down. I sprouted wings and gently landed.

WHAM! I was shot into the wall. Blueblood had gotten up and was firing laser blasts at me. I ducked behind a pillar as he shot at me. I flash teleported to the other end of the room.

“Right.” I thought. “He isn't fighting like Twilight. I need to end this quickly, but what do I need?” I ducked as a blast from Blueblood's horn punched a crater in the wall. I thought hard.

“Fear!” I jumped, only to duck again. “Let's use the gift I was given.” As Blueblood came toward me again, I flash teleported to the other side of the room. Then, I reached into his soul.

I shuddered. It was cold, so very cold. I wasn't trying to take emotions from him. I was trying to put them IN.

I reached within myself, and found it. My fears. The fear of not being accepted, the fear of dying. The fear of losing Fluttershy. I took them all and FORCED them into Blueblood's soul. Every shred of fear I had, I pushed into the unicorn.

He froze, and trembled. “What...NO!” I rushed at him, grabbed him around the neck and slammed him into the ground. I then lifted him up with magic.

“Don't you EVER threaten me again. GOT THAT?!” I yelled, my fangs extended. He nodded, crying from his fear. I then bit him in the shoulder, and chucked him towards the wall. He slammed into it so hard, he left a imprint on it.

I sank to the ground, hearing hoofsteps run up to me. “Shade?! Are you okay?”

In relief, I felt her worry rush over me, healing me. “I am now.” I stood up and we looked at my cousin. His wings turned into dust and floated away.

“Come on Sweetie.” I said.

“Will he be okay?” the filly asked me,

I nodded. “I only chucked him into a wall. He's a stubborn pony. He won't let something like that stop him.”

“How do you know that?” she asked me as I motioned for her to hop on my back.

I smiled. “Because we've done that before.”

“But, you bit him!” Sweetie exclaimed.

“It only knocked him out. Trust me.” We headed up the stairs.

. . .

Sweetie and I finally reached the throne room. Sweetie hopped off my back as we moved closer to the thrones. When we reached them, I gently rubbed my mother's throne. “I'm sorry. I'll fix this.”

Sweetie was over by the windows. “Hey Shade. This is a nice one.”

I walked over to it. The glass showed my aunt, Luna. She was in a position like she was sleeping. But I saw that her eyes, she looked upset. I reached up and touched the window, and then froze. I backed up, dragging Sweetie with me.

“Sweetie.” I said. If I told you that when I returned you that you needed to tell Twilight to bring the Elements of Harmony to the castle, could you do it?”

“Sure, but why?” Sweetie asked me.

I looked at my hoof. “The window was warm.”

Sweetie's eyes widened. “How? It's been cooler because of no sun.”

I ran over to Celestia's throne and jumped on top of it. “Discord turned her into a window. He's watching us right now.”

Sweetie shivered. “How do you know?”

I quickly cast a spell to chain Sweetie to the portal in my room. “He's the ground.” On the ground was a giant painting of a draconequus. It's finger was pointed upwards. I looked at the ceiling and saw a painting of a snow white alicorn. Then one thing happened. One thing to make me activate the spell and send Sweetie flying towards the portal in my bedroom.

The draconequus painting winked and pointed in front of me. I looked and saw a red banner. I paled when I read the words on it.

It said, “Welcome Home.”

Destiny's Spell

Chapter 13-Destiny's Spell

Sweetie rushed though the castle, the spell pulling her backwards. She struggled, but it was no use. The spell was connected to her back half, and she couldn't free herself from it. It pulled her out of the throne room and down a hall toward the royal family's bedrooms.

“Shade!!” The young filly yelled in anger. The spell whipped her in a door and dumped her on the ground. She jumped up and was about to dash out the room, but the door slammed shut. Stomping her hoof, the young filly looked around the room.

The walls were filled with drawings. Sweetie walked over and picked one off the wall. It was a drawing of Ponyville. Another one was the view of Canterlot that was visible from the window. Sweetie put the picture back and walked over to Shade's desk. There were two pictures lying there. One of them was Shade standing in his changeling form, with the princesses behind him. Shade had a determined look on his face, as if he was thinking hard about something, or looking at somepony he disliked. Celestia was smiling and Luna had a slight smirk.

Sweetie picked up the other drawing. It showed Shade asleep with Fluttershy also asleep. Fluttershy was sleeping on Shade's back, and they were both smiling. Sweetie smiled at that. “I never really knew how he thought.” She looked around the room again. “Even though his life revolves around emotions, he never really told us about what he personally thought.”

Sweetie jumped as she heard a bang. “Right! Shade said that there was a portal in here. But, where?” The unicorn walked over to a large drawing of the inside of Twilight's house. “It's like the real thing. No way he could have drawn this. Unless..” She put her hoof to the drawing, and her hoof disappeared though it. “Whoa. Well, here we go!” Sweetie jumped though the drawing.

. . .

Twilight and the other five holders of the Elements were at her house. “It doesn't add up.” Twilight said. “We've tried everywhere and haven't seen Sweetie or Shade at all.”

“Well there is the little thing that he's a CHANGELING.” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. “We can't find somepony that could be anypony.”

Applejack nudged Rainbow in the side. “Relax, Rainbow. That don't explain the fact that we ain't seen Sweetie Belle either. She ain't no changeling.”

“Shade wouldn't take her into town.” Twilight thought. “He more then likely tells her to stay put, and goes into town himself.”

“Maybe...” Rainbow huffed. Pinkie fell out of nowhere and landed on her. “Pinkie! What were you doing?!”

“I was exploring the library!” The party pony said, smiling impossibly wide.

Rainbow rolled her eyes again. “Pinkie, we've been in this place tons of times. What could there possibly be for you to explore?”

“Everything!” Pinkie bounded away from Rainbow as Applejack started laughing at her.

Twilight smiled at her friends, but then saw that Rarity and Fluttershy were quiet. Rarity was looking though some books and Fluttershy was staring out the window. Twilight took a step towards Rarity, when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. “Go talk to Fluttershy. Ah'll talk to Rarity.” AJ said. Twilight nodded and went over to the yellow pegasus.

“Fluttershy? Is something wrong?” She asked. Fluttershy looked at her.

“They were both at my house Twilight.” Fluttershy said, her voice strained. “Shade and Sweetie. Sweetie looked fine, but Shade. He looked so tired.”

“He's probably fine.” Twilight said. “After all, there's lots of emotions in Ponyville.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “It's that mark on his neck. It's hurting him Twilight. I could feel it. Don't ask me how, but I just know.” The pegasus reached up and held her necklace. “And now he's going to fight Discord, all by himself. And with a filly with him. I don't think he'll...”

Twilight put her hoof on Fluttershy's mouth. “We'll find him.” She was about to say more, but at that instant the entire library shook. Twilight's wall shimmered and Sweetie Belle shot out of it, landing on her back.

“Sweetie!” Rarity rushed at her sister and picked her up in a big hug. “Where on Equestria have you BEEN?! You are staying at my side for the next month! Oh, I'm so happy to see you again!”

Sweetie endured the hug, but then wriggled free. “Not now, Rarity! Shade's at Canterlot Castle!”

Everypony gasped as Sweetie continued. “He told me to tell you that you needed to bring the Elements to the castle.” She pointed at Twilight as she said that.

“Spike! Where did we put them?” Twilight and Spike immediately started going though the shelves.

Fluttershy pulled Sweetie to the side. “How did he look?” she asked softly.

Sweetie was quiet for a moment. “He's tired, really tired. He wouldn't admit it, but he flew all the way from here to Canterlot, and fought his cousin. And I know that he didn't absorb any emotions on the way.”

“Found them!” Twilight yelled.

“You mean I found them.” Spike grumbled.

Twilight paid no heed to the dragon and instead started waving a book. “The Elements are in here! I made sure of it.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Applejack said. “Let's go!”

Twilight opened the book, and took out each pony's individual necklace that symbolized their Element. After she put the tiara on her head, she nodded to her friends. “We can use the portal that Shade and I made.”

“Alright!” Rainbow shot toward the wall. She slammed into it and fell to the ground. “Oww...”

As everypony rushed over to her, Twilight tapped on the wall. “The portal's closed? But who would close it?”

“We have to get there fast.” Rarity said. “But, I need to get Sweetie Belle..Oh.”

Sweetie Belle had curled up on the ground and was fast asleep. Rarity lovingly rubbed her head. “On second thought, maybe she could stay here?”

“I don't see why not.” Twilight said.

Spike walked by Twilight and sat next to the sleeping filly. “I'll watch her. You can go help Shade.”

Twilight hugged Spike. “Thank you.”

“How are we going to get there?” Rarity asked. “The portal's closed, and you can't teleport us all the way to Canterlot.”

Twilight disappeared for a moment, then reappeared holding a scroll with magic. “The princess gave me this spell three months ago, at Pinkie's part she held for Shade. She said to only use it in a emergency.”

Rainbow rolled over and stood up. “What does it do?”

Twilight opened the scroll. “It'll take us directly to the castle. Everypony stand close!” Everypony moved closer to Twilight except for Spike and Sweetie Bell. Twilight's horn glowed and with a bright flash, they were gone.

. . .

I stood in horror as the painting on the ground started to peel itself off. I braced to leap towards him, but I heard a voice.

“No, Shade. Wait to attack him.”

I shook my head. “Great. Now I'm hearing voices.” I jumped to the ground, but made no further moves.

The painting finished peeling off the ground. It put its hand to his mouth and appeared to blow. Suddenly, he inflated into his true form, Discord.

He laughed as I bared my fangs. “Well, if your going to give me that sort of welcome, you should at least look the part.” He snapped his fingers and I was in my changeling form.

Right. Forgot about that. I glared at him. “I don't have time for this. Let Celestia go now!”

Discord pouted. “I was hoping that you and I could talk first.”

“I have nothing to talk to you about.” I spat at him. Suddenly I was sitting in a chair made of marshmallows. Discord was on a sofa made out of...hair?

“Shade. I know that you want to fight me. And don't you worry, I'll give you your chance. But for now, I would like to talk with you.” He said.

“What do you WANT?” I snapped at him.

He pointed at me, suddenly serious. “Listen to me. You are a changeling.”

I rolled my eyes. “I had no idea. Thanks for letting me know that.”

Discord smiled. “I've been watching you. Even though everypony turned on you, makes you out to be a monster. Even though your race is looked on as horrible, you would fight for them?”

I nodded. “I'm not Chrysalis. She was the evil one, not me. I can show Equestria that all changelings aren't evil.”

“And you haven't done anything evil?” Discord asked me. “What about when you robbed souls to feed yourself? When you frightened ponies so you could feast on your emotions? How about forcing your own fear on others for your own gain?” He had me on the ropes now. “You aren't the amazing hero that you think you are.”

I was quiet. I had no rebuttal for his claims. Everything he said was true. Could it be true that even though I thought I was in the right, I was actually just as bad as Chrysalis?

“No Shade.” The voice spoke to me again. “You are better then that. I know this. Don't listen to anymore of his lies.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You're wrong. I won't let my mistakes get the better of me. That's what makes me different.”

Discord raised an eyebrow. “So what are you going to do?”

I smirked. “Stop you.”

Discord started laughing. I looked up at the ceiling at my mother. I was certain that the painting really was her. I took a step back, my horn started glowing yellow, and I shot Discord with a sunbeam.

He flipped around and landed on the ground. “Are you sure that this is the path you want to take?”

“I don't want chaos in my life.” I said calmly.

“Suit yourself.” Discord rose up into the air. I tensed up and shifted into my unicorn form.

Discord created a bow and arrow. He fired at me, but I saw that the arrow was made out of water. I cocked my head thinking that it wouldn't hurt me. The arrow slammed into the ground in front of me and exploded. I was flung away from the impact and slammed into the wall. He started to fire more arrows at me.

I shifted into Rainbow and took off. I flew in circles around him, dodging the arrows. Discord shot at the ground and a giant ice pillar erupted in front of me. I crashed into it and fell to the ground. Discord threw the bow at me and I ducked it. The bow hit the wall and created a black hole in the wall.

“What are you doing?!” I yelled. Thinking fast, I shifted into Twilight and teleported to the other side of the room. I then cast a difficult spell to cover the wall in stardust, closing the black hole. The strain dropped me to the ground and forced me to shift back to normal.

“Little tired, Shade?” Discord said.

“Shut...up.” I groaned. I checked my necklace and it was half full of emotions. I immediately drained the necklace, feeling better.

I shifted back into my unicorn form and stomped my feet on the ground. The ground shook and about a dozen stone pillars shot up out of the floor. I ducked behind one of them and felt myself shift into Fluttershy.

“Wonderful.” I thought. I loved Fluttershy but I didn't want to be her. It just felt weird. It was good though, because my marefriend was really good at hiding. She surprised me one time when I had to clean up her cottage for her. She had been in the house the entire time I had been cleaning and she had moved from place to place as I cleaned. I was in her room dusting when she jumped out of the closet and tackled me. That had been really funny.

I slipped behind one of the pillars as Discord shot a dark sword at me. “Grr. I can't really hurt him. Hope that spell I put on Sweetie worked.” I launched myself from one pillar to another as Discord blew up the one I had been behind.

“Shade. If you just accept and embrace the chaos you have, this will all be over.” Discord said.

“When will you understand?” I yelled as loud as I could with Fluttershy's voice. “I don't want it!”

“That won't change anything.” he said. “I need your power to complete my revenge.”

“You have plenty of power!” I yelled, shifting back to my unicorn form.

“You mean this little fight? You have no idea the real power I possess. And all of it, is inside you. Deep inside, all you need to do is find it, and accept it.” Discord said.

I didn't move, trying to think of a plan. Suddenly Discord broke the pillar I was hiding behind, and magically picked me up by the neck. He drew me close to him. “I'm going to kill Celestia, and you will help me!” He said between gritted teeth.

I was unable to free myself. My vision started to go dark, and I couldn't breathe. Discord smiled . “I know why you sent the filly back. You expect Twilight Sparkle and her friends to come and bring the Elements of Harmony to defeat me, don't you?” Great. I knew he had a card that he didn't play yet. “Have you ever wondered why Celestia and Luna didn't turn me back to stone when I was free again? Why she sent your friends to stop me? Let me tell you, the Elements can only be used once. That's why I'm not afraid.”

The only reason that I hadn't passed out was because I was drawing emotions from Discord, as little as I could. I tried to focus on what he said. Discord had been loose in Equestria three times before this. Once when my mother and aunt stopped him, one when I had been born, and when Twilight and the others had stopped him. If that was the case, then somepony had frozen him again when I had been born. But the problem was that there wasn't anypony that was connected to the Elements. Discord smiled again as I widened my eyes in realization.

Discord whipped his head towards the door as I heard an explosion. “Drop him Discord! Now!”

I fell to the ground as Discord clapped his hands together. “Well, well. Twilight Sparkle! How nice to see you, and your friends. And is that the Elements of Harmony that I see?”

From where I was, I saw my friends angrily spread themselves out so Twilight could start the spell, or whatever she did. I reached out with my senses and felt some love from them pout into me. Discord seemed to have forgotten that I existed for the moment. I took that opportunity to teleport away from him.

Discord snapped his fingers and rainbows washed over my eyes. I heard my friends yell as no doubt the same thing happened to them. When I could see normally again, I saw that Discord was holding Fluttershy.

“Let her go NOW!” I barked at him.

“Why, of course.” Discord pushed Fluttershy away from him, but she looked like she was restrained. She couldn't move or fly off.

“Why you....!” I heard Rainbow say. She lifted off to go help her, but Discord raised his hand. “That wouldn't be a good idea. Unless you want your friend to be shocked to death.” Lightning started to form around his arm. I saw Rainbow land and Twilight's horn spark.

Wonderful. He was going to kill Fluttershy with the one thing that frightened me the most. But I wasn't going to just watch her die. I turned away so Discord couldn't see my horn glow.

“You see, Shade. This wouldn't have happened if you had just decided to listen to me. Oh well.” My mind went back to when Celestia had taught me that spell to bring things to you. I wondered, could I change it a little bit? I sparked my horn brighter, knowing I only had one shot.

Right as the lightning left Discord's hand, I cast a switch teleportation spell, moving Fluttershy to where I had been and I where she had been. I ducked and the lighting slammed into my horn., throwing me to the ground. Fluttershy started to come over to me, but I yelled, “No! Go to Twilight!”

I vaguely saw her go over, and Twilight's eyes started glowing. Uh-oh. Discord laughed again. “Go ahead. I'm right here. Turn me to stone again.”

Twilight and the others lifted into the air. I knew that the Elements wouldn't work, but why? Then it hit me. The Elements were connected to whoever used them. It drew on that ponies power and all power was unique. All Discord needed to do was adjust to be stronger then that unique power source. Because my friends had turned him to stone already, he was ready for them.

With a flash of pain, I expelled the lightning from my horn. I had a really stupid idea, but it was my only shot. I saw a beautiful rainbow colored beam shoot from Twilight's tiara towards Discord. I flash teleported between Discord and the beam, and the beam struck me.

Heat. Intense powerful heat rushed though me, boiling every part of me. I forced myself not to scream and focused on forcing the magic to leave though my horn. I saw Discord's eyes widen in fear. He started trembling. “No...You can't! It won't work!”

“Watch me.” I said. Then finally, the rainbow beam shot out of my horn and into his chest. A gray patch appeared there, and started growing. Within seconds, he was completely turned to stone. I sensed that my friends were back to normal and I would be soon. Then the back of my neck flared and everything dissolved into white.

. . .

“Get back!” Twilight yelled. Fluttershy and the others looked on in horror as Shade stood alone, the beam from his horn growing brighter. The entire castle started shaking.

“What's happening?” She heard Rarity yell.

“I don't know!” Twilight yelled back. “He can't control the beam!”

Everypony flinched as they heard a loud “CRACK!” Fluttershy heard Shade utter a horrible gut-wrenching scream. Then Discord's statue burst in a flood of light. Everypony in the room was blinded.

When Fluttershy came to, she saw that every window in the hall was broken. Rainbow was sitting by her and the rest of her friends were by Shade. As Fluttershy raised her head, Rainbow noticed that she was awake. “Whoa, easy there. You OK?”

Fluttershy nodded. “What happened?”

“Can you walk? I think that the princesses should tell us all at once.” Rainbow said. Fluttershy nodded again and stood, just noticing that the princesses were by the changeling.

As they walked up, Celestia nodded to them. “Thank you all, my little ponies.”

“Princess, I don't understand.” Twilight said. “Why did Shade get in front of the beam?”

Fluttershy sat down by her unconscious changeling and rested his head on her leg as Celestia explained. “The power of the Elements has to be different every time if one hopes to imprison Discord. Shade let the power run though him so Discord would not be able to resist it.”

Luna spoke up. “He was ready for you and your friends power, Twilight Sparkle. The Elements would not have worked.”

“Wait a second.” Rainbow said. “Where is Discord's statue?”

“Did you send it away, Princess?” Pinkie asked.

Celestia shook her head. “It disintegrated.” As everypony was quiet, the sun princess sighed. “My little ponies. Discord is dead.”

Darkening Dawn

Chapter 14-Darkening Dawn

I opened my eyes to a painting of my mother. “Okay, not what I expected to see.” I slowly lifted myself up. Looking at all the drawings and paintings, I knew that I was in my room. I sighed and was about to lay back down.

“Oh no! Discord!” I shot up so fast, I felt dizzy and almost passed out. I slowly laid back down. “Nope. I'm not moving now.”

As the dizziness passed, I heard my door open. I slightly raised my head to see that it was Celestia and Luna walking in. They came around to my head, Luna on the left, Celestia on the right. “How are you feeling Shade?” Luna asked.

“Like I was ran over by a wagon, then picked up and shaken like a foal.” I groaned, holding my head in my hooves. Celestia and Luna exchanged smiles. “I'm glad you're okay, but what happened?” I asked.

Luna nodded to the both of us, then turned and left the room. Celestia sat down next to me.

“Shade.” she softly said, running her hoof though my mane. “I..I am so sorry.”

“For what?” I asked, resting my head on the pillows again.

“Everything.” She waved her hoof towards all my pictures. “I never meant for this to happen. For you...”

“To be born?” I interrupted her. I felt sadness flow from her and shook my head. “It's okay mom. I finally understand.”

“What do you mean?” She questioned, turning to face me again.

I hesitated, not sure how to word my thoughts. “I understand why I wasn't supposed to exist. You and Luna aren't supposed to have foals, correct?” Celestia nodded, a questioning look on her face. “When I was hiding out with Sweetie Belle, we had spent a night in Twilight's library. I had picked up a book on...well you and Luna. It said that you two are unable to have foals.”

Celestia continued to brush my mane. “That is very true. We aren't able to conceive with natural ponies.”

“That's what I read. So it led me to believe that I was an accident.” I said, seeing Celestia slightly wince at my statement. “Because you or Luna would have to be with a supernatural being to have a foal, such as Discord. What I don't understand is why I was born.”

Celestia could tell that I was directing a question at her. “Shade, I've wanted to tell you how and why you were born. But I can't.” She stopped brushing my mane as I looked down in disappointment. “It isn't that I don't want to, I'm unable too.”

My curiosity piqued, I looked up at her. “What do you mean?”

“I can't remember it.” My mother said. “I've tried, many times. Luna and I have attempted different memory spells, asked ponies if they remember that time. We found nothing.”

I sighed. “It's fine. Eventually Chrysalis will show her face again, and I'll get the answers from her.”

Celestia was quiet. “Shade, I'm not sure what her plans are, or if you really did scare her off for good. I do know that next time, you won't have to face it alone.”

“I believe you.” I said, smiling.

Celestia was staring at me for so long, I felt uneasy. “Is something wrong?”

“Do you remember anything of what took place in the fight?” Celestia asked me.

“I remember almost losing Fluttershy.” I said. “I also remember standing in the way of the Elements of Harmony. Other then that, nothing.”

“Shade, when you stood in the way of the beam, you successfully turned Discord into stone.” Celestia told me. “But you continued to fire the beam even after your friends had lost their power.”

My eyes widened, and I freaked out.. “But how?! I don't have that kind of magical capabilities!”

Celestia sighed, apparently trying to figure the best way to word what she was going to say next. “The magic required to successfully turn a living creature into stone is very strong. Only Luna and I together can cast it. You didn't cast the spell, when the magic ran though you it drew on your power.” I saw tears well up in my mother's eyes. “Instead of your magic dieing down, it amplified to the point where it blew Discord into pieces.”

“So, he's dead..” I fell back onto the pillow, my heart feeling torn apart. “I didn't want to kill him.”

“I know, Shade.” Celestia told me, leaning down to hug me. “Trust me, I know.” I fell asleep, with my mother hugging me. It's safe to say that I slept peacefully throughout the day.

. . .

Dancing Mist slowly trotted though the dark hall, on her way to see her mother. She stopped at the large, black wooden door and rapped on it twice.

“Come in.” a tired voice yelled to her. She slowly opened the door and looked around the room.

Queen Chrysalis’s room wasn't very fancy or well decorated. Being in a cave area, the walls were made out of stone and the ground was the same. There were several torches magically placed around the room near the ceiling. A large rainbow colored rug decorated the ground.

Dancing Mist went over to her mother's side. “How are you feeling today?”

Chrysalis sighed. “Much better now. How did everything go on the surface?”

Misty smiled. “Exactly as you planned. I don't understand why you didn't want me to kill the Element of Kindness.”

Chrysalis stared at Misty with a slightly annoyed look. “Because that was not the time for you to take your revenge on Shade. That will be AFTER I've brought Celestia to her knees, understand?” As Misty nodded, looking downcast, Chrysalis smiled. “Cheer up. You will have plenty of time for that later.”

The two changelings raised their heads at the sound of a cry. “Oh, is he awake?” Misty cried.

Chrysalis’s face softened. “Yes, he is.” She turned around to show Misty a beautiful baby changeling. He had soft green eyes, a black carapace and his mane was plant green. He had the cutest small transparent blueish wings.

Misty picked him up from his mother. “He's adorable. Have you thought of a name?”

Chrysalis watched the baby giggle and tug on Misty's mane. “I was thinking of naming him after or around his father's name. What do you think about Null?”

“I like it.” Misty said. “You think he'll be surprised?”

Chrysalis gave an evil grin to her daughter. “Yes. I do believe that he will.”

Beginning of Chaotic Love

Chapter 1-Beginning of Chaotic Love

Darkness.....

“Your emotions are not your own......”

“You will use your abilities for my own gain....

“You will accept your role of being my vessel...”

“Because you already are....”

. . .

“No!” I shot up screaming. I was in a cold sweat and was panting. My horn was slightly lit up and I felt like I was sick for a few second. I shook my head and took a few deep breaths. This hadn't been the first nightmare I'd had in the last few months. Hopefully, it would be the last. I rolled out of bed and started to get ready for the day.

In case you don't know who I am, my name is Shade. I'm a changeling. I only found that out about three months ago, among other things. I lived in Canterlot with my mother, Princess Celestia and my aunt, Princess Luna.

Celestia was really my mother, I wasn't kidding about that. And according to her, my father was Discord, the god of chaos. Now considering the fact that he had been frozen in stone 1000 years ago, which included the time in when I was born, I had a hard time believing her. But I asked her about it several times and sensed her emotions. She wasn't lying. What she wouldn't tell me is how the buck I was born then. Whenever I brought it up, she got extremely agitated and I'd leave her alone until she calmed down. She must have been talking to Luna about it, because Luna wouldn't tell me anything either.

I guess that my prodding wasn't helping the situation, because the two princesses were having their own issues to defuse. After I had been released from the hospital three months ago, Celestia had to go and explain why a giant hole had been blasted in the roof of Sugercube Corner. See, the changeling queen Chrysalis and her daughter, Misty(who I had thought was my friend) had ponynapped me and revealed their plan to use my special powers of emotions to rob all of Equestria of their emotions. Then I was supposed to re-distribute them at will. Of course I said no, and it didn't go over well with them. I had escaped from the table they had chained me to and ALMOST escaped, but they caught me. Misty beat the living hay out of me and I had to resort to almost killing myself by shifting into my mother's form. Then after I scared them off, I sent a flare though the roof and passed out. Fortunately, Twilight and Fluttershy saved me and brought me back to Canterlot.

Oops, got a little off topic there. Anyway, Celestia had gone to Ponyville to explain what happened and at the same time, reveal to Equestria who I was. I'm not sure how all of Equestria was notified but they knew it quick. Celestia and Luna were very busy most of the time with talking to dignitaries of other parts of Equestria about me. Also, most ponies in Ponyville and Canterlot took it well, but some didn't. In fact, I was chased though the shopping district in Canterlot by a street gang. I didn't even know there WERE street gangs! I escaped by shifting into my young friend Sweetie Belle and hiding under a wagon. Fun.

I was rather strong for a changeling, but also weak. I had the power to feed off of ANY emotion, not just love. I could also directly steal from a pony's soul that emotion, removing that pony's ability to feel that emotion until I returned it. With that, I could change how that pony acted by adding and removing emotions at will. Or so I've been told. And whenever I shifted, I took on that pony's characteristics. For example, when I shifted into my mother, I felt what she would have felt in that situation. I also could have used her powers to the same extent that she could.

Now I know what you're thinking. Doesn't that make me extremely powerful? Well, yes and no. The thing is, if I don't have a steady stream of emotions, or energy flowing to me, I'll very quickly tire out if I'm using any other ponies abilities. That's why I passed out when I was pretending to be Celestia and almost died. My necklace had saved me from dying instantly.

Now, the last thing I should mention about those 3 months ago is my necklace. I had “bought” two of them about 2 days before I had been ponynapped. They were promise necklaces, to symbolize if two ponies have “promised” themselves to each other. In other words, it shows that two ponies are a couple. I had bought them for me and my now marefriend Fluttershy, wielder of the Element of Kindness. I didn't know what she saw in me to be able to love a weird bug creature, but she did. And her love had saved me from dying that night in the basement of Sugercube Corner.

I guess the problem was that I couldn't accept myself. I had lived my whole life thinking that I was a pony. Then in a blink of an eye, I wasn't. I still wasn't ready to accept who I was, but I hoped that I could soon.

I was rethinking all these thoughts as I got ready for the day. After I had recovered enough, Celestia had resumed my magic lessons with her, and Luna taught me more about hoof combat. I also had a special portal in my room that I used to go to Ponyville. Celestia insisted that I walked around in my disguise when I was there. My disguise was a blue and white pegasus pony I had named “Starlight.” I also used the form I had been enchanted by Celestia to stay in for the past few years, a blue, yellow and green unicorn. Everypony knew who I was in that form though.

After I finished brushing my mane that didn't want to co-operate, and polished my horn, I set out for the dining room. When I walked in, I saw Celestia and Luna already at the table. I took my place between the two sisters.

“Morning Shade.” Celestia said. “Did you sleep well?”

I shook my head. “No, I had another nightmare.”

“If you want, you can stay in Ponyville over the weekend.” Celestia suggested. “I'll be busy. The mayor of Manehatten is coming over to talk with me.”

“Another mayor?” I mumbled over my bowl of oats. “Wonderful.”

“I'm sorry, Shade. I know I said that we would spend some time together this weekend.” Celestia tried to apologize.

The back of my neck flared up like it was on fire and my vision tinted red. I stood up and slammed my hooves on the table. “Then why don't you?! You're the bucking princess! Just tell them to have it another time!”

Celestia looked like she was going to say something, but Luna raised a hoof. Looking in my eyes she said, “Be calm.” Her horn glowed and I felt a cooling sensation wash over me. My vision returned to normal and I sat down again.

Not looking my mother or aunt in the eyes I asked, “It was that stupid mark again, wasn't it?” I didn't look up, but I could sense the affirmation from my aunt.

See the thing was, I had passed out when Chrysalis and Misty had captured me. Apparently during that time, Chrysalis had bitten me on the back of the neck. Nopony had thought that it was a big deal at the time. But, as I became stronger with my powers the mark turned out to be a problem. If I started to show a major emotion, the mark would randomly flare up and I would suddenly feel a rush of that emotion. It could be anger, frustration, joy or even sadness, and would cause me to do things that I wouldn't normally do. Fortunately Luna had found a spell that would counteract the effects of when the mark flared up. She had taught it to Celestia and Twilight, so I wouldn't be in any danger to myself or others. Not to mention the mark HURT. And it was a glaring reminder that I was still in danger. Nopony knew where the changelings had escaped too, and my mother wouldn't let me leave the boundaries of Ponyville or Canterlot without Twilight or themselves with me.

“I'm sorry.” I said. “Have you learned anything about this stupid mark?”

Luna shook her head. “All I know is that only a leader of changelings can do this, but I don't know what it entails yet.”

I looked at Celestia. “So, is it okay if I go to Ponyville? I've been in the castle for a week. Maybe some fresh air will help.”

My mom nodded. “Head over to Twilight's. I think she needs your help with something.”

I stood up, leaving my food on the table and went over to give Celestia a quick hug. I did the same to Luna, then left the room to teleport to Twilight's house.

. . .

Celestia sighed as she watched her son leave. “Luna, were you telling the truth about his marking?”

Luna nodded. “I didn't tell him what I thought because it was just that, a thought. I read that certain marks like that could be a tracking spell.”

“So the spell is connected to the bite?” Celestia asked.

Luna nodded. “It's possible. What have you been telling everypony that comes to ask about Shade?”

“What I can.” Celestia said. “I haven't said anything about-about Discord.”

Luna noticed her sister stutter. “You're right. We don't need to tell them about what happened, but we need to tell Shade.” As Celestia was about to say something, her sister raised a hoof. “Listen to me first, sister. You saw how well it happened the first time he found something out before we could tell him. We can't afford to make that same mistake.”

Celestia started pacing. “I'll have to...figure out all the details. What truly happened. Chrysalis played with my memories while I was pregnant with Shade. I'm not sure what is real about it anymore.”

“Try to figure it out. I will return to working on that mark. The sooner we can remove it, the better.” Luna planned out. “But what do you think Shade should do?”

Celestia turned with a little smile. “He should try to stay out of trouble.”

. . .

Chrysalis slowly walked down the dark palace hall. Walking into the slight darkness of the room on the end, she stopped as she heard a voice. “Hold it.”

“I just wanted to let you know that Shade is no longer in Canterlot.” The changeling queen said.

“Excellent.” the voice said. “And what are the lovely princesses doing?”

“Well, Luna is trying to understand the secret of my claiming mark I put on Shade. And Celestia is other wise occupied talking to dignitaries from other parts of Equestria.”

“Even more wonderful. Gives me plenty of time. Thank you again.” The voice said.

“Oh, and by the way.” Chrysalis asked. “What are you going to do?”

“Me?” The door opened, revealing a large male draconequus. “I'm going to see my son.”

Dimensional Warfare

Chapter 9-Dimensional Warfare

With a jolt, I opened my eyes. Last thing I remembered was being in the library, and then darkness. I needed to get a grip of my surroundings, so I tried my hardest to focus myself.

The first thing I noticed was the sky. It was black, but thick ribbons of multicolored lights raced across the sky. I looked down and saw that I was on a huge flat rock face. I was near the edge of it, so I looked over the side.

“Oh, that's bad.” I gasped. Underneath the platform there was nothing but darkness. “Where in Equestria am I? Or, am I even on Equestria anymore?”

My thinking was cut short as in a burst of purple light, Twilight appeared at the middle of the platform, floating above the ground. Her eyes were closed and she was wearing the Element of Magic

“Twilight!” I yelled, trotting closer to her. “Where are we?”

Twilight opened her eyes. They were pure white orbs, like she was unitizing the full power of her element. “An alternate dimension. I came here by accident one time when I was trying out a new teleportation spell.” She looked at me, causing me to shudder. “And now, this is going to be your resting place, forever.”

“Little dramatic, are we Twi?” I asked nervously.

“Guess what, I wasn't joking.” Twilight said. Then I knew why she had brought me here.

“You brought me here to kill me? Why didn't you just attack me in Ponyville?” I asked.

Twilight smiled. “Because now I don't have to hold back.”

Oh yeah. I was in trouble. The most powerful unicorn in Equestria was about to kill me. I had only one option.

I didn't need to beat her. I needed to outlast her.

Twilight's crown started glowing bright. It started shooting star-like projectiles at me. I started running in circles around the unicorn, avoiding the stars. I risked a quick glance behind me and saw that wherever one of the stars had landed, they exploded and caused a crater. Knowing that I wasn't winning, I stopped running and jumped straight up. True to form, Twilight shot a star at me. I landed and ducked over it and started charging a spell. Twilight launched another spell at me, but I had completed my spell. It was a mirror spell and effectively rebounded the star back at Twilight, hitting her. Unfortunately for me, the star was strong enough to break my spell and send me flying.

