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// Chapter 27: Awaiting Arrival 
// Story: The Tale Of Shadow 
// by Enigmatic Brony 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 27: Awaiting Arrival.

We awake to the sound of cheerful birds, siting comfortable in the trees
“Shut up…you damn birds” moans Vinyl covering her head with her sleeping bag.
“Shut up Vinyl” moans Dash hitting Vinyl with one of her pillows
“That’s it” yells Vinyl jumping out of her sleeping bag, “This is war”
Vinyl starts her war of by throwing a pillow directly at the sleeping cyan pony, catching her of guard causing her to retaliate by throwing her pillow along with Vinyl’s
“Hey you to settle down im trying to sleep” I yell trying to be heard over the two giggling ponies
All of a sudden im hit square in the face by two soft pillows
“Oh come on that’s not far” I say getting out of my sleeping bag, “Now I guess this calls for revenge” 
I through the two pillows that hit me directly at vinyl and Dash then quickly grabbing my two pillows and taking cover behind a fallen down tree. Pillows begin tearing through the sky like soft and fluffy bullets hitting any one getting in their path. 
We continue to have some fluffy fun until we hear a familiar voice from afar
“What in tarnation are yawl doing” yells the familiar voice
“Hey Applejack…how nice of you to join us” says Dash dodging the incoming pillows, “Now think fast”
“What?” says Applejack before a pillow being planted directly in her face, “Hey what was that for?” 	
“That’s for leaving us here without us knowing how to get to New Yorke” Says Dash throwing another pillow at Applejack.
“Im sorry but I still don’t approve about yawl waiting and not helping the ponies of PonyVille” Says Applejack, “but I can’t leave my friends behind as well to fight this Phantom”
“Well glad to have you back” I say smiling at Applejack, “Well guys I guess it’s time to pack up and roll out”
“Sure thing Shadow….Just let me find my other pillow” Giggles Dash looking around the campsite
We pack up the campsite and continue to wait for Rainbow Dash to find her misplaced pillow
“Hey Dash you found it yet” I yell looking around to see if I could find the rainbow Pegasus
“Yeah im right…have you seen my pillow anywhere?”  Yells Dash from behind us
“Nope” I yell back as I turn around to see Rainbow Dash looking down a hole in the ground
“I don’t think she’s going to find it” says Vinyl as she walks over to me and Applejack
“And why would that be” I say with a sarcastic grin across my face
“Cause her pillow is here” she says holding up Dash’s blue pillow
“Yeah I suspected so” I say holding back laughing from, “you’re so mean Vinyl
“Hey it’s called Revenge” says Vinyl trying to hide the pillow
“Should we tell her that we have her pillow” asks Applejack
“Na…leave her searching for a bit… I need a good laugh after yesterday”
We watched as we left Dash to search for her pillow hunt; she searched in every hole in the ground she could see, every tree top and branch to see if it was stuck in the tree, see even searched behind every bolder and rock within the forest. We watched as she became frustrated with not finding a simple blue pillow that should have been easily noticeable within the green forest.
“Hey you guys have you seen my pillow” Dash says with a frustrated tone.
“Oh are you talking about this pillow” says Vinyl holding up the blue pillow.
“Are you serious” says Dash as her face turns a flaming Red
“Agh I think yawl shouldn’t have hide her pillow” Laughs Applejack
“You were in on this as well” said Dash with a deadly glare
“Ugh…Vinyl I think we better run” I say picking up my bag, “What way to New Yorke, Applejack”
“that way” says Applejack pointing a hoof towards north
“Okay cool…will see you at New Yorke” I say bolting towards our new destination.
“We could hear Rainbow Dash chasing us down as we tried to maneuver and out run her through the forest, this was proving to be highly impossible and the idea of Rainbow Dash catching us grow strong
“Hey Shadow over there” says Vinyl pointing towards the bright skyline
“Wow, that’s beautiful” I say stopping dead in my tracks not caring if Dash was close to catching up
“Well that’s New Yorke for ya” Says Vinyl, “It’s the most beautiful and busiest City in all of Equestria”
All of a sudden the moment of basking in magnificent beauty was interrupted by a very ticked off blue Pegasus
“Alright Vinyl and Shadow time for revenge” says Dash with the same deadly stare from back at the campsite
“Ok Dash….Ugh were totally sorry from taking your pillow but it was Vinyl’s idea in the first place I just suggested that we hold on to it a while longer” I say nervously
“Oh thanks Shadow for throwing me into the lion’s den” says Vinyl angrily
“No probs tell me if you survive” I joke while backing away from Dash and Vinyl 
“Yeah you will be the first to know” glares Vinyl, “okay Dash im so sorry for taking your pillow, it was a mean thing to do towards you and I hope you will accept my apology” 
“Oh you’re going to be sorry” Says Dash grabbing Vinyl’s glasses 
“Hey give me back my glasses” Says Vinyl not used to the bright sunlight 
“No you stole my pillow so im taking you glasses” laughs Dash walking over to the edge of the cliff, “How about we play a game called find the glasses”
“Dash stop tormentin’ the poor unicorn and give her the glasses back” says a loud voice from behind me
“But she stole my pillow” wines Dash walking away from the cliff edge
“Dash, give her the glasses back now before ponies start doing things they’re going to regret” says Applejack standing in front of me and Vinyl.
“Fine” huffs Dash as she passes the glasses back to Vinyl, “sorry for taking your glasses”
“No need to apologies I was the one that stole you’re pillow in the first place” smiles Vinyl while putting her glasses in her bag
“Aren’t you going to wear your glasses” I ask Vinyl
“Na I’m used to the brightness now so there’s no point in wearing them” smiles Vinyl  with a cheesy smile
“Oh okay…Hey Dash” I say walking over to the cliff face
“Yeah Shadow” says Dash
“How about a race” 
“Sure…were to?” says Dash keen to race
“From here to New Yorke” I say pointing at the large city
“Alright you got yourself a race” says Dash getting pumped, “Im going to beat you this time”
“What Shadow beat Dash in a race” says Applejack in shock
“Yeah he got lucky that day but im going to win today” says Dash getting prepared at the edge of the cliff
“Hey Applejack could you start the race….and we will meet you out front of New Yorke”
“Sure” says Applejack walking over to the makeshift starting line, “On your marks….Get set…. GO!”

