Hiding in the Shadows

Chapters

Chapter 1: Searching For Food
Chapter 2: While He's Unconscious
Chapter 3: Getting to Know You
Chapter 4: An Unexpected Reunion
Chapter 5: The Past
Chapter 6: Control
Chapter 7: Permanent Scars and Learning
Chapter 8: First Job

Chapter 1: Searching For Food

"I need to find food," Shadow thought to himself. He placed a grey hoof around his stomach area. He could feel his ribs as he slowly slid his hoof around. His stomach grumbled loudly. "I REALLY need food," he thought to himself again. He slowly turned in a 360 degree motion, eyeing his surroundings in hope of finding something he could eat. Shadow spread his wings from his sides and slowly started flapping them. He ascended about 10 feet before stopping and hovering. He looked around again, hoping to find something that he could eat. After a few minutes, Shadow started to feel exhausted. He hadn't eaten for a few days, so he had a low amount of energy left. Shadow hovered in the air for about half a minute longer before slowly descending back to the ground. As he landed on the ground, he found himself staring off in the distance at the moonlit landscape, his crimson eyes glowing in the moonlight. His thoughts were interrupted when all of a sudden, a voice hissed inside of his head.

"Head that way," the voice hissed in a low, sinister tone.

"Who said that?! Who's there?!" Shadow exclaimed in a frightened voice, spinning around and looking in every direction. Finally, he realized that it was a familiar voice coming from inside his head. "Oh. It's you again," he replied to the voice blandly.

"If you seek something to eat, then head in the direction I have pointed you towards," the voice hissed back to him.

"I told you to stay out of my head."

"You can't get rid of me that easily Shadow. You have been kept alive for a reason."

"And why haven't you told me why you're keeping me alive? I want answers!"

"The answers you seek will not be revealed yet. You won't know until it is the right time."

Shadow let out a sigh of disappointment, then shivered as a cold breeze blew through his mane and across his face. Shadow's mane was slightly darker than charcoal grey and had stripes of red streaked across it. He tried to brush his mane out of his left eye, but it always hung down and covered the left side of his face. Shadow shivered again.

"I really wish I had a thicker cloak," he thought to himself, re-adjusting the black cloak on his back. He pulled the hood over his head, hoping it would stop the wind, or at least block some of it. It didn't block much of the wind as he could still feel it blowing against his face and running down his neck. He felt his stomach grumble again, as if begging for something to eat. Shadow let out another sigh.

"I need food. Lead the way," he said to the voice in his head.

"Head down the hill and follow the path," the voice hissed in his head. "You will find a trail which you must follow. You will find something to eat there."

Shadow remembered what the voice had told him earlier. You have been kept alive for a reason. Shadow slumped his head and looked at the ground. Memories of his past flashed through his mind. He remembered all the memories he wished he could forget. He wished his past, along with the horrible memories that came with it, would just disappear. A tear formed in his eye and fell to the ground.

"I should have been dead years ago," he thought to himself, as he slowly trudged forward, looking for the trail that would lead him to something to eat.

Shadow slowly trudged along the trail, looking for the source of food that the voice had told him about. The muscles in his legs screamed in protest as he slowly progressed forward, not wanting to stop until he found something to eat. He slowly made his way over a large hill, which seemed to go on and on forever. It seemed like he was climbing a giant mountain. Shadow could feel himself getting weaker as he stepped closer and closer to his goal. He wobbled side to side as he started losing feeling in his legs. But he could see the top of the hill. He knew he had to be close. Shadow slowly climbed higher and higher to the top of the hill. As he slowly walked on the top, he saw a sight that made him want to shout with joy. What he saw before him was what he was looking for. He saw hundreds of apple trees lined up side to side and in rows as far as he could see. Shadow slowly started making his way down the hill and started walking to the nearest tree.

"I just need at least one. Just one apple for some energy," Shadow thought out loud, slowly walking under the closest tree. He looked up at it as he surveyed the closest apple to him. After picking his target, Shadow spread his wings to stretch them out. He slowly started flapping his wings to try and fly up and grab the apple. He hovered a few inches off the ground, and slowly started ascending to the apple he had chosen. Shadow started breathing heavily. He didn't realize how tired he was until he started reaching for the apple. He felt like all the energy had been drained out of him. Having no food for a few days really affected his flying. He had trouble staying balanced in the air. His wings weren't flapping in a consistent rhythm. He wrapped his hoof around an apple as he tried to slowly descend. But he had no energy left. Every muscle in his body protested as he tried to slowly descend. Shadow's vision started to blur, he couldn't feel his wings anymore. Shadow plummeted to the ground a few feet below him, his apple rolling about a foot away from him. Shadow lay on the ground, his wings folded to his sides. He turned his head and looked around on the ground he was laying on. He spotted the apple on the ground about a foot away from him.

"Just... One... Bite..." he managed to say between breaths. He slowly reached his hoof towards the apple, a light gray aura forming around the apple. It slowly started floating towards Shadow, until his eyes closed, and he lost consciousness, the apple falling a few inches from his mouth. As he lay there on the ground, there was a white flash near his flank. Where the white flash had occurred was where his cutie mark appeared, but he wasn't awake to see it. Nopony had seen it happen.

"You're purpose will be revealed soon," a familiar voice hissed.

"You say that everytime," Shadow replied to the voice. But this time it didn't sound like it was in his head. It sounded like it was all around him, like he was surrounded by it. Shadow opened his eyes, and looked around him. All there was around him was darkness. He seemed to be floating in nothing. He tried to place his hoof forward to try and walk, but when he looked down he realized that his hoof wasn't there. He tried to see any part of his body, but it all seemed to have disappeared. "Where am I?" Shadow whispered faintly.

"It's quite simple really," the voice hissed, echoing around him. "This is the darkness in your heart."

"Darkness? What darkness?!" Shadow yelled out into the void. He had no idea what was going on.

"It's the darkness inside you, and for the first time since it has chosen you, you have controlled it.

"Controlled it?"

"Yes. Remember that apple that was floating towards you? That was your own power. Nopony elses."

"Wait... I did that?"

"Yes. You have discovered the power of the darkness inside of you."

"Since when have I had darkness in my heart? Since when was I chosen by this darkness thing?"

"You were chosen long before you ran away."

"Oh great. Now you're bringing that up."

"You can't erase the past. It's what brings you to the present."

"I hate my past. I wish it never happened."

"What's done has been done. There is nothing you can do to change it."

"Let's stop talking about my past and talk about something else. Like tell me more about this darkness and how I can control it. And when did I get it in the first place?"

"Do you remember the night you found those old ruins near a cliffside?"

"I believe so. I remember hearing a scream, then I remember suddenly blacking out. I woke up near the edge of a forest the next day."

"That was the night the darkness was released. It released from it's old wielder and chose you. You were led there for a reason."

"Now I wield the darkness... Can I use it like unicorn magic? Am I as powerful as an alicorn now?"

"It's not quite that simple, it can be deadly, but I can't explain it to you now. Your mind is gaining control again. You're starting to wake up. Your purpose will be revealed soon. For you are close to where it all starts."

The voice echoed around him and slowly started fading out. Shadow's vision started to blur up, everything around him started to spin, slowly at first, then it started spinning faster and faster. The blurred darkness around him started shining brighter and brighter, slowly transitioning to brighter colors, until everything had turned white.

Shadow opened his eyes, but quickly shut them as the sun beamed into the white walled room he was lying in.

"Wait. Am I lying in a bed?" Shadow thought to himself. He slowly opened his eyes, making sure to give them time to adjust to the bright light. Shadow tried lifting his head, but was unable to. His head felt like lead. He moved his eyes from side to side, trying to survey the room he was lying in. He definitely knew he was lying in a bed, but he couldn't see a lot since he couldn't move his head. He tried to move his two front hooves, but found that his muscles didn't want him to. His muscles screamed and protest as he tried to lift them, and after a little bit he gave up. Shadow let out a loud groan of displeasure, when he suddenly heard a voice to his right.

"Oh goody! Ya finally woke up!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Shadow could see what looked like a mare with a light orange coat, a blonde mane wearing a light brown Stetson hat on top of her head.

Chapter 2: While He's Unconscious

Applejack's morning started off like any other morning. She woke up, got out of bed, washed up, then ate a quick breakfast before heading out to work. She walked over to a nearby shed and grabbed some baskets before heading into the large sea of apple trees, which were full of big, juicy apples just waiting to be harvested. The apples glistened in the sunlight. Applejack quickly trotted along a trail between the apple trees, admiring their beauty. She started slowing down when she spotted something lying under one of the apple trees. She slowly approached whatever it was with caution.

"What the hay?" she thought out loud as she trotted closer. She stopped less than a foot away from whatever it was lying there on the floor. She examined it closely, trying to figure out what it was. Then she realized what it was as she stepped even closer. She realized it was a pony, a pegusus to be exact. His grey coat was matted with mud and grass, his even darker grey mane streaked with red had some twigs and pebbles in it. He had a cloak on, but it looked very thin and had a couple of tears in it. He was laying on his side, so she could see his stomach. She could see and count every single rib he had. She noticed an apple on the ground a few inches away from his face. She couldn't tell if he was dead or not, until she noticed his stomach moving up and down in a rhythmic motion. "Oh man. Big Mac!" Applejack shouted as she started sprinting back to the farm. "Big Mac!" she shouted again, still sprinting as fast as he legs could carry her.

Big Macintosh was pulling a large cart carrying many baskets for applebucking. He stopped in front of a few apple trees and unstrapped the cart that was strapped to him. He walked over to the side of the cart and picked up a few baskets in his mouth. He quickly trotted over to the nearest apple tree and gently put one of the baskets down. He took the second one he had and placed it under the same tree, but in a different spot. He turned around and got ready to buck the tree. He faced the opposite direction of the tree, and brought his right leg up, ready to kick it. But his work was interrupted when he heard Applejack screaming his name.

"Big Mac!" Applejack shouted again. "Big Mac!" Big Mac turned in the direction of his sister's shouting to see her galloping at full speed towards him. She slid to a stop in front of him. "Big Mac... Ah... Need... Your... Help!" she managed to say between breaths. Big Mac looked at Applejack confused.

"Woah there lil' sister. Jus' calm down and catch ya breath. Now explain to me what your so worked up about," Big Mac said in a calming voice. Applejack started breathing slower and tried to calm down, but she still seemed to be panicked.

"There's somepony out there! Ah saw him lying under a tree. He looked like he was in horrible condition. Ah thought he was dead. Ah think he need medical attention," Applejack explained quickly, still breathing heavily. She had never seen a pony in such horrible condition. She didn't want to think of what he must have gone through to look like that. "We need to get him to a hospital, soon," she said with worry in her voice. Big Mac placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder and nodded.

"Ah'll empty this cart and fill it wit' hay. Then you can show me where this fella is and we can wheel him over to the hospital," Big Mac said, trying to sooth his sister. "Come on. Let's hurry," he said, taking the baskets out of the cart. Applejack nodded and walked over to help him with the task. After all the baskets were out, Big Mac quickly pulled the cart along a trail leading to the closest barn. Applejack opened the barn doors and quickly got to work filling the cart with hay. Big Mac could see a look of determination on her face. He decided to talk and try to break the silence.

"How bad did he look?" Big Mac asked. Applejack kept the same look of determination on her face, but answered quickly.

"Ah've never seen a pony so skinny in mah life. I could count every one of his ribs. His coat was matted with mud an' grass, an' his mane had some twigs an' rocks in it. He was wearing a cloak, but it didn't look like much."

"Ya think he's gonna make it?"

"Ah'm gonna make sure he makes it. Nopony should be in his condition. But... Ah would be lying if Ah said that Ah think he has a good chance of making it." Applejack looked down sadly, but resumed her work. They were both silent, until Applejack finished placing the hay into the cart, making sure it was soft enough to lie on. She quickly trotted out of the barn and motioned Big Mac to follow. He nodded his head and quickly trotted behind her. He followed her through the large sea of apple trees. Applejack stopped in front of an apple tree, looking at the base of it. Big Mac looked at what she was looking at, and he saw the figure lying under the tree. Applejack's description fit him perfectly. His coat had mud and grass all over it, his mane had twigs and dirt in it, and he was wearing a black cloak.

"Ah think we better be careful when putting him in the cart. He looks fragile," Big Mac explained as he examined the pony lying in front of him. Applejack looked at her brother, then looked at the figure again. She slowly walked up to him, as if she were walking on thin ice. She placed a hoof under the pony's head.

"Ah'll carry him by the head. You get his back hooves," Applejack explained. Big Mac nodded. He unstrapped his harness and walked around to the back hooves of the grey pony lying on the ground. He gingerly placed his front hooves under them.

"On three," Big Mac said. "An' make sure to lift him up carefully." Applejack nodded her head in understandment and placed a second hoof under the pony's head. "One... Two... Three!" On three, both of them slowly lifted the unconscious pony off the ground and lifted his body towards towards the cart. They carefully placed him in the cart, making sure not to drop him and risk hurting him. The pony's body was laying limp in the cart, his stomach rising and falling in a rhythmic motion. Both Applejack and Big Mac looked at him with concern.

"We better hurry," said Applejack already starting to walk towards Ponyville. Big Mac nodded and strapped the harness around himself. He started walking in the same direction as Applejack, following her closely.

Applejack and Big Mac walked into Ponyville, the sun rising high into the sky. Ponies were walking around, attending to their daily business. Nopony really noticed Applejack and Big Mac, until a familiar lavender pony approached them.

"Good morning Applejack!" she exclaimed happily. "Good morning Big Mac! What's in the cart?" she asked curiously.

"Mornin' Twilight," Applejack said, faking a smile. "It's nothing y'all would care about."

"Why not?" Twilight asked with a puzzled look. She trotted over to the side of the cart and peered in. Twilight's eyes grew bigger than saucers. "Who's that?!" she exclaimed, getting the attention of a few ponies walking by. Applejack sighed.

"I don't know. Ah found him under one of the apple trees over at Sweet Apple Acres. Ah think he wanted a few apples to eat, but had no energy to do so," Applejack explained. "We were taking him to the hospital."

"His condition looks horrible," Twilight said concerned. She slowly levitated the pony's body out of the cart and hovered it carefully in front of her. "I've never seen a pony in this kind of condition. It looks really serious." She started trotting in the direction of the hospital, the grey pony surrounded by a pink aura was floating in front of her. Applejack turned and looked at Big Mac.

"Go back to the farm an' tell Granny Smith an' Apple Bloom where Ah am," she told him.

"Eeyup," Big Mac replied. Applejack gave a nod of appreciation and started running to catch up with Twilight. Big Mac turned around and started walking back to Sweet Apple Acres.

Twilight burst through the double doors of the hospital, followed by Applejack.

"Nurse! Doctor! Somepony please help us!" Twilight shouted. A white mare with a pink mane walked over to her.

"What seems to be the problem?" she questioned. Twilight looked at her and levitated a pony in front of her.

"THIS is the problem Nurse Redheart. He needs medical attention." Nurse Redheart stepped forward and looked at the body floating in front of her closely.

"Oh my. His condition looks horrible."

"Which is why he needs help." said Applejack. Nurse Redheart took another step closer and examined him again. She simply nodded her head in agreement. She turned towards the hallway and motioned for them to follow.

"Follow me. We need to clean him up," Nurse Redheart explained. Both Applejack and Twilight nodded their heads in agreement and followed the nurse. "After that we'll get him to bed.

Applejack watched as Twilight carefully levitated the unconscious pony's body under the covers of the hospital bed. Nurse Redheart was standing next to the bed, making sure nothing was wrong with him.

"Is he all right?" Applejack asked, and hint of curiosity and concern in her voice. Nurse Redheart shook her head.

"It's hard to tell. I can't tell when he'll wake up either," she explained. She looked at both Twilight and Applejack. She could see the concern in both of her eyes. "We'll watch over him and make sure he recovers. Ummm... What IS his name anyway?" Nurse Redheart looked at both Twilight and Applejack, hoping for an answer. But they both just shook their heads.

"Ah don't know his name. Ah just found him lying unconscious under one of the apple trees at Sweet Apple Acres," Applejack explained to Nurse Redheart.

"Well. I guess we'll get answers when he wakes up," Nurse Redheart said. "Don't worry too much about him. He'll be fine."

"Yeah. He'll be fine," Twilight repeated, looking over at the pony lying in bed, the blanket rising and falling in a rhythmic motion. "I hope..." she added silently to herself. Both Applejack and Twilight looked at each other.

"We should probably check up on him everyday," Applejack suggested. "Ah think we can visit for a little bit during visiting hours. We can take turns." Twilight nodded her head in agreement.

"I think that's a good idea. We can check up on his recovery," Twilight added. She looked over at the cloak that the pony had been wearing. "Maybe we can bring his cloak to Rarity and she can fix it up."

"Ya sure 'bout that sugercube? Ya think he'd appreciate us touchin' his stuff? Ah mean, he don't even know what we're doin'."

"It's simply an act of kindness. It looks very thin, and it has a few tears in it. I'll just ask Rarity to fix up the holes and make it a bit thicker for warmth."

"Hmmm... Ah guess that's okay, but Ah'm not sure if he'd want any kind of weird patterns or anything like that on it, so tell Rarity not to do any of that."

"Of course. I'll take it to Rarity's place after we leave here."

"All right. Well, Ah gotta get back to the farm. There's still work to be done an' Apple Bloom is probably lookin' for me."

"Okay. I'm gonna head out too. I'm gonna bring his cloak to Rarity, then go back to the library to look up that symbol he had as his cutie mark." Both Twilight and Applejack remembered seeing his cutie mark. People who knew what it was would describe it as a red and black yin yang, but neither pony knew what it was or what it meant. Both Applejack and Twilight headed out of the room, Twilight was carrying Shadow's folded cloak on her back.

"Ah'll visit him tomorrow after Ah'm done applebucking for the day," Applejack told Twilight. Twilight nodded her head, showing that she understood.

"I'll visit him when I get free time to," Twilight told her. "Hopefully he wakes up soon. I want to learn more about him. There are so many questions we can ask him." Both of them continued walking away from the hospital and into the middle of Ponyville. That's where they went their separate ways. Applejack waved good-bye to Twilight as she headed back to Sweet Apple Acres, while Twilight started walking towards Rarity's boutique.

Rarity was working on a few orders she had received from Canterlot, when she heard the bell above her front door ring, signaling that a customer entered the store. She stopped her work and exited her room on the 2nd floor. She descended the stairs and walked into the front part of her store.

"Welcome to Rar-. Oh! It's you Twilight!" Rarity said as she noticed her friend standing in her store. Then she noticed something on Twilight's back. "Twilight, if you don't mind me asking, what is that on your back?" Twilight levitated the folded up cloak off of her back and in front of Rarity.

"Oh this? It's just a little something of somepony I know. I need you to fix it up for me," Twilight explained. Rarity examined the cloak closer as it unfolded before her.

"Hmmm... I believe I can fix this up. I can add some patterns to this side that might-."

"Actually, no patterns," Twilight interrupted. "I just want you to fix some holes in it and maybe make it a little warmer without altering its look."

"Why on Equestria would you want me to just do that? You know I can do much more."

"I don't think the pony wants the appearance to change."

"Well, if you say so then I'll do just that. I believe I can finish this sometime today. It looks very basic."

"That's good. Can I pick it up tomorrow?"

"Certainly." Twilight started trotting to the door when Rarity spoke. "Ummm... Twilight. Who is this pony that wants their cloak fixed?" Twilight turned and looked at Rarity.

"That's what I'm still trying to figure out," she replied. With that, she turned and trotted out the door and towards the library.

Both Applejack and Twilight visited the mysterious pony everyday. He was still asleep, but he was living, much to the relief of both ponies. Twilight wasn't at the hospital today though. She was still busy searching for the symbol she had seen on the mysterious pony's flank. Applejack was sitting next to that same pony's bed. It had been a few days since she had found him, and he still wasn't awake. She was concerned for him, but knew he was being taken care of. She was lost in her thoughts, wondering why he was in such a condition in the first place. She thought about why he needed to take her apples. Did he not live in a home? Did he not have a job to pay for food? Her thoughts were interrupted when she suddenly heard a groan coming from the pony laying the bed in front of her. She was in shock when she saw that his eyes, or one visible eye, was open and darting in different directions, probably trying to figure out where he was.

"Oh goody! Ya finally woke up!" Applejack exclaimed excitedly. Applejack saw one crimson eye look at her, the other hidden under his mane.

Chapter 3: Getting to Know You

Twilight was still trying to figure out what the mysterious pony's cutie mark was. She had looked in dozens of different types of books already, but her efforts were futile. She looked in books like Symbols and Signs or Cutie Marks for Dummies, but none of them seemed to help. She had been searching for almost four or five days, with still nothing to show for it. But today was different. She was searching through her 14th book for the day, scanning over the pages looking for the strange circle, when she saw the familiar round shape with a backwards S down the middle of it. The colors on either side of the S were white and black, unlike the red and black mark on the mysterious pony. There were also opposite color dots on the top and bottom part.

"Yin Yang," Twilight read out loud, her face practically pressed into the book. "Let's see here. 'The Yin Yang, or Yin and Yang, is believed to be a symbol on how opposite forces depend on one another. One force cannot exist without the other, and vice versa.' Huh. That's odd. Why would anypony have that as a cutie mark?" she thought out loud. Her thoughts were interrupted by a frantic knock on the door. "Coming!" Twilight shouted, pulling her face out of the book and walking towards the front door. When she was a few feet away from the door, her horn lit up and a pink aura formed around the door, opening it. She saw Applejack standing on the front step, she was breathing heavily.

"He... Finally... Woke... Up!" she managed to say between breaths. Twilight's eyes grew larger.

"When did he wake up?" she asked with curiosity and a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Just a few... Minutes ago," Applejack said, still catching her breath.

"Oh this is great! We can finally find out more about him. Oh! And I just found out what his cutie mark is. It's a-."

"Explain it at the hospital," interrupted Applejack, no longer needing to catch her breath.

"Oh. Right. Of course," Twilight said with a little bit of disappointment in her voice. She was about to step out of the door when she remembered something. "Wait! I forgot his cloak!" Twilight ran back into the library. She came back out about half a minute later with the cloak folded up on her back. "Alright, let's go."

Shadow was lying in bed. He had to admit, it felt nice and comfortable. But he hated that he was in the hospital. He hated hospitals. He hated the memories of hospitals he had. He hated everything about them. Shadow let out a soft sigh. He was trying to remember what had happened earlier. He had seen a mare with a light orange coat and a blonde mane sitting next to his bed, but when she noticed he had woken up, she said something about how it was good that he was awake and sprinted out the door. Shadow was just lying there, wondering who that mare was. Why she was sitting next to him in a hospital? Why did she seem so excited about him waking up? Did he even know her? Or did she know him? Many questions raced through his mind, but he couldn't answer any of them.

"Your questions will have answers soon," a familiar voice hissed in his head.

"They better," Shadow answered with annoyance in his voice. "The only good answers I have gotten was when you told me about the darkness. That's about it. And why can't I move?"

"I won't allow you to for now, you must meet these ponies first, for they are important."

"How are they important?"

"Answers will come soon." With that, the door opened up and the mare he had seen earlier entered the room, followed by a lavender unicorn, who had a purple mane with a pink stripe in it. She seemed to be carrying something on her back, but he had a hard time figuring out what it was. Shadow didn't know what to do. He tried to move again, and what surprised him was that he could move his hooves, unlike earlier. He slowly sat up and looked at the two mares sitting beside his bed.

"Uh... Hi?" Shadow said, breaking the silence in the room.

"Howdy! Mah name's Applejack," the light orange pony said.

"And I'm Twilight Sparkle," the lavender unicorn spoke after Applejack had spoken. "What's your name?"

"My name? Ummm..." Shadow didn't want to tell these ponies his name since he didn't trust them. Not completely at least. He decided to change the subject away from his name and ask them something else instead. "Before I answer that, can you tell me how I got here?" Both of them frowned, they both looked slightly disappointed. They probably wanted to know his name, but Applejack spoke up and answered him.

"Ah found ya laying unconscious under one of mah apple trees. Mah brother an' Ah brought ya here, with Twilight's help." Shadow looked at both of the ponies. Why would they help him? Did they know who he was? No, they couldn't. They didn't even know his name, and it's been years since anypony has talked to him. He decided it was okay to tell them. After all, they seemed harmless.

"Okay. You wanna know my name? My name's Shadow," he told them, trying to brush the left part of his mane out of his face, which he realized didn't have any twigs or pebbles in it. His mane fell back down, covering the left side of his face. Both Applejack and Twilight looked happy to finally know what his name was. They both smiled at him, which Shadow found creepy, so he decided to ask them more questions. "How long have I been out?" Shadow asked curiously.

"About four or five days," Twilight answered. Shadow looked her than looked at what was on her back. He still couldn't figure out what it was, and now it was starting to bug him a bit.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is that on your back?" he asked curiously. Twilight's horn started to glow and whatever it was on her back levitated off her back and next to the bed.

"It's your cloak," she explained. "Sorry, I kinda took it without permission and got a friend of mine to fix it up." Her face turned a bright red with embarrassment. Shadow surveyed the cloak floating in front of his eyes. The only thing that looked different about it was that it had no tears in it.

"It looks nice. Thanks for getting it fixed up for me," he said with gratitude. He slowly started getting out of bed, but was stopped by an orange hoof pressing into his side.

"Woah there sugercube. Ah don't think ya should be gettin' up just yet," Applejack said with concern in her voice. Shadow was expecting to feel sore in all parts of his body when he got up, but for some reason it wasn't there. Against Applejack's protests, he got up and stepped off the bed. He wobbled a little bit, but quickly regained balance.

"I'm fine. Let me see my cloak," he said turning to Twilight. She levitated the cloak above the bed and let it drop onto the bed. He slowly put it on. He noticed immediately that it felt much more smooth and warm on the inside of the cloak. It felt very comfortable. "Wow. My cloak feels much better than it did before. Who'd you bring this to?" he asked Twilight.

"Just a friend of mine named Rarity," she answered back. "It's no biggie."

"Well. It was very nice of her to do that." Shadow said with gratitude. He started walking towards the door of the room, when he heard Twilight say something.

"Where do you think you're going?" she said with a bit of anger and concern in her voice.

"I'm leaving. Is their a problem with that?" Shadow answered defensively.

"Why yes there is. Ya need to rest," Applejack added in.

"I feel perfectly fine," Shadow lied. In fact he didn't feel fine, he still felt exhausted, but he didn't want to be stuck in a hospital for much longer. He hated these places. It made Shadow think of his father. He didn't want to remember his father. He could almost hear his father whispering his name. "Whatever. I need to get out of here." Shadow stated, walking through the door of his room. Applejack and Twilight looked at each other then at the doorway. They both looked at each other and nodded silently, they then followed Shadow out of the hospital.

"Why did ya wanna leave the hospital?" Applejack asked Shadow as they walked down a trail heading for Ponyville.

"I already told you, I feel perfectly fine. I can leave if I want," Shadow stated with a matter-of-fact kind of attitude.

"But you're not fine. You just woke up today after being out for a about four to five days," Twilight added in a concerned voice. The three of them kept walking forward.

"Why don't we stop talking about hospitals and talk about something else," Shadow suggested. "Tell me about this town that we seem to be heading towards."

"The town's name is Ponyville," Twilight explained. "It's just a little town founded by Earth ponies a little while back. It's a nice comfortable town. You should enjoy it here."

"Ya, if I stay," Shadow added. Both Applejack and Twilight looked at Shadow with confused looks, but Applejack was the first to speak up.

"Now why wouldn't ya stay in Ponyville? By the looks of it, ya don't have a home, an' I bet you could find a place to stay here," Applejack stated.

"Ya, why don't you just stay here in Ponyville? You already have two new friends, and I bet you can make more here," Twilight added. Shadow's eyes grew larger as he realized what Twilight had just said. For once in his life he had ponies, besides his family, that cared for him and wanted to be his friends. He liked this idea. He wouldn't mind having these ponies around him. He gave the idea of staying in Ponyville more consideration.

"I'll give it some thought. I haven't had a home for a long time. I've been on the run for years," Shadow told both of the mares beside him. Both of them looked at Shadow with shocked expressions.

"Whadya mean 'on the run'?" Applejack asked with curiosity.

"I left home at a young age. I had my reasons, but I'm not gonna explain it to you. It's complicated, and the only ponies that I talk about my past to is the ponies who I fully trust," Shadow tried explaining. "I've never told anypony about my past."

"It's because you don't trust anypony," Twilight stated, understanding what Shadow had said. Shadow nodded his head.

"That's exactly why. I don't trust anypony. In fact, you two ponies are the first ponies to have a real conversation with me in a long time."

"But ya trust us, right sugercube?" Applejack asked, glancing at Shadow. Shadow stopped trotting forward and looked straight ahead of him at Ponyville.

"I only trust you a little bit. I mean, I appreciate you guys bringing me to a hospital and checking on me to make sure I'm okay, but like I said earlier, I don't trust anypony," Shadow tried explaining, still staring ahead at the small town. He turned his head to look at both Twilight and Applejack, his two new friends. "But having the company of friends isn't a bad idea." Both Applejack and Twilight smiled at Shadow, and he returned the gesture.

"Wait a second, that's it!" Twilight exclaimed as she remembered something. "Applejack and I are meeting with a couple of close friends for breakfast tomorrow. Would you like to join us? Maybe you can make more friends." Shadow thought of the idea of joining them at breakfast. He would get free food, and meet new ponies. In his opinion, it seemed like a pretty good idea.

"Sure. I'll join you guys," Shadow replied, trying not to sound eager. He started walking forward again, followed by Twilight and Applejack. Celestia's sun had already set by the time they made it to the center of Ponyville, Luna's moon rising high into the night sky surrounded by shimmering stars. All three of the ponies stopped and stood in the center of Ponyville.

"Do you have anywhere to stay tonight?" Twilight asked Shadow, breaking the silence between the three. Shadow hadn't even thought about a place to stay until just now. Shadow started thinking to himself.

"Hmmm... I'll find one," Shadow said. He knew he had no bits to afford a room, but he didn't want to ask if he could stay with either Applejack or Twilight. He didn't want to take advantage of any hospitality like that. Both Applejack and Twilight looked at Shadow.

"Ya sure you can find a place sugercube?" asked Applejack. Shadow nodded his head.

"It'll be easy," Shadow said with fake confidence in his voice.

"You're sure now?" Twilight asked. Again, Shadow nodded his head.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me," Shadow said with a fake smile. Applejack and Twilight looked at each other, and nodded their heads. They both turned their heads back.

"Well, Ah gotta get back to the farm. It's pretty late. See y'all tomorrow!" Applejack shouted, turning in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres and waving good-bye. Shadow and Twilight both waved back.

"I should probably get back to the library. Spike's probably wondering where I am," Twilight said. Shadow looked at Twilight with a confused expression.

"Spike?" he asked.

"Oh ya. Sorry. I forgot you don't know him. He's my little baby dragon assistant."

"Wait, dragon? As in a fire breathing dragon? In a library?"

"Ya. But he doesn't usually catch anything on fire."

"Okay then..." The idea of a baby dragon as an assistant was weird enough for Shadow, but an assistant in a library was really strange to him. Twilight turned and started walking towards the library, but stopped mid-stride. She turned her head towards Shadow.

"Are you sure you can find a place to stay tonight?" she asked him again. Shadow nodded his head.

"Ya. Don't worry about it," he answered back.

"Okay then. You sure now?"

"Positive."

"Alrighty then. We're gonna be meeting over there, at the Town Hal in the morningl," she said, pointing her left hoof towards a large building in the distance. "We are going to meet there for that get-together I told you about, so make sure to wake up and get there in the morning, okay?"

"Okay. I'll be there."

"Good. See you in the morning," Twilight said, turning her head and heading over to the library. Shadow looked around Ponyville. Perhaps he could find an alleyway to sleep in, like he usually would. Shadow tried to fly around and hover above Ponyville, but he realized that he didn't eat anything before leaving the hospital, so he didn't have much energy. He decided to just walk around Ponyville. He found a couple of alleyways he could sleep in, but none of them offered any cardboard boxes for shelter. He decided to look for a different place to sleep, somewhere soft at least. It was a nice night, so he hoped that he could see the stars from wherever he was going to sleep. After searching for about ten minutes, he found a bale of hay next to the side of a large building. He trotted over to it and surveyed it closely.

"Eh. Good enough," he thought out loud. He slipped his cloak off and was about to lay down on top of the bale of hay, when his stomach rumbled. "Huh... I REALLY should have probably eaten something at the hospital before leaving." He eyed the bale of hay in front of him. His mouth started watering, but he quickly shook his head side to side to try and snap out of his trance. "Okay, I'm not going to eat my bed for tonight," he thought to himself. "I'll just wait for breakfast tomorrow." He walked onto the middle of the bale of hay, and layed on his side. He found the bale of hay to be more comfortable than the dark alleyways and cardboard boxes he would usually sleep in. He was about to pull his cloak over himself like a blanket, when he noticed something on his flank. He moved his head closer to see a round circle with a backwards S through the middle of it. One side of the S was red while the other was black. "Since when did I have this?" he thought to himself. He inspected the mark closer, when he heard a familiar voice in his head.

"That is your cutie mark," it hissed.

"You don't say?" Shadow answered sarcastically. "I know it's my cutie mark, but what is it?"

"It's a Yin Yang, it represents opposite forces that cannot exist without the other. For example, when there is day, there must be night, or vice versa."

"But why is it my cutie mark?"

"You haven't figured it out? I thought you were smarter than that. It represents the darkness inside of you. You controlled it for the first time a few days ago, and that's when it appeared, but you were unconscious when it appeared."

"So, when there is light and good in the world, there must be darkness and evil? Is that what my cutie mark represents?"

"Precisly."

"And I have that evil stored up inside me."

"Yes."

"Great... Just great... This evil is gonna be the end of somepony, I know it."

"The darkness can be used for dark things like that."

"You serious?!"

"Yes. The darkness will mess with your head."

"But why? Why did it choose me? What was the purpose of me being chosen?"

"You're purpose will be revealed soon."

"Oh great. Here goes the 'answers will come soon' talk again." Shadow sighed. "I'm going to sleep. Stay out of my head and let me sleep in peace." Saying that, Shadow layed his head down. He gazed at the stars above him, admiring the beautiful constellations painted in the night sky. He slowly closed his eyes, and slipped into a peaceful slumber.

Chapter 4: An Unexpected Reunion

Celestia's sun was shining through the windows of the library as Twilight slowly opened her eyes, awaking from her peaceful slumber.

"What a beautiful morning," she thought to herself. She slowly got out of bed and stretched her legs out a bit. After she did that, she walked in front of a mirror. She levitated a comb above her head and started to brush her mane, combing down the parts that were sticking up. She was staring into her reflection. She wanted to make sure her mane looked okay, or else Rarity would probably start ranting on and on about how her mane is a mess, or how she could at least try and fix it. After a little bit of brushing, she decided her mane looked good enough, and she walked down the stairs to the first floor of the library. Once she reached the bottom of the steps, she started walking towards the door. "Spike! I'm heading out!" she called behind her back as she stopped in front of the door to the library. She looked behind her, looking at the baby dragon and hoping for a response. But the baby dragon was still sleeping. She didn't think he was gonna wake up anytime soon. She decided to just turn around and head out of the library instead of interrupting his slumber. A pink aura surrounded the door as it opened up, letting the cool morning breeze flow into the library. She walked through the door and out of the library, closing the door behind her. She looked around at Ponyville. Many ponies were walking around and talking with other ponies, while some were setting up carts in the market place. Ponyville was a beautiful sight in the morning. Twilight's thoughts were interrupted by a white unicorn walking up next to her.

"Good morning Twilight. It's such a lovely day today, is it not?" said the white unicorn, now standing next to Twilight.

"Oh good morning Rarity! Yes, it is a beautiful morning," Twilight responded, turning her head to look at Rarity. Rarity had a snow-white coat, and a styled purple mane. Her mane was curled up into the air above her head and fell down to her side. Her tail shared a similar curl to it.

"I was just heading over to Town Hall when I saw you. Shall we head over there now?" Rarity asked, probably wanting to not be late.

"Sure thing. This should be a nice morning," Twilight responded, already starting to walk towards the Town Hall. Rarity followed closely behind her. Twilight was admiring the scenic area around her. Celestia's sun was starting to rise higher into the sky, and was blocked by only a few lone clouds floating in the air. "The weather team has really outdone themselves today," Twilight thought to herself. She slowed her pace down, much to the dismay of Rarity.

"Twilight, can we please walk faster? I don't want our friends to be waiting for us," she complained.

"Oh stop whining," Twilight responded, not looking at Rarity. "We'll get there soon."

"Whining? I am not whining, I am complaining. Do you want to her whining?"

"Oh sweet Celestia no. Please do NOT whine. I don't want my morning to be ruined."

"Very well then. Be that way. But we must hurry. I don't want to be late."

"Ugh. We'll be there soon. Look! I can already see the Town Hall." With that, Twilight stopped and pointed her right hoof forward towards the tall building in front of them. The two unicorns started walking forward a little bit faster, but were both stopped by a pink blur in front of them.

"Hi there!" exclaimed a pink pony excitedly, stopping in front of the two unicorns.

"WaHAHA!" Rarity screamed out in terror, standing back on her hind legs.

"Oh sorry silly. Did I scare you?" the pink pony asked, hopping in circles around the two unicorns. She had a fluffy pink mane that looked fluffier than the small amount of clouds in the sky. Her eyes were the same color as the sky above them.

"Oh Pinkie, you are so random sometimes," Twilight said giggling.

"Don't startle me like that again," Rarity yelled. "I don't like surprises like that."

"Sorry silly. I was just saying hi!" Pinkie said happily, still bouncing around the two unicorns.

"Well it's quite alright. We were just walking to Town Hall. Care to join us?" Rarity asked Pinkie.

"Okey dokey lokey!" she responded, still bouncing around. All three of them started to walk forward. Well, Pinkie wasn't technically walking. She was bouncing. They could see an orange earth pony and a yellow Pegasus talking to each other near Town Hall. Both of them turned their heads and saw the three ponies heading towards them. They decided to start walking towards them and meet them in the middle. Both groups were walking towards each other, when Twilight suddenly noticed something lying on a bale of hay next to Town Hall. She started walking towards it. All four of the ponies noticed her sudden change of direction, and started following her.

"Umm... Twilight, where are you going?" Rarity questioned. But Twilight didn't answer. She kept walking forward. She stopped in front of the bale of hay and looked closely at what was lying on it.

"Sh- Shadow?!" Twilight exclaimed, looking at the grey pony sleeping on the bale of hay in front of her.

"Is that really him?" Applejack asked, walking up next to Twilight and looking at the grey pony lying on the bale of hay in front of them. "Ah thought he said he was gonna find a place to stay for the night."

"Who is this pony?" asked Rarity, looking at the grey pony. She didn't seem to notice the black cloak he was wrapped in.

"You're about to find out," Twilight said, taking her left hoof and pushing it into Shadow's side.

"Ugh... Five more minutes," he groaned, rolling over onto his other side.

"Shadow! Wake up!" Applejack yelled.

"What? Huh? Who's there?" Shadow exclaimed as he shot up, looking around. He noticed Twilight and Applejack standing near him. "Oh, hey there Applejack. Hey there Twilight." He also noticed the other three ponies standing next to him. "Oh, uh... Hi there."

"Shadow, do ya care to explain why you were sleeping on a bale of hay out here?" Applejack asked him.

"Oh ya, I told you I'd find a place to stay," he said, smiling. He got up and shook his body back and forth, making all of the hay stuck to him fall off. He picked his cloak up and shook it too, then slipped it on.

"When you said a place to stay, I didn't think you meant a bale of hay in the middle of Ponyville," Twilight said.

"It was comfortable. Plus, I had a nice view of the stars," Shadow said. "Anyway, care to introduce me to your friends?"

"Oh of course! This here is Rarity," Twilight said, pointing her hoof towards a white unicorn with a purple mane.

"Hey there. Wait a second... You're the one who fixed my cloak up," Shadow said, looking at Rarity, then the cloak on his back, then back at Rarity. "Thanks for doing that for me."

"Oh, it was nothing darling. I must admit, it fits your look very well," Rarity replied.

"Heh. Thanks," Shadow replied, blushing a bit.

"This here is Pinkie Pie," Twilight said, pointing a hoof towards a pink pony with a darker pink mane, which reminded Shadow of the fluffy clouds above.

"Hey there," Shadow said looking at the pink pony Twilight was pointing too.

"Yay! A new pony! Can I throw you a party? Please please please pleeaaassee!" she shouted excitedly, bouncing in place.

"A party?" Shadow asked in confusion. "Umm... No."

"Why not?" she asked with a confused expression.

"It's because I don't know if I'm gonna stay here yet."

"Oh. Okey dokey lokey!" she said bouncing in place again, then she stopped. "You should consider staying here silly. It would be fun to throw you a party!"

"Hehehe... Okay. I'll give it some thought," said Shadow nervously. He looked at the yellow Pegasus standing next to Pinkie.

"That pony there is Fluttershy," Twilight said, pointing at the yellow Pegasus.

"Hi," she said very softly, almost inaudible.

"Hey there. I see you are a Pegasus like me. That's pretty awesome," Shadow said with tiny bit of excitement in his voice.

"Oh no. I'm not much of a flyer," Fluttershy responded, still barely audible.

"Wait what?"

"I don't use my wings much. I usually only use them when I'm taking care of certain animals, like some birds."

"Animals?"

"Oh yes. I live near the woods. I take care of many creatures at my home."

"That's cool I guess," Shadow said with uncertainty in his voice. He turned his head towards Twilight. "Is that all your friends?"

"No. Not quite," she answered. "Rainbow Dash still isn't here."

"Rainbow Dash?" Shadow thought to himself. "Why does that name seem so familiar?" He tried to recall why the name was so familiar, but his thoughts were interrupted by a voice from above.

"Sorry I'm late guys!" a cyan blue Pegasus shouted from above. She had a rainbow colored mane and tail, which fluttered in the breeze. She slowly floated down and landed next to Fluttershy. "I was practicing some totally awesome new moves when-" she stopped talking when she noticed Shadow. "Who's the dude?" she asked, looking at his dark grey mane with red stripes.

"Oh there you are Rainbow Dash," Twilight said. She pointed at Shadow. "This is Shadow. Shadow, this is-"

"Rainbow Dash..." Shadow interrupted, memories flooding his brain. He rememebered who this mare was. He remembered why her name sounded so familiar. "Oh no... Not you! Of all the ponies, why you?" Shadow yelled out nervously while slowly backing away.

"What are you talking about?" Rainbow Dash asked with a confused expression. She took a step towards Shadow.

"Stay away from me!" he shouted, his wings shooting up from his side defensively. "I gotta get outta here!" With that, he started flapping his wing and tried to fly away. But he felt his tail being pulled on, and he couldn't fly forward.

"Woah there sugercube. Where do ya think you're goin'?" Applejack managed to say, gripping Shadow's tail between her teeth.

"Let me go!" Shadow shouted, flapping his wings faster. He felt more and more exhausted after each flap of his wings. He still hadn't eaten anything since yesterday. He didn't have much energy left.

"Why are ya trying the fly away?" Applejack asked, still gripping his tail in her mouth. All of the other ponies were looking at Shadow with confused expression. They were all sharing the same thought as Applejack. Shadow tried to flap his wings faster, but his efforts to get away were futile. He knew he didn't have much energy left. He slowed his wings down and landed on the floor. He tried walking forward, but collapsed with exhaustion.

"Ugh..." Shadow groaned, trying to stand up. He found that he could barely move, he didn't have much energy left in him. "I need... Something... To eat," Shadow managed to say between breaths.

"You don't look so good," Fluttershy said concerned. "Maybe we should bring him to my place."

"Are you sure," Twilight asked. "Maybe the hospital would be-"

"No! No hospital," Shadow shouted at the lavender pony. He tried to lift his head up to look at the group of ponies.

"My place is closer," Fluttershy told Twilight. "Plus I can make some food for us to eat since it doesn't seem like we're going to eat breakfast where we originally planned." Fluttershy's voice was the last thing Shadow heard before he closed his eyes and passed out.

"You have met six very important ponies," a familiar voice hissed to Shadow.

"You again? Why do you keep bothering me?" Shadow yelled. He noticed he wasn't lying on the ground anymore, but was floating in the darkness again. Something about it seemed different this time. "Something isn't right..."

"You are correct. The darkness has grown restless."

"Restless? How has it grown restless?"

"You have been in the presence of six very important ponies."

"Do you mean those six ponies that I saw today?"

"Yes."

"You mean Rarity? And Twilight? And Pinkie Pie? And Applejack? And Fluttershy? And Rainbow Dash?"

"Those ponies exactly."

"And why are they important?" There was a long pause before the voice answered.

"They are the reason why the darkness is in you." This statement was also followed by a long pause.

"What are you talking about?"

"They released the darkness from the original wielder."

"How?"

"I will not tell you that. For they can explain it to you later."

"Wait! But I-" Shadow was interrupted when the darkness around started to spin, slowly getting faster and faster until everything around him was a blur. The darkness changed to lighter colors until it turned fully white.

Shadow opened his eyes, and tried to look around. He seemed to be in a cottage. A cozy cottage in Shadow's opinion. He slowly lifted his head up and looked around the cottage. He noticed that he was lying on something. It was soft and comfortable, but it wasn't a bed. It seemed to be a couch or some sort of seat. An intoxicating aroma of delicious, homecooked food was flowing from the room. Shadow felt his stomach rumble.

"Food doesn't sound like a bad idea," Shadow thought to himself. He quickly got off the bed, but sat down immediately after feeling the blood rush to his head. "Wow..." he thought to himself. "I think I need some food soon." He slowly got up from his seated position and grabbed his cloak, which was hanging on a coat hanger. He slipped it on and slowly started walking towards the room where the intoxicating aromas were coming from. As he walked closer, he could hear some voices coming from the room he was about to walk in to. He recognized all six of the voices. They belonged to the six ponies he had talked to near Town Hall. He slowly crept forward towards the opening, the voices were becoming much more clear and audible.

"Dash, are ya sure ya don't know who he is?" Shadow could hear Applejack ask.

"I'm not sure. I don't recognize him, yet his name seems really familiar," Rainbow Dash answered back.

"But why did he react the way he did?" Twilight asked with curiosity.

"I'm guessing he knows me or something. But you're right. Why did he react that way?" Rainbow Dash said confused.

"She really doesn't remember," Shadow thought to himself. He looked down at the floor sadly. He didn't know what to do. Should he walk in there? Or should he run away again? "No," he thought. "I can't keep running forever. Besides, there's food in there." Food was definitely a legit reason to walk in. Shadow slowly walked through the doorway and into the room, where he saw all six of the ponies sitting at a table.

"I really don't know who he is," Rainbow Dash said, trying to remember who the pony was. "I can't remember."

"You really can't not remember Dash?" Shadow said, walking into a lighted area of the room.

"Shadow! You're awake!" Twilight exclaimed. She got up from where she was sitting and motioned for him to come to the table. "Come, sit with us." Shadow didn't move from where he was standing. He stood as still as a statue, staring at Rainbow Dash.

"How can you not remember?" Shadow whispered, only audible enough for the ponies to barely hear it. He still didn't move from where he was standing. "Twilight, Applejack. Do you remember when I told you I never told anypony about my past?"

"Yeah," answered Twilight and Applejack in unison.

"All you ponies are gonna be the first to hear my story. Maybe it'll help Dash remember me," Shadow told the group, still staring at Rainbow Dash. He slowly started walking towards the six ponies and sat next to the table. "Let's see... Where to start?"

Chapter 5: The Past

"I guess the best place to start is from the beginning," Shadow said, scanning the ponies sitting around him. "My life was great. I had the most wonderful parents. My mother was a nice mare. She had a tender heart and always cared for me. She had a dark blue coat, which was contrasted by her dark red mane. My father was a strong stallion. He had a similar grey coat like mine, and his mane was a much darker color than mine. He worked in the weather factory for almost half a day to support my mother and I. It was a tough job, but he didn't care. He would always come home with a bright smile on his face, knowing that he was coming home to a loving wife and son. After work, when there was still light out, he would take me to a park nearby our house and do all kinds of neat flying tricks. He was so amazing. I couldn't believe he wasn't a Wonderbolt. My father was a better flyer than any member on the Wonderbolts. Err... In my opinion at least. He would always try to give me tips on how to fly and all that. He was an amazing flyer. He was my hero.

"One day, he walked into the house with an even bigger smile on his face. He showed me an acceptance letter for me in the mail. I was so happy when I read that I had been accepted into some kind of flying academy thing. The name doesn't matter, but the academy apparently produced some if the best flyers in all of Equestria. Everything in my life seemed perfect, until one day, my dad didn't come home. My mom and I didn't even know what had happened, until a worker from the weather factory came to our house and told us the horrible news. There had been an accident at the weather factory. There had been a huge explosion in the section where my dad worked at. The initial explosion killed at least half a dozen ponies, and injured a dozen others, including my dad. I remember running as fast as I could towards the hospital since I was too young to fly at the time."

Shadow ran as fast as his little legs could carry him.

"Please be okay daddy!" he shouted as he galloped towards the hospital where his dad had been hospitalized. He spread his little wings and jumped into the air, trying to fly to the hospital, but he came crashing down onto the cloud terrain under him. He could feel blood trickling down the left side of his face. He got up as fast as he could a started running again. "Don't worry daddy! I'm coming!"

Shadow burst through the doors of the hospital and skidded to a stop in front of the receptionist.

"WHERE'S MY DADDY?!" shouted Shadow, tears flowing from his eyes.

"Does he have a similar coat color to you, and a darker mane?" the receptionist asked nonchalantly.

"Yes! Now where is he?!" Shadow shouted again. The receptionist just looked down at him.

"Down the hall, three doors down to the left. Try not to make too much noise," the receptionist said, looking back at the monitor in front of her. Shadow started running as fast as he could towards the room that the receptionist had told him to go to. He skidded to a stop and opened the door. He quickly trotted in to see a familiar grey pony with a very dark grey mane. The left side of his face was covered in bandages, along with all four of his hooves and side of his stomach.

"Daddy!" Shadow exclaimed, running and stopping next to his father's bed. Shadow's father slowly turned his head to look at the little pony sitting next to his bedside.

"Shadow?" he asked in a raspy voice.

"I'm here daddy! Don't worry. You'll be okay," Shadow said, moving a bit closer to his father. He had tears running down his face, which mixed with the blood on the left side of his face. "It'll all be okay daddy!"

"I wish I could say that to you Shadow," he said in his raspy voice. He didn't look like the strong pony that Shadow knew him as. Here he looked broken down and weak. His condition wasn't great.

"Shadow, are you here?" a familiar dark blue mare called into the room. She poked her head through the door to see Shadow sitting next to his father's bed. "Sweet Celestia!" cried Shadow's mom, when she noticed how bad Shadow's father looked.

"Hey honey," he managed to say, his voice raspy. "Can you come here for a second?" Shadow's mom nodded her head and walked towards the bed. "Come up close. I need to tell you something." With that, she stepped closer and leaned her head closer to his. He started whispering something into her ears that Shadow could not here. Her eyes started filling with tears as he continued whispering into her ears. She wrapped her front hooves around him and cried into his shoulder.

"I don't want to lose you," she whispered into his ears, tears flowing freely from her eyes.

"I don't want to leave you or Shadow," he whispered back into her ear. They embraced a little longer, before Shadow's mom finally let go. She looked at Shadow's father one final time, before moving forward and kissing him on the forehead.

"Good-bye," she whispered, tears still flowing from her eyes.

"Please don't tell Shadow. Not yet," he whispered back. The blue mare looked at him with shock, but nodded her head in understandment.

"Come on Shadow. We should get going," she told Shadow, who was still sitting next to his father's bedside.

"But I don't want to leave daddy! I'll miss him!" the little pony pleaded.

"Shadow," his dad said. "Remember, that no matter what happens to me, I will always be with you, no matter what happens."

"Come on Shadow," the mom said in her soft, soothing voice. "We should leave your dad to rest." Shadow reluctantly agreed, and started walking towards the door. He stopped and looked at his father.

"I love you daddy," Shadow whispered loud enough for his father to hear.

"I love you too son," he answered back. Shadow slowly walked out the door of the room and followed his mom, leaving his father alone in the hospital room.

"The next day, I got the worst news of my life. My dad, he... He had died. He passed on, as some say. He was gone forever. I wasn't there for him when I should have been. At that point I hated everything. I hated the hospital for not helping him live. I hated the weather factory for not being safer. I just, hated life in general," Shadow told the six ponies, tears visible in all of their eyes. "He died alone. No other pony was there. I should have been at his side like a good son, but I wasn't there. He was my hero. He was the one who showed me how amazing flying can be. When he was gone, I promised him that I would become the greatest flyer in Equestria, just for him. After he was gone, things started changing rapidly. Without my dad, there was no one to provide for my mom and I. So she got a job and started to work longer hours than what my dad had to work. She would wake me up in the morning and head off to work. I had to make my own food for the entire day. I would eat breakfast, and head off to the flying academy school thing. After I got home from that, I would have to make my own dinner from anything I could find in the fridge or cabinets. After that, I would go to sleep. I would be lying in bed by the time my mom got home from her work. I could hear her in her room, crying, sobbing, pretty much anything to show how sad she felt. She missed my dad. I missed my dad. But my pain wasn't just from the emptyness without my father. That flying academy thing wasn't all that I thought it would be."

Shadow slowly walked through large hallway of the flying academy's main building. There were many ponies hanging around each other and socializing together. Nopony seemed to notice Shadow walking by them. He knew what would happen if any of them would talk to him. They would just make fun of him. They would mock him because he couldn't fly. Everypony else could fly. Why not him? It wasn't fair. None of it was fair. Shadow hated the school. He hated the ponies that attended the school. He hated the teachers who worked at the school. But, there was one thing, or pony that he didn't hate. She was a beautiful cyan blue mare with a rainbow colored mane. She amazed him with her flying skills. What impressed him most was when she performed the mythical Sonic Rainboom, which blew his mind. She had performed something that people believed wasn't possible. But by the time Rainbow Dash had performed the Sonic Rainboom, all Shadow could do was hover of the ground by an inch or two.

"It's not fair!" Shadow yelled, punching the wall next to him. "Why? Why can't I fly?"

"Ya. Why can't a loser like you fly?" said a hot headed Pegasus that walked up to him. He had a brown coat, and a white mane. He always had two other pegasi following him around. One of them had a dark green coat and had a golden colored mane, while the other had a red coat with a dark blue mane.

"Not you guys again," Shadow said while staring at the three pegasi in front of him. He slowly started backing up.

"Oh yes. It's us. You going somewhere?" said the brown pony, noticing that Shadow was backing up.

"Leave me alone!" Shadow yelled. He started backing up faster. But the trio of bullies kept advancing forward. Shadow turned around and bolted away from the bullies, galloping as fast as he could and trying to get away. He looked behind him to see if they were following him, and failed to see a cyan blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane standing in the hallway. He crashed into her, tumbling down the hallway, before coming to a stop several feet away from where they first collided.

"What the hay man?" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Watch where you're going!" The bullies came to a stop near Rainbow Dash and Shadow.

"Hey look! Is Rainbow Crash gonna defend him like she defended Cluttzershy?" mocked the red pony. All three of them laughed.

"As if!" responded Rainbow Dash. "Why would I waste my time on a Pegasus who can't even fly?"

Shadow stepped back defensively. Hearing those words from the trio of bullies everyday was hard enough, but hearing it from Rainbow Dash, the Pegasus he looked up to, hurt even more. Shadow just looked at Rainbow Dash in shock. A single tear formed in his right eye and fell to the floor. He quickly sprinted towards the closest exit of the building and ran away from the school. He kept running and running until he reached the one destination he wanted. He slowed down to a stop on the edge of Cloudsdale. He walked close to the edge and looked down. It was a tremendous height above the ground. Shadow sat down and looked forward, letting his mane catch in the cool breeze. He closed his eyes. He was deep in thought, pondering the one thing he wanted to do at the moment, when he suddenly heard the flutter of wings somewhere behind. He turned his head slightly and opened his eyes. He saw a familiar cyan Pegasus hovering a far distance away from him. She must have stopped when he turned his head to look at her.

"Hello Dash," Shadow said to the pony hovering far away from him.

"Shadow, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you like that," she replied, hovering a bit closer. Shadow just stared at her for a few moments.

"Like you said, I can't fly. Those bullies always remind me of how pathetic I really am. I've always wanted to be a great flyer like you," he said, looking at Rainbow Dash. He moved a little closer to the edge of Cloudsdale. "Do you think I can fly off the edge of this city?"

"Shadow! What are you saying?" Rainbow Dash asked with concern in her voice. She flew a little bit closer.

"Good-bye Dash," Shadow said staring straight at Rainbow Dash. He leaned back and fell off of the high cloud city.

"Does any of this seem familiar Dash?" Shadow asked the cyan Pegasus sitting across from him.

"Sweet Celestia... It really is you," she said in a low tone, staring straight into Shadow's crimson eyes.

"You finally remembered me. That's good. I was afraid you had forgotten for sure."

"Shadow! We all thought you were dead! The search parties never found your body. After months of searching, they told us that you were dead. They told us to move on with our lives."

"Seems like that was easy for you."

"No it wasn't! I felt responsible for it. You looked up to me."

"Yeah. DID Emphasis on the word did. But not anymore."

Rainbow Dash looked hurt after Shadow had shared this statement. "Shadow, your mom was devastated when she was told about what happened to you."

"Well, what happened to her? I haven't seen her for years."

"She... She suffered from extreme depression. The two most important ponies in her life were gone."

"Then I'm guessing she's not alive then. She probably figured she had nothing else to live for, am I right?"

"Shadow! She died thinking she outlived you."

"Well that's a beautiful lie to believe in." Tears started to form in Shadow's eyes again. He had to face the facts. His mother was gone. Both of his parents were gone forever, and he wasn't there for them when they left this world. He wiped the tears out of his eyes and stared straight at Rainbow Dash.

"Wait. How did you survive the fall from the city if you couldn't fly?" Twilight asked curiously, looking at Shadow. Shadow just turned his head and looked at Twilight.

"I really don't know. It still doesn't make sense to me," he answered back.

Shadow knew it was only a matter of time before he hit the ground. He could see it rapidly growing closer and closer with each passing second. He knew it was only a matter of seconds before he hit the ground. He closed his eyes and waited for the impact. A few seconds passed and nothing had happened, but he seemed to have slowed down. Shadow slowly opened his eyes, and realized that he was surrounded by a light grey aura. He was floating about half a foot off the ground.

"What's going on?" Shadow shouted out in panic. He started flailing his hooves around, trying to escape the aura surrounding him.

"It is not your time to die yet," a voice hissed. It seemed to be surrounding him. The voice came from all directions.

"Who are you? Let me go!" Shadow shouted, still trying to escape the grasp of the light grey aura.

"You can't fight your fate," the voice hissed, still surrounding him. The aura around him started fading, until it was completely gone. Shadow fell to the ground under him. He looked up as the light grey aura reappeared and started forming into a small ball. The ball started hovering towards Shadow and zipped into his head.

"Ahhh!" Shadow screamed when the ball shot into his head. "What are you doing?"

"You will need my guidance. I am now a part of you," the voice hissed, which now sounded like it was inside his head.

"No! Get out of my head!" Shadow screamed, bring both of his front hooves over his head and lying on the ground.

"You are so young. So foolish. You were the perfect choice."

"What do you mean 'perfect choice'?"

"You will have answers soon, but for now, you must get out of here."

"Why?"

"They are looking for you. Search parties from Cloudsdale will be here soon."

"But I'm still alive. Wouldn't they be happy to see me?"

"Think about it Shadow. You just tried to commit suicide. Do you think they'll bring you back and let you live life normally? Do you think the bullies will be nicer to you?"

"No. I guess not. Wait... How do you know this stuff?"

"You will get answers soon enough, but for now, you need to run."

"Run? Run where?"

"Just run. You cannot let them find you."

"Okay," Shadow said as he started galloping away from where he had almost landed. He ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction of Cloudsdale. He couldn't go back. He never would go back.

"It doesn't make much sense. I still don't even get it," Shadow explained to the six mares sitting at the table. "But ever since that day, I've been on the run. I didn't talk to anypony, and I stole the food that I ate. I even took some fabric from a clothing shop and made this cloak on my back. I usually slept in cardboard boxes in dark alleyways, and I never stayed in one city or town for too long." Everyone was silent as Shadow spoke. Nopony knew what to say.

"You don't have to keep running Shadow," Rainbow Dash told him comfortingly. "They're not looking for you anymore."

"I don't know if I can," Shadow said, staring into Rainbow Dash's rose colored eyes. "I still haven't forgiven you after all these years."

"Shadow! I didn't mean any of it! I swear! I don't know what got into me."

"I don't know if I can believe you or not. I... I need some time to think." Shadow's stomach rumbled as he finished his sentence. He placed a hoof on his stomach area. "Can I have some food please?"

"Sure," Fluttershy said in her soft voice. She got up from where she was sitting and headed to counter, which had a plate already filled with food. Shadow assumed it was for him when he woke up. She carefully carried it back to the table and placed it down. She pushed it in front of Shadow, who was eyeing the food hungrily. "Go ahead and eat," Fluttershy told him. Shadow did just that. He quickly gobbled down the meal, much to Rarity's disgust.

"Sorry about that," Shadow said apologizing after he had swallowed his food. "I haven't eaten for a while."

"It's quite alright darling," Rarity answered. She still had a look of disgust on her face. All six ponies looked at Shadow.

"So, that's how your past was?" Twilight asked.

"Yes. I don't like thinking about it," Shadow answered back. "It's too painful."

"Gee sugercube, Ah didn't realize your past was that horrible until ya told us about it," Applejack said sympathetically.

"It's just a reminder of how cruel life really can be," Shadow said, tears forming in his eyes. He quickly wiped them away.

"Maybe you can start over here in Ponyville," Twilight suggested. "You don't have to run anymore, and you already have six new friends."

"Five," corrected Shadow. "I still haven't forgiven Dash."

"Come on, Shadow. You know I didn't mean any of it," said Rainbow Dash, looking at Shadow.

"Like I said, I need time to think about this," Shadow told her. He slowly got up and started walking towards the doorway. "Thanks for listening to my story, and thanks for the food. I need to rest." He walked back into the room with the the couch-bed thing. He took his cloak off and hung it up on the coat hanger. He walked over to the couch-bed and looked at the blankets. He closed his eyes and started concentrating. He opened his eyes up, which were glowing a strange grey color. The blanket slowly lifted off the bed and hovered about a foot into the air. He got onto the bed and layed down. He stopped concentrating as hard and let the blanket slowly descend on top of him. "I can get used to using that," he thought to himself, laying his head down and falling asleep almost instantly.

"You think he'll be okay? I mean, we are the first ponies to hear about his past," Twilight asked the other mares sitting at the table.

"I can watch over him, to make sure he is okay. I mean... If it's okay with you guys," Fluttershy suggested quietly.

"That ain't a bad idea," Applejack said, adjusting the hat on top of her head.

"Ya. I just hope he forgives me," said Rainbow Dash sadly. She looked down at the table in front of her.

"Give him time. He'll come around," Pinkie told Rainbow Dash comfortingly.

"I hope so," Rainbow Dash added. All six of the ponies were silent for a while.

"I was just curious. What did you guys think of that aura that saved Shadow from dying?" Rarity asked the group, breaking the long silence.

"I don't know," Twilight answered back. "It was quite strange. The only explanation I have is a unicorn, but it seems highly unlikely." Nobody else knew what to say at that point. They all just sat in silence.

"Do ya think the library has a book that might explain it?" Applejack asked Twilight.

"I don't know. I can go check right now," she answered back, getting up from her seated position. All the other ponies got up too.

"I need to get back to my boutique anyway," Rarity said. "I wasn't expecting to be out this long."

"Ya, and Ah need to get back to the farm," Applejack said. "Ah told Big Mac Ah would come back to help buck some trees after Ah had eaten breakfast with you guys." All the other ponies came up with their reasons to leave, and started heading towards the door. They all looked at Shadow sleeping on the couch-bed thing as they passed by. All six of them walked out the door. They all said their good-byes and left in different directions. Fluttershy waved to her friends and turned around, heading back into her cottage. She walked through the doorway of her cottage. She looked over at Shadow, who was sleeping on the couch-bed. He started to stir in his sleep.

"Mom," he whispered, turning from side to side in his sleep. A single tear formed in his right eye, which wasn't covered by his mane. Fluttershy walked closer, seeing Shadow tossing and turning in his sleep. She stepped a little closer, until she was standing near the side of the couch-bed. She reached her hoof forward and brushed the mane out of the left side of his face. She leaned her head forward and kissed Shadow on the forehead. She pulled her head back.

"It'll all be okay. Everything will all be okay," she whispered in a soothing voice. She reached forward and brushed Shadow's mane with her hoof. Shadow's tossing and turning slowed down a bit, until he finally stopped and was laying still again. The blanket he was wrapped in was rising and falling in a rhythmic motion. Fluttershy was about to turn around and walk out of the cottage and tend to some animals, but instead she looked at Shadow again. She swore she could see a small smile visible on the grey pony's face. She smiled and left the room to let him sleep peacefully.

Chapter 6: Control

Shadow slowly opened his eyes as he awoke from his slumber. He sat up and looked around the room he was lying in.

"Where am I again?" Shadow thought to himself. Then he realized where he was. "Oh right... I'm in Fluttershy's place." He looked out a window on the opposite side of the room. It was dark outside. He had either been sleeping until the late afternoon, or the early morning. He really couldn't tell what time of the day it was. Shadow layed his head back down on the pillow. He was trying to remember the dream he had just experienced.

Shadow was sitting in the middle of a field. The field was beautiful. It had all kinds of trees scattered across it. It also had a small stream running through the middle of it. Shadow looked at the field in awe, when he suddenly saw his mom sitting next to the stream. She looked young and happy, almost like how she looked when he was young. She turned her head and looked straight at Shadow. Suddenly, she slowly started to age. White hairs appeared in her mane, and her face started to wrinkle. Her beautiful smile slowly turned into a frown. Her body grew skinnier, almost to the point where half of her ribs were visible.

"Why did you leave?" she asked, still staring at Shadow. Her figure slowly started fading away.

"Mom!" Shadow shouted, trying to run towards her. Every step he took towards her made her move farther away. She kept fading, until she completely disappeared from Shadow's sight. "Mom," he whispered, tears flowing from his eyes. He felt alone. His mother was gone. The tears kept flowing from his eyes as he thought of how terrible his mother had looked. He had abandoned her. He felt like it was his fault she was dead. He never felt more horrible in his life. All he could do was sit in the field, alone, with nopony there around him. He closed his eyes, trying the fight back the tears that were flowing freely from his eyes. But nothing could stop the tears from flowing. Nothing could get rid if the guilt he was feeling. But, he suddenly felt somepony kiss him on the forehead.

"It'll all be okay. Everything will all be okay," a soft voice whispered. He recognized the soft voice. It was from the shy, yellow Pegasus he had met earlier that day. Shadow opened his eyes and turned his head towards the voice. He saw Fluttershy sitting next to him. He could feel her hoof brushing his mane slowly. Shadow no longer felt alone. Somepony was there who cared for him. He no longer felt sad. Fluttershy was so kind, so loving. She reminded him of his mother. He reached his hooves around her and embraced her in a hug.

"Thank you," he whispered, hugging the yellow Pegasus tightly. He could feel her hooves wrap around his back. He slowly let her go. She looked straight at him and smiled, then she turned around and slowly walked away from him. Shadow turned his head and looked over the landscape in front of him. He spread his wings and slowly flew into the air.

Shadow slowly pushed the blanket off of himself and rolled over to the side of the couch-bed. He placed his front left hoof down, followed by his right front hoof. After that he placed both of his back hooves onto the floor below him. He stood up straight and looked around.

"Where's Fluttershy?" Shadow thought to himself. The house was very quiet. He walked over to a coat hanger and grabbed his cloak off of it. He slipped it on and started walking around the house. He found a flight of stairs near the couch-bed he had been sleeping on. He stopped at the base of the stairs and looked up it. He slowly started ascending the stairs. Once he reached the top, he could see the doorway of a room at the top. He presumed that it was the doorway leading into Fluttershy's room. He walked up to the open doorway. He could hear a light breathing sound coming inside. He took a step through the doorway and looked into the room. He could see Fluttershy sleeping peacefully, her blanket rising and falling in a rhythmic motion. "It must be really early in the morning," Shadow thought to himself. Fluttershy stirred a little bit in her sleep.

"Please. Please don't leave us, Shadow," she whispered in her sleep. Shadow just stared at Fluttershy, thinking about what she had just mumbled in her sleep. He turned around and descended down the stairs quietly so he wouldn't disturb her peaceful slumber. Sneaking around was easy for Shadow. He had a lot of time to practice it while he was on the run in other cities. Once he passed the couch-bed at the bottom of the stairs, he stopped walking quietly. He walked over to the front door of the cozy cottage. He opened the door slightly and slipped through the tiny opening. He made sure the door closed behind him.

The air outside was cold and damp, but it didn't affect Shadow much since he had his cloak on. He walked at a very slow pace. Shadow wasn't paying much attention to where he was walking towards. He was too lost in his thoughts. He didn't realize it, but he was walking towards the dangerous Everfree Forest. Shadow was unaware of how dangerous the forest was. He just kept walking forward, not realizing that the vegetation around him was quickly growing denser and denser with each step. Shadow was too distracted to notice anything around him. He was lost in his thoughts.

"Why would Fluttershy say that? What was she dreaming about?" he thought to himself. He kept replaying the memory of her talking in her sleep over and over. She was telling him not to leave. It almost sounded like she was pleading, or begging. Did she really care about him that much? Did all of them care for him at all? He felt like he was growing fond of these ponies. He knew these ponies were different from others he had met in the past.

"You are growing fond of those six ponies," a familiar voice hissed in Shadow's head.

"They care for me. Why would I not be fond of them?" Shadow asked the voice.

"The darkness doesn't agree with your feelings," the voice warned.

"What are you talking about?"

"I already told you that those six ponies purged the darkness from the original wielder."

"So what?"

"The darkness grows restless around those ponies. The more you are exposed to them, the more the darkness messes with your head."

"What do you mean 'mess with my head'? What will it do?"

There was a long pause before the voice spoke again. "It will tell you to do dark things."

"Dark? Dark how?"

"There are many things that can be considered dark."

"Well, tell me how dark things can get."

"You said it yourself, remember? The darkness will be the end of somepony."

"You mean... I could kill somepony?"

"The darkness will tell you to do such things."

Shadow stopped walking forward and sat under a nearby tree. There was a long pause before he spoke again. "How can I prevent myself from hurting somepony?"

"Control the darkness. Don't let it take control of you. Control it, or be controlled."

"Control it. Okay then."

"Don't let it take advantage of you. It will tell you things, make you doubt yourself and the ponies around you."

"I don't like the way the darkness works."

"There's no changing what has happened."

"So, I need to control it? I'll do my best to keep it under control. I guess I could practice right now," Shadow said, letting out a soft sigh. He looked to his left. Celestia's sun was slowly rising in the horizon. The small amount of light was making it much easier to see than before. Shadow spotted a few rocks about the size of his head on the ground about 10 feet away from him. He got up from where he was sitting and walked over to the three rocks.

"Control the darkness," the voice echoed in his head. Shadow closed his eyes and started to concentrate. He opened his eyes back up, which were now glowing a light grey color. One of the rocks in front of him was surrounded by a light grey aura, similiar to the color his eyes were glowing. The rock slowly started to levitate in front of him. It only lifted a few inches off the ground. He started to concentrate harder, and the rock slowly started lifting higher off the ground. By now, the rock was about a foot off the ground.

"Come on," Shadow thought to himself. "Just a little higher." He started to concentrate harder than ever before. The rock slowly lifted a little higher. He started concentrating harder than he already was. The aura around the rock darkened. The rock slowly lifted higher and higher, until it was a little below eye level. The rock started to shake in mid-air. Shadow was still concentrating on bringing it higher. The frequency with which the rock shook started becoming quicker and quicker, until there was a huge explosion.

"Ahhh!" Shadow screamed, getting thrown back from the shockwave. He fell to the ground. Deadly pieces from the rock flew in all directions, the speed of the shrapnel was quick enough to get lodged into the nearby trees by a few inches. A few pieces had shot straight at Shadow and had skinned him on his left cheek, just a little bit under his eye. He slowly got up and put a hoof to his wound. He could feel the blood slowly running down his cheek. He placed his hoof back down on the ground. "You wanna play like that?" he shouted. "I will control you, whether you want me to or not!"

"I would like to see you try," growled a deep voice in his head.

"So you're the darkness huh? Looks like you finally came out to play," Shadow taunted.

"You are so foolish. So corruptible. You will never prevail," the deep voice growled, taunting him back.

"I don't care what you say! I won't let you take control of me!" Shadow shouted at the darkness in him.

"I've controlled the younger alicorn sister that rules the night sky," the deep voice bragged. "You are nothing!"

"I will control you. I won't let you hurt anypony!" Shadow shouted. With that, he faced a second rock, which was thrown a few feet away from him by the explosion. Shadow closed his eyes and started to concentrate. He opened his eyes back up, which were glowing a light grey color.

Fluttershy opened her eyes as the warm sun shined through the window. She let out a soft yawn as she stretched herself out. She pushed her blankets off and stepped down onto the cold floor. She fixed the blankets on her bed before doing anything else. Once she finished fixing her bed, she walked out the doorway of her room and descended the stairs. She was going to walk into the kitchen, but she noticed Shadow's bed was empty. The blanket was rolled off to the side, and his cloak was missing from the coat hanger.

"Shadow?" Fluttershy called out. "Shadow?" She walked into the kitchen, hoping he was in there eating some of her food. She looked around, but didn't see any sign of him. Everything was the way she had left it the previous night. She grabbed some food from inside a cabinet and quickly gobbled it down in less than a minute. She then turned around and galloped towards the door. "Shadow!" she called out once again as she had made it outside. She looked around for any sign of him. She noticed hoof prints that led from the door of her cottage to the dreaded Everfree Forest. Just thinking of the forest sent shivers down her spine. "Oh no..." she thought to herself. She started galloping towards Ponyville as fast as she could.

Rainbow Dash was napping peacefully on a cloud above Ponyville. She wasn't expecting to wake up anytime soon. Well, she wasn't, until she heard the frantic flutter of wings growing louder and louder. She slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to look at whoever was disturbing her nap. She could faintly make out a yellow Pegasus frantically beating her wings, trying to get to her in a hurry.

"What do you want Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked in an annoyed voice. Fluttershy almost crash landed on top of Rainbow Dash, but luckily landed about a foot away from her.

"It-it's Sh-Shadow," she stuttered, trying to recover from her crash.

Rainbow Dash noticed how much Fluttershy was shaking. Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy with a confused expression. "What happened? What he do?" she asked the shaking pony.

"He went into the Everfree Forest!" Fluttershy yelled at the rainbow maned pony.

Rainbow Dash's eyes grew larger when she realized what her Pegasus friend had just told her. "He did what?!" she yelled back at the Fluttershy with concern in her voice. "How long ago did he go in?"

"I don't know," Fluttershy replied, trying to calm down. She was trying to slow her breathing rate down. "I woke up and I couldn't find him. I went outside, and I found hoof prints leading from my house to the Everfree Forest."

"So you have no idea when he left your cottage?"

"No."

"Oh no. This is bad... Who knows how long he could have been in there so far?"

"What do you think we should do?"

"We should get probably get the rest of the group. We need all the help we can get. You get Twilight and Pinkie. I'll get Applejack and Rarity. We'll meet inside Sugercube Corner to discuss what the hay is going on," Rainbow Dash told Fluttershy. With that, she spread her wings and flew in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres.

"Why would he go into the Everfree Forest?" Twilight asked with panic in her voice. She looked at the other five ponies, hoping for some kind of answer.

"I don't know," answered Fluttershy, who started to shake again.

"Do ya think he went in outta curiosity?" suggested Applejack.

"Going into the forest isn't a good idea," Pinkie Pie said, pacing back and forth. "It's not a safe place."

"Guys!" Rainbow Dash shouted, gaining the attention of the other ponies. "We can sit here discussing why he went in, or we could actually go into the forest and look for him!"

"You are probably right," Rarity told Rainbow Dash. "Who knows what awful things could have happened to him."

"But he said it himself, he's been on the run for years. He should know how to survive, right?" Twilight suggested. She knew how dangerous the Everfree Forest was. She had experienced and unpleasant experience with a cockatrice one time. The memories of being turned to stone sent chills down her spine.

"So what if he can survive himself? We need to get him out of there," Rainbow Dash told the rest of the group. The rest of the ponies nodded their heads in agreement. All six of them galloped out the door of the bakery. Rainbow Dash spread her wings and flew into the air. All six of the ponies headed in the direction of the Everfree Forest.

All six of the ponies stopped in front of the opening of the Everfree Forest. They all looked at the dangerous forest, which all ponies feared.

"Shadow!" Rainbow Dash called out. "Shadow, are you there!" She started to hover towards the infamous forest. All five of the other ponies followed her with caution.

"Shadow!" Twilight called out next. Soon, all six of the ponies were shouting Shadow's name. As they walked forward, the vegetation around them started growing denser and denser. Soon, much of the path wasn't exposed in the sunlight. Little light could make it through the thick vegetation. The six ponies still kept calling Shadow's name it, hoping that he would hear their calls. The group eventually made it to a familiar opening. Twilight remembered it well. It was the exact same spot where she had been turned to stone by the cockatrice. It was also the place where the six of them had a less than satisfying experience with a manticore. This time though, none of them expected to see what they were seeing in front of them.

Shadow was standing in the middle of the opening. His eyes were glowing a light grey color, and there was a rock floating about 10 feet in front of him. The rock was surrounded by a light grey aura, which shared a similar color to the color his eyes were glowing. The was also a bunch of rock fragments embedded in the ground surrounding him. The left side of Shadow's face, even though covered by his mane, was covered in blood. There were also some tears in his cloak. All six ponies looked at Shadow with different emotions expressed by their different expressions. But one thing was certain. They were all dumbfounded at what they were seeing. Twilight was the first to speak up.

"Shadow! What's going on?" she shouted.

Shadow turned his head towards the six ponies staring at him. His eyes still glowed the same light grey color, and the rock still levitated in front of him. "Stay back!" Shadow shouted towards the ponies. "It's too unpredictable!" Shadow was starting to lose his concentration, and the rock floating in front of him started to slowly shake at a low frequency. The six ponies just stood in the same spot, as if they had been glued to the ground. The rock started to shake even faster know. "Run! Take cover!" Shadow shouted at the ponies, who were still staring at him.

They all finally got the message and started to back away. They took cover behind nearby trees, and watched Shadow from a distance. Shadow knew what would happen if the darkness got out of control. He knew it could hurt the ponies around him. He started to concentrate harder. He tried to keep the darkness from going out of control, but it was too late. The rock started shaking even faster the before. Shadow didn't realize that his efforts were futile, until it was too late. The rock exploded in front of him, the shockwave sent him back a few feet. He screamed in pain as he felt a few fragments from the rock skin the left side of his face and body. All six of the ponies turned their heads away when the rock first exploded. Rock fragments zipped past them, narrowly missing them by a a few feet. They turned their heads back and watched in horror as Shadow was sent flying backwards from the shockwave. He hit the ground hard, leaving an imprint in the dirt below him. Shadow slowly tried getting up. He stood on all fours for a few seconds, before collapsing to the ground. He watched the group of six ponies emerge from the thick vegetation and start to gallop towards him. He lifted his right hoof up and stretched it out towards them. He lost sight of the ponies in front of him as his vision slowly started to darken. His eyes closed as he heard hooves hitting the ground next to his head. A deep voice laughed inside of his head.

"Looks like you lose," the deep voice taunted. Shadow knew he had failed. He couldn't accept this fact, but he knew it was true. He slipped completely unconscious as the six ponies formed a circle around him.

Chapter 7: Permanent Scars and Learning

"Where am I?" Shadow thought to himself. He attempted to look around himself. He suddenly realized where he was. "Great. I'm in the darkness again..." He knew the now familiar feeling of floating in the darkness. The darkness always seemed to grow larger and larger each time he had found himself floating in the void, and he knew the reason why it kept growing.

"I can read your feelings Shadow," a deep voice echoed around him. "I know your feelings towards those six ponies."

"So what?" Shadow responded angrily. "I don't care what you think of them. They care about me."

"The fact that you care about the ponies that can over power me disturbs me."

"Well get used to it."

"You really think you can tell me what to do? You think you can control me?" The voice's laugh echoed around Shadow. "I won't make the same mistake as I did with the younger alicorn princess."

"What are you talking about?" Shadow asked nervously.

"I was so busy planning on how to destroy the older alicorn princess, that I forgot to do something that I will regret for a long time."

"What is it!" Shadow yelled out nervously.

"I forgot to permanently become a part of her."

"You... What?!" Shadow shouted out nervously. The darkness around him started to grow restless. Shadow suddenly realized he could see both of his front hooves, but they were faded. They slowly started becoming more and more solid, until they were fully visible. Shadow turned his head to glance at the rest of his body. Every part of himself was visible. "What's going on?"

"Don't worry. This will hurt you more than it will hurt me." The deep voice told Shadow in a sinister tone. The darkness around seemed to grow even more restless. Everything around him turned a dark red color. It all started to spin in a counter-clockwise direction, slowly closing in on him.

"No. No!" Shadow shouted out at the approaching red blur in front of him. The red blur formed into a small sphere around him. It slowly started closing in on him. The dark red sphere came closer and closer to him. The sphere finally made contact with his front right hoof. Shadow screamed out in pain as the dark red sphere kept shrinking in on him. The pain was unbearable. It felt like any part of his body that had made contact with the sphere was burning with the intensity of a thousand suns. Shadow kept screaming out in pain. "Stop!" Shadow shouted out in agony. The voice just laughed.

"I'm just getting started," the voice informed him. The sphere kept closing in on him, until it finally reached his head. Shadow screamed out again as the sphere closed in on his head. His whole body was burning with the intensity of a thousand suns. The unbearable pain seemed to be lasting for an eternity. It was never ending torture. Shadow did the only thing he could do. He just screamed out in pain. The voice laughed again. After what seemed like an eternity, the voice finally spoke again. "I do believe we are finished here." The dark red sphere slowly started to fade away, and the pain started to become more bearable. Shadow was no longer screaming. He was curled up in a ball, whimpering from the pain he had just experienced. He felt broken. He wanted to cry, but the tears never flowed. Everything around him slowly started turning a white color. All of it started to slowly spin in front of him. It kept spinning, faster and faster until everything was a complete blur.

Shadow screamed and bolted into an upright position as he awoke from the nightmarish experience. He immediately regretted this. Every part of his body was sore, and hurt if he moved it. He fell back down into the fluffy white pillow he was just laying on.

"Wait, pillow?" Shadow thought to himself. He tilted his head and looked at his surroundings, trying to figure out where he was. He suddenly realized where he was. "Celestia damnit!" Shadow thought to himself. He was in the hospital again. He let his head fall limp back onto the pillow under him. "Why a hospital?" Shadow thought to himself. He slowly pushed to blankets off of his body, even though every muscle was screaming in protest. Shadow looked at the rest of his revealed body. The left half of it was wrapped in some sort of bandage. He reached his hoof up and tried to brush his mane out of his left eye to get a better look. When he brushed the mane out of the way, he realized he couldn't see out of his left eye. "What the buck?" he thought to himself. He gingerly placed his hoof around his left eye. The left side of his face, like the left side of his body, was covered in bandages. Shadow let out a groan of irritation as he fell back down onto his pillow. He looked around at the surroundings again. There was nopony in sight. "Where is everypony?" Shadow thought to himself. He knew he couldn't leave the hospital anytime soon. There was too much pain when he moved. He was way too sore. The only thing he could do was lie down and wait. He was hoping the pain would go away in a day or two. He didn't want to be stuck in the hospital for much longer. He slowly closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep and escape the world around him.

Shadow was just laying in bed, trying not to think of what darkness had done to him. "Was it a dream? Shadow thought to himself. "No, it can't be. That pain was way too real." Shadow didn't know what he should do. In fact, he didn't know what he could do. The darkness hated the five ponies that he cared about. The darkness could turn him against them if he wasn't careful. What would he tell them? How could he explain to them what he was doing in the forest. His thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly heard the click of the doorknob. The door slowly creaked open enough for a familiar cyan blue Pegasus to squeeze through. Shadow spotted the cyan blue Pegasus, and frowned. He dropped his head back and tried to pretend he was asleep.

"Shadow?" Rainbow Dash said, looking at the grey pony. The figure didn't move at all. She let out a soft sigh and slowly trudged over to the side of the bed, dragging her hooves along the tile floor. When she reached the side of the bed, she stopped and stared at the grey pony lying in the bed. She sat down, still glaring at the grey pony. "When will you wake up?" she asked, knowing she would get a response.

Shadow thought to himself, "Not anytime soon if you're around." He laid as still as possible, making sure the rainbow-maned Pegasus didn't know he was awake. She didn't move from her spot, as if she were a statue. Her left ear flicked as she heard the click of the hospital room door, signaling that somepony was trying to get in. A timid, yellow Pegasus peeked her head through the opening, then advanced forward into the room.

"Hi Dash," she greeted. "How long you been here?"

"Not long," Rainbow Dash answered. "He's still not up. I'm probably just going to head out."

"So quickly?"

"Yeah. No point of staying if he's not awake, right?"

"Well, I guess so."

"Alright," Rainbow Dash said, getting up and stretching her legs out a bit. She started trotting towards the door of the hospital room. "I'll see you around Flutters."

"Bye," Fluttershy replied as Rainbow Dash trotted out the door of the small hospital room, closing the door behind her. Fluttershy turned and looked over at Shadow, who was still lying very still. She slowly walked up closer to the side of the bed, and sat down gently. She tried to examine the bandages on his face closely, but was unable to since his mane was blocking it. She slowly reached her hoof up and brushed his mane aside. She lifted her other hoof up and gently poked the bandaged area.

"Hey!" Shadow exclaimed, frightening the yellow Pegasus. "Don't touch. It already hurts enough."

Fluttershy let out a screams as she fell backwards onto her back. She tried to answer, but she was too startled to say anything at the moment. She finally was able to say a few word. "You s-startled m-me," she managed to say.

"Yeah... I kinda realized that. Sorry about that," he said apologetically while sitting up.

"It's okay," the frightened yellow Pegasus managed to say. "I thought Dash said you weren't awake."

"I was awake," Shadow replied. "She didn't know that though."

"But why wouldn't you want her to know that you're up?"

Shadow thought for a moment, before speaking. "Do you know that thing called 'forgiveness'?" he finally answered.

"Yeah, why?"

"I haven't used that recently, and I'm not planning to anytime soon."

"Wait, what are you-" she said, before stopping mid-sentence. "Oh, I see."

"I can't forgive her. Not yet."

"Why can't you forgive her? I don't think she meant to say that about you."

"Why? Here's why. First off, I don't trust her, and therefore, I don't believe her apology is genuine. Second, her comments about me drove me to suicide. Do you think I can forgive her for that?"

"But why would you try and kill yourself over what she said? Why her?"

Shadow leaned back and closed his eyes before saying, "Words can cut deeper than any blade. Her words were the sharpest out of all of them."

"But why were they the sharpest?"

Shadow opened his eyes and turned his head towards Fluttershy. "Imagine mean words from a bully. They're tolerable, because that's the nature of them. Now imagine it coming from somepony you look up to. Those can't be ignored. They cut deeper than what the bullies could ever say."

"Oh, I see what you're saying."

"She can't be forgiven that easily. Those words still hurt, even today."

"Will you ever forgive her?"

Shadow turned his head and looked straight ahead at nothing. "I don't know," he replied. "Will I even stay in Ponyville long enough?"

"What are you getting at?"

"I'm a threat," Shadow said, his voice rising. He turned his head and glared at Fluttershy. "You saw what I was doing out there in the forest. How the hay am I supposed to stay in this peaceful town and not hurt somepony?"

"We don't even know what you were doing out there," she said in a soothing voice, trying to calm him down. "What were you doing out there?"

Shadow didn't answer. "I don't want to hurt anypony," he finally said. "I don't think I can stay much longer."

"But why can't you stay? We care about you Shadow."

"You don't understand the power that I possess. Even I don't understand it."

"What do you mean?"

"You saw what I can do when I was in the forest. A normal Pegasus can't do that."

"Well, what was it? You still haven't told me."

"I can't tell you what I don't know. It's just that I don't understand it."

"But you were controlling it. You have to have some idea about what it is."

"The only thing I know is that it's dangerous and unpredictable. I can use it to my advantage at times, but it's also deadly. You saw what happened to that rock I was trying to levitate."

"It looked like unicorn magic. Is that what it was?"

"No. This is something much more evil. It's dark. I think it's deadly enough to kill somepony if I'm not careful."

Fluttershy took an involuntary step back. "But you would never do such a thing, would you?"

"No. I would never harm you, or any other pony. It's not like me."

"Then what do you have to worry about?"

"I'm afraid that whatever this evil thing is will grow stronger."

Suddenly, Shadow's eyes started to glow, and everything in the room started to shake.

"What's going on?" Fluttershy exclaimed in a panicked voice.

"Gah! I don't know!" Shadow exclaimed, shaking his head and trying to stop the evil power emitting from him. His eyes stopping glowing, and everything in the room stopped shaking. Shadow fell backwards onto his pillow and closed his eyes.

"Shadow, what's going on?" Fluttershy asked with anxiety.

"I don't know," Shadow groaned as he opened his eyes back up. They were no longer glowing. "There's got to be a way to control this."

"Maybe we should ask Twilight?" Fluttershy suggested. "She said she was going to see if she could find out what it was."

"Yeah, what's she gonna do? Find it in a book?" Shadow said annoyed. "I highly doubt a book will tell her about an evil power that I possess."

"But she can ask Princess Celestia."

"Yeah, but-," Shadow stopped mid-sentence. "Wait, Princess Celestia. As in the princess that rules in Canterlot?"

"Yes. Twilight's her personal student."

"Wow. That's impressive. Not sure if I should believe that or not. But why is she in Ponyville and not studying in Canterlot?"

"She's studying the magic of friendship here in Ponyville."

"Friendship?"

"Yeah."

"Uh, okay then. Not sure why somepony would want to study that."

"What do you mean?"

"You can't tell who your friends are. They could be your closest friend, and then when you least expect it, they stab you in the back. That's why I never tried making friends."

"But did you ever have friends at your flight school?"

Shadow shook his head. "Never. Nopony would talk to me, most likely because I was so, how do I put it?"

"Strange."

Shadow glared at Fluttershy. "What are you getting at?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized while slowly sinking down lower to the ground. "I didn't mean it."

"It's fine. Don't worry," Shadow said with a disarming smile. "Anyway, the word I would say was 'mysterious'."

"Why mysterious?"

"Nopony could see the left half of my face. I had my mane like this ever since my dad died."

"You do look kinda mysterious I guess."

"Most ponies avoided me because of that. That pretty much explains why nopony would hang around me. Well, they also avoided me because they thought I was a loser."

"Loser? How?"

"I couldn't fly, remember?"

"Oh, right."

"But boy, were they wrong to judge me."

"What are you talking about?"

"I can fly, and I can probably fly much better than them."

"How are you a better flyer? And how did you learn to fly?"

"Self taught. Plus I've been on the run for years, so I had plenty of time to practice my flying."

"How do you teach yourself how to fly?"

"I watch others, and I remember what my dad would tell me when he flew around."

"Oh, I see."

"Yeah. That's pretty much how I learned," he explained. "Hey! Can you remove these bandages? They're starting to get annoying."

"What?" she asked confused. "I don't know if I can."

"Why not?"

"Your wounds aren't fully healed."

"I can deal with it. I just want these bandages off. They kinda remind me of my father when I saw him in the hospital."

"Oh, I can see that as a good reason," she said, stepping closer.

"So you'll do it?"

"Sure. What are friends for?" Before Shadow could answer, Fluttershy reached forward placed her hoof on the bandage on Shadow's face. He flinched a hit when her hoof made contact. She hesitated a bit, but continued anyway. She slowly and carefully peeled the white bandage off of his face, being careful not to hurt him. Once the she pulled the first bandage off, she reached down and pulled the sheets off of Shadow, revealing his bandaged side. She grabbed one end of the bandage and slowly started peeling it off. Shadow flinched a bit as it pulled off of his skin. Fluttershy yanked off the remaining piece of the bandage and placed it on the floor.

Shadow examined his side. "Thanks," he said with gratitude. He could see a bunch of cuts running down his left side, which ran from the top of his left hoof to the front part of his flank. "I forgot to ask, how long have I been out?"

"Not very long. Maybe a day or two."

"Only? Sweet. Maybe I could leave the hospital soon."

"But you just woke up," Fluttershy protested.

"I know, but I want to get out of here."

"But you need to rest."

"I know I need rest, but you know how much I hate hospitals."

"Just stay one more night. It's already dark outside, and you need to rest," she argued. "Please?"

Shadow thought for a moment before answering. "Fine. You win. I'll stay one more night, but no more than that. I'm leaving this hospital tomorrow."

"When?"

"I dunno. I guess around breakfast time."

"Okay. I'll come by at that time." She started walking towards the door.

"Wait, where are you going?"

Fluttershy stopped at the foot of the bed. "I'm going to leave you alone so that you rest."

"Oh, I see," Shadow said with disappointment. He enjoyed her company. He liked having a pony to talk to that would actually listen.

"I'll see you in the morning," she said as she started walking towards the door again.

"Please don't tell anypony I'm awake," Shadow said to yellow Pegasus. She stopped again.

"Why not?" she said, turning her head towards the grey pony.

"I don't want them to know I'm up. I don't know how they'll respond when they find out I'm awake, especially since they saw me controlling that evil power when I was out in the forest."

"Fine," Fluttershy reluctantly agreed. "I won't tell them then."

"Thank you so much."

"Like I said, it's what friends do for each other. I'll see you tomorrow morning." She started trotting forward and passed through the doorway, leaving Shadow alone in the hospital room.

"Friends," Shadow thought to himself. "I like having Fluttershy as a friend." He leaned his head back onto the pillow under him and closed his eyes. He slowly drifted asleep as Luna's moon shined through the large glass window.

Chapter 8: First Job

Shadow slowly opened his eyes as a beam of sunlight shined on the side of his face. He let out a soft yawn and slowly stretched his hooves out. He scanned his surroundings and quickly remembered where he was. He looked out the window of the hospital room and saw that Celestia's sun was slowly rising up from behind the hilltops.

"I guess it's early morning," Shadow thought to himself. He stretched his hooves out again, then slung his back left hoof off of the bed. His back right hoof did the same thing, followed by both of his two front hoofs. Once all four of his hooves were on the ground, he gently lifted himself up and tried standing up straight. His muscles were aching a little bit, but besides that, he felt good. "I thought Fluttershy was meeting me here," Shadow thought to himself. He walked over to the window and peered out of it. He could see Ponyville far off in the distance, and he could see its tiny inhabitants strolling around attending to their personal business. "Maybe she forgot," Shadow concluded to himself. He sullenly backed away from the window and started trudging back to the hospital bed. He was about to climb back in, when he suddenly heard the familiar click sound of the hospital door opening. His ears perked up when the sound had reached him. He stared over at the door, hoping that it was the yellow Pegasus he had talked to the day before. But instead of the yellow Pegasus, it was a lavender unicorn who walked through the door. Shadow let out a sigh of disappointment.

The lavender pony turned her head and looked over at Shadow. "Shadow!" she exclaimed in surprise. "You're awake."

"Yes, I'm awake," he answered with disappointment still audible in his voice.

Twilight looked at him with confusion. "Why do you seem so upset? And how long have you been awake?"

"I've been up since yesterday," Shadow explained. "I also sound disappointed because Fluttershy was supposed to meet me here."

"Oh, I see. Ummm... Shadow?"

"Yeah?"

"I need to ask you something. What were you doing out there in the forest?"

"You seriously don't know?"

"Well, I sent a letter to Princess Celestia, but she hasn't responded yet. Did you know that I am her personal student?"

"Yeah, I already know. Fluttershy told me."

"Really? Wow. You guys must have talked about a lot."

"Sorta, but not too much."

"What did you guys talk about?"

"Just a few things she wanted to know."

"Did you explain to her what you were doing in the forest?"

Shadow paused for a moment. "No," he finally answered. "I can't explain what I don't fully understand."

"But how can you control something that you don't fully understand?"

"Think about this. Do you fully understand unicorn magic?"

"Well, not fully."

"Exactly, and yet you still control it. Same applies to me."

"But what you did out there looked extremely dangerous. It gave you those cuts on your side and face."

Shadow looked down at his cuts, then glanced back at Twilight. "That's why I don't think I can stay in Ponyville."

"Wait, what?"

"You saw how powerful it is. I don't think it's safe for me to stay here. I might need to run again."

"But you can't keep running forever. I know it's unsafe, but you can at least try and control it for a little bit, right?"

Shadow thought for a moment before saying, "I guess you're right. It's just that something weird happened yesterday."

"What happened?"

"Well, you see, my eyes started glowing and the dark power activated at its own will. I controlled it after a few seconds, but I think it's growing stronger. It's the first time it's done that to me."

"Oh my. That doesn't sound good."

"Yeah, I know right?" Shadow said sarcastically.

"Hopefully Princess Celestia has something to help you."

"How is she going to help?"

"She's ruled for a long time. She has to know what this dark power is."

"Yeah, I guess that's true."

There was a long pause before Twilight spoke up. "So what are you going to do?"

Shadow looked downward at the floor. "I really don't know."

"You can stay for now, right? I mean, you can keep it under control."

"Yeah, but for how long?"

"Let's hope that you can keep it for a while."

"Why?"

"So you can stay here in Ponyville. I think you'll like it here."

Shadow turned his head and looked out the window of the hospital room. He gazed out towards the far off town in the distance. "I guess I could stay. You ponies really seem to care about," Shadow said, before pausing. "Why do you care about me so much?" he asked, turning his head towards the lavender unicorn.

She thought for a moment before answering. "When we first found you, we weren't sure if you were going to make it. Now that you're awake, we want to make sure you don't end up the same way we found you."

"Wow. That's really nice of you guys to look out for me."

"It's what friends do."

"Friends," Shadow thought to himself. "These ponies really do care about me." Shadow thought for a moment, then broke the silence, saying, "Do you consider me a friend?"

Twilight waited a moment before speaking. "Of course I do."

Shadow smiled. "That's good. I guess you and Fluttershy are the two ponies that I can consider friends."

"But what about the other ponies?"

"I've only met them. I haven't gotten to know them too well yet."

"Well, do you want to get to know them better?"

Shadow thought for a moment before answering. "Sure. But who will we meet up with first?"

Suddenly, the door of the hospital room opened up, and a familiar yellow Pegasus came trotting through the door.

"Well look who finally decided to show up," Shadow said in a half joking manner.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Fluttershy apologized. "I didn't mean to show up so late."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it," Shadow said with a smile.

Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief and walked closer to the two ponies. "I'm sorry for interrupting your conversation," she said, stopping at the foot of the bed.

"It's fine," Shadow answered. "You don't have to apologize for everything."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized again. "I don't mean to apologize for everything."

Shadow rolled his eyes and groaned in annoyance. "It's fine. Just lighten up a bit, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good. Now, back to what we were talking about. Uhhh... What were we talking about?"

"I think we were talking about you getting to know some of the other ponies better."

"Oh yeah. When are we gonna do that?"

Twilight placed her right hoof under her chin and thought for a moment before answering. "How about we meet with Applejack?" she suggested. "She's usually up early to do apple bucking."

"Sounds good. What do you think Fluttershy?"

"Sure. I'll go. Well, if you don't mind, that is," she answered softly.

"Yeah. Definitely tag along," Shadow said. His stomach suddenly growled. He placed his right hoof on his stomach. "Do you think she will let me eat a few apples?"

"Probably," Twilight answered.

"Cool. Let's head over there now," Shadow said, already heading towards the hospital room door.

"Okay, but I'm going to have to check you out of the hospital first," Twilight explained as she quickly followed Shadow.

Shadow let out a loud sigh. "Fine. Let's hurry up and get it over with." He started walking faster towards the door, when he suddenly remembered something. "Wait! I forgot my cloak," Shadow said, turning around looking around the room for his black cloak. After he scanned the room, he noticed that it wasn't there. "Uhhh... Where's my cloak?"

"Oh, Rarity kinda took it to fix it up. It had a bunch of tears in it from the rock fragments," Twilight explained quickly.

"Oh, I see. Well that was certainly nice of her." Shadow quickly started trotting towards the doorway. "Come on, let's go."

The two ponies quickly followed Shadow out of the doorway of the small hospital room.

"Applejack!" Big Macintosh called out towards the large sea of apple trees.

"Yes Big Mac?" Applejack called back.

"Some friends are here to see ya," he answered back.

"Alright. Ah'll be right there!" Applejack broke into a full gallop as she headed down a path that led towards farm. She slowed her pace down as she spotted three ponies standing side by side in the distance. The first two she recognized as her two friends named Twilight and Fluttershy. The third pony she saw was slightly smaller than the two other ponies in comparison. She recognized this pony as a pony named Shadow, who she had only met a few days ago.

"Shadow! Ya woke up!" she said happily.

"Yeah. Nice to see you again," Shadow said smiling.

"Hey Applejack," Twilight greeted.

"Howdy Twilight," Applejack greeted back. "Whatta y'all doin' here anyway?"

"Just saying hi," Twilight with a smile.

"Well that's nice of y'all to do."

"Yeah," Shadow said. "I was also wondering, can I have a few apples to eat? I'm starving."

"Well sure!" answered Applejack. "You can have these on the house," she said, pointing her hoof towards a basket full of apples.

"Wow. Thanks," Shadow said gratefully, eyeing the basket of apples.

"No problem! Ah wouldn't wanna accept bits from a friend anyway. It just doesn't seem right, ya know?"

"Yeah, I guess your right," Shadow answered half mindedly. "Did she just call me her friend?" Shadow thought to himself. "Can I consider her a friend?" Shadow stepped forward towards the basket of apples. He lowered his head and picked an apple up with his teeth. He raises his left hoof and turned it upright. He placed the apple on his hoof and take a large bite out of it. "Wow, that's juicy," Shadow said as he munched on the apple with his mouth half full.

"The best around," Applejack said with confidence and a smile.

Shadow took another bite. "I know you won't accept any bits for these apples," Shadow managed to say with his mouth full. He swallowed down the rest of the apple content in his mouth. "How about I help you around the farm for a bit instead?" he suggested.

Applejack placed a hoof on her chin and turned her gaze towards the sky. "Hmmm... Ah guess ya can work for a little bit," she finally answered, turning her head towards the grey Pegasus. "Some extra help around the farm won't hurt nopony."

"Cool," Shadow said, taking another bite out of the now fully eaten apple. He dropped the apple core onto the floor and grabbed another apple from the basket. He took a large bite out of this one too.

"Ya can start when ya want. All Ah need ya to do is take baskets of apples back to the farm. Ya can fly around above the apple trees and look for any full baskets laying around," she explained.

Shadow nodded his head, showing that he understood. "I'll go get started on that." He turned his head and looked at both Twilight and Fluttershy. "Sorry guys. Maybe catch you later?"

"Sure," both of then answered at the same time.

Shadow turned back around and started flapping his wings at a slow pace. His pace quickened, and he bolted up into the air.

"Jus' look for baskets full of apples!" Applejack called from the ground.

"Got it!" Shadow called back. He glided forward and scanned the large sea of apple trees in front of him. From where he was, he spotted at least two dozen baskets full of apples. Shadow let out a soft sigh. "This is going to take longer than I thought," he said to himself as he hovered above a couple of baskets. "I better get started now," Shadow thought to himself as he dove downward to the ground.

Shadow carefully placed a large basket of apples next to another basket of apples. He looked down a large row of identical looking baskets filled over the rim with apples. The large row of baskets stretched down the large barn that he was standing inside of. The barn had a couple of wooden pillars placed an even distance away from each other, supporting the roof above Shadow's head. He quickly turned around and started trotting towards the door, but there was a small filly blocking his way.

"Hi mister!" she said in a high pitched voice. Her coat was a semi-dark yellow color, and she wore a large red bow on top of her head. She stared curiously at Shadow with bright orange eyes.

"Uh, hi?" Shadow said, unsure of who this little filly was. She continued to stare at Shadow. "Can I help you with something?" he asked the small filly.

"Ya sure can. What's your name?" she asked, stepping closer.

Shadow took an involuntary step backwards. "My name is Shadow," he answered, staring at the small filly.

"Just 'Shadow'?"

"Well. Not exactly. I do have a last name."

"What is it?"

"I haven't told anypony it recently, so I'd rather not say."

"And why not?"

"It's because I'd rather tell people who I'm close to," Shadow explained. "Anyway, what's your name?"

"Ah'm Apple Bloom," she answered, staring at Shadow. "Ah'm Applejack's lil' sister."

"Oh, cool," Shadow said, looking away from the small filly.

"Ah haven't really heard Applejack talk about ya before," Apple Bloom said with suspicion.

"So?"

"Are ya a friend of hers?" Apple Bloom asked, squinting her eyes at the grey Pegasus.

Shadow thought for a moment. "I don't know if I'm considered a friend to her. I only met her a few days ago."

"And yet y'all are working for her?" Apple Bloom said with suspicion.

"Yeah, it's my way of paying back for a few apples I had."

"And why didn't ya pay with bits?"

"I don't have any."

Apple Bloom only stared at Shadow with disbelief at first, but her expression changed back to a skeptical look. "Likely story."

"It's all true."

"How do Ah know y'all aren't lying?"

"Why would I lie to a little filly like you? What would I gain in lying?"

"Well, Ah dunno."

"Exactly. That's why I'm not lying."

"Well, Ah dunno if Ah should believe that or not."

"Aww come on. Don't you trust me?"

"Maybe only a lil' bit. Why do ya have your mane like that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why is it covering the left side of your face?"

"Is it a bad thing?"

"It makes ya seem more mysterious."

"Well, why do you wear a giant red bow on your head?"

Apple Bloom didn't speak for a while, but finally responded after a while. "Ah see your point."

"Yeah. Exactly."

Suddenly, a familiar orange mare walked through the entrance of the barn. "Hey Shadow! Ah think y'all have done more than enough work," she said, before stopping in her tracks as she spotted her little sister standing in the barn. "Is she causing ya trouble?" she asked, looking at Shadow, then at Apple Bloom.

"Oh, no," Shadow said, staring over at the small filly. "She was just asking me a few questions."

"Well, alright. But don't ya be getting on his nerves okay?" she ordered, glaring at Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom frowned. "Ah wasn't getting on his nerves!" she whined. "Ah was just asking questions."

"Just don't annoy him," Applejack ordered again.

Apple Bloom let out a sigh. "Fine."

"Good," Applejack said with a smile. She turned her head and looked at Shadow. "Like Ah said, y'all are done with work. Ya can head out if ya like."

"Sweet," Shadow said, already walking towards the barn door. "I guess I'll see you around then?" he asked both of the ponies in front of him.

Applejack nodded her head. "Ah'll be around, but Ah still got work to do."

"Where ya going now?" Apple Bloom asked Shadow.

"Apple Bloom! That's none of ya business!" Applejack scolded angrily.

"No, it's fine," Shadow said quickly, trying to calm the orange mare down. "I'm going back to Ponyville. I'm thinking of visiting Rarity's place to pick something up."

"Ooh! Can Ah go?" Apple Bloom asked eagerly while hopping in place.

Before Applejack could protest, Shadow answered, "Sure. I don't know where it is, so you can probably lead me there."

"Alright!" Apple Bloom exclaimed excitedly. "Can we go now? Please?"

Shadow let out a chuckle. "Sure. Let's head out now."

"Yay!" she exclaimed happily. She started trotting towards the direction of Ponyville.

Applejack turned her head and looked at Shadow. "Ya sure y'all can handle my sister?"

"Sure," Shadow replied with a smile. "Shouldn't be too tough, right?"

"Ah dunno about that. Just make sure to keep an eye on her."

"I'll keep that in mind," Shadow said. He heard the distant yell of a small filly telling him to follow. "Gotta go. See you later?"

"Yeah. Ya can bring her back later on in the evening."

"Cool, see ya," Shadow said, grabbing an apple from a basket and trotting past the orange mare. He headed towards the small filly calling out towards him. He slowly came to a stop next to the small filly, who was staring at him. "Alrighty then. Lead the way."

"Okay!" Apple Bloom said eagerly. She started walking towards Ponyville. Shadow quickly followed behind her.

As they were walking, none if them were saying anything, so Shadow decided to break the silence by asking, "Why do you want to see Rarity so badly?"

The little filly turned her head and looked at Shadow. "It's not Rarity Ah wanna see."

"Really? Who are you gonna see?"

"Sweetie Belle. She's Rarity's lil' sister," Apple Bloom explained.

"Oh. I see," Shadow said as they both kept walking forward. "Any more friends I should know about?"

"Hmmm... There's my friend Scootaloo. She's a Pegasus."

"Sweet. I wanna meet this Pegasus friend of yours."

"Ah dunno if she's around. She might be with Sweetie Belle right now if we're lucky."

"Yeah. I guess," Shadow said as he followed the little filly through Ponyville. Everything around him started to blur as he heard a deep voice echo in his head. Shadow stopped in place and placed a hoof on the side of his head.

"You help the enemy Shadow," the voice echoed. "You are foolish to do such a thing."

"Leave me alone," Shadow thought inside of his head. "Why won't you leave me alone?"

"I am a part of you. I cannot simply leave. I am permanent."

"There's gotta be a way to get rid of you."

The voice's laugh echoed through Shadow's head. "Do you really think you can just get rid of me? I am a permanent part of you. If I am purged from you, then you are killed in the process."

"If I'm dead, then what happens to you?"

"I find another pony. Just like how I found you."

"But you were weak when you were purged from the original wielder. Surely you can be destroyed in that state."

"You can try. I dare you."

There was a silence before Shadow spoke. "I'm done talking to you."

"Well I am not."

"No. I can control you, so shut up."

The voice's laugh was even louder this time. "I grow stronger everyday. You won't be able to control me once I am powerful enough."

"No!" Shadow said as his eyes started to glow a light grey color. "I will not let you hurt anypony!" Shadow closed his eyes and concentrated, attempting to keep the darkness under control. His efforts were successful as the darkness' power slowly started fading away.

"You are stronger than I thought," the voice said angrily. "I underestimated your power."

"Sucks for you. Now get out of my head," Shadow commanded. The voice didn't answer. Shadow rubbed his head, trying to calm himself down.

"Shadow?" Apple Bloom said in a quiet voice as she walked back towards him. "Are ya okay?"

"What? Oh. Yeah. I'm fine," he lied with a fake smile.

"Are ya sure?" she asked again.

"Yeah. I'm good. Let's head over to Rarity's place."

Apple Bloom nodded her head and started trotting away. Shadow quickly followed behind her. Neither one of then spoke the rest of the way.