I landed on my side, skidding along the ground. I quickly rolled over and looked towards where I last saw Twilight. She was no longer floating, but her eyes were still white. She stomped her hoof and created a giant icicle from the earth. It disappeared and suddenly dozens of icicles came rushing toward me. Instantly I shifted into Rainbow and took off. Twilight simply made the icicles fly out of the ground and chase after me. I gasped and flew straight up, the razor sharp icicles flying after me.

“Okay, so if Discord gave me chaos, Celestia should have given me a little power of the sun.” I thought. “If not, this is gonna hurt!” I turned around and fell downwards, towards all the icicles that were about to impale me. I needed to fly while casting magic, so I decided to experiment. Shifting back to my unicorn form, I focused on wings. Whenever I shifted into a pony that didn't exist, I had to envision it. I focused on dark blue wings on my back. My back started itching horribly, and then two wings emerged. I was an alicorn.

I needed to hurry. Not only were the icicles rising up to me faster and faster, being an alicorn was draining me extremely quickly. Concentrating, I made my horn start glowing yellow. I could feel it heating up. Suddenly, balls of heated yellow light shot out of my horn and evaporated the icicles. I was actually using the power of the sun!

I stopped the spell when there was only one icicle left. I also shifted back into Rainbow and shot downwards toward Twilight. I slammed onto the ground next to the unicorn. She turned towards me, about to cast a spell when the one icicle that I didn't burn slammed into her tail, pinning her to the ground. She screamed in pain, sending a shockwave of energy so strong it drained all of my energy. I fell to the ground, exhausted.

Twilight was still in shock from the icicle slamming though her tail, so I took that time to reach out and absorb the pure rage that was flowing from her. I perked up, just in time to duck a fireball.

“Enough of this!” Twilight yelled. Her horn started sparking blue. Frightened, I looked around but I didn't have an idea of what to do. Then lightning shot from the horn and slammed into my chest.

“AHHHHH!!!” The searing pain lanced though me. My chest felt on fire and I couldn't feel my hooves. Suddenly I was flashed back to three months ago. Trapped in that basement, no where to run...

“NO!” I managed to yell. Fighting though the pain, I moved my head so the lightning would hit my horn. And you think that the pain when the lightning hit my body was bad, think about what it felt when it hit my HORN. My body convulsed on the ground. I was rolling back and forth, trying to control myself. I had to time this just right. As my head snapped back and my horn lined up with Twilight's body, I also cast a lightning spell. Because it was the same spell as Twilight was using, it pushed the lighting away from me and towards her. I gave it an extra push, and the lightning shot into her. A flash of blue light appeared by Twilight and she rocked back on her hooves. I quickly absorbed some of Twilight's rage that I had stored in my necklace and fueled myself up. Still extremely unsteady, I ran towards Twilight. As I ran, I shifted into Big Mac.

“Sorry about this, Twi!” As I reached her, I turned and lashed out with my back hooves, bucking her in the forehead. Twilight fell over backwards and the rock we were on started shaking. The sky above us shattered into pieces, exposing blue underneath. I felt a falling sensation as everything disappeared again.

. . .

As I started to put the pieces of my eyesight back together, I saw that I was back in Twilight's house. I was lying on my stomach across from Twilight. She was unconscious. Rarity, Applejack and Spike were trying to wake her up. I didn't have much time. If they saw me awake, well, I don't think that I could handle talking to them right now.

“Will she be okay?” Rarity asked.

Spike shook his head, “She shook be. Look at her head though.”

“It's like mah brother bucked her right in the forehead!” Applejack said.

Dang. They weren't giving me enough emotions to gain enough energy to use magic. So, I did something I had told myself that I would never do. I reached into Rarity's soul and stole some of her anger. Immediately I felt better. I removed my mind from her soul instantly. I stood up and backed off. Rarity noticed me moving and said, “Don't you move!”

“I'm so sorry.” I whispered. “I'll fix all of this, I promise!” Applejack dashed toward me, but I cast a random teleportation spell and disappeared.

. . .

Sweetie Belle was on her way to the CMC clubhouse in the afternoon. She had planned to meet Scootaloo and Apple Bloom there to hang out. When she got there she thought she heard, crying? She climbed up into the clubhouse, and saw a changeling sitting in the corner, weeping.

“Shade? Is that you?” He looked up and she saw his eyes dilate.

“Sweetie? I'm sorry. Just..just let me stay here for a little bit and I'll leave...”he stammered.

Sweetie looked into his eyes. She sadness and helplessness in his eyes. She jumped out of the clubhouse, to return five minutes later with a blanket. She spread the blanket over Shade. He looked at her gratefully.

Sweetie put her hoof over his mouth. “Get some rest Shade. We'll talk later.” The tired changeling closed his eyes and fell asleep. Sweetie looked at him for a little while, then curled up next to him. She sighed and shut her eyes, deciding to stay with him for the night.

Alternate Ending

I know, I know, you thought this story was over. And it is, except for the fact that I asked a friend to write an alternate ending for it. And he did.

Here it is guys, Son of Peace.

THIS STORY IS RATED MATURE FOR SEX. It is a clopfic, so do NOT read it if you don't like those. Ignore this chapter.

Thanks guys. Hope you enjoy!