Hiding in the Shadows

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.