As Applejack shouted the word go I and Dash zoom of the starting line leaving a trail of dust behind us. We began to race as hard and as fast as we could and I could notice Rainbow Dash leaving a Rainbow trail behind her as she soared through the air and I was hoping that I was leaving the same behind me but only black and red of course.

As we reached the quarter way point the sky became busy with other Pegasus’s attending to their daily work or chores in the sky. It was proving to be quiet difficult to maneuver through the small air space that was available without colliding with any other pony. I could see it was also proving to be a challenge for Dash as she was also struggling to dodge any of the oncoming Pegasus’s, It reminded me of the days back on earth when you would watch movies such as Fast and the Furious where the cars where zooming down the street avoiding oncoming cars and any police that happened to be chasing them at the time, but only the fast pimped out cars where replaced with real life Pegasus and there happened to be no police around at the time. 

We continued racing towards New Yorke and so far Dash happened to be just winning the race. So I became more determined to fly faster and faster than I ever could just to prove that the first win wasn’t just a fluke. We were around the half-way point and the air space was very tight like it was peak hour traffic. Weaving between each Pegasus that was in the way of the race or trying to fly in any empty lane for longer than five seconds while trying to gain the lead was a very hard task to achieve, especially when Dash would beat me to an empty lane causing me to dodge any oncoming Pegasus’s.

Three quarters of the way there and it was easily noticeable the determination and motivation that me and Dash were showing through are faces and our flying skills. 

“Looks like im going to win this time Shadow” yells my eager opponent
“The race isn’t over yet” I say hoping I somehow gain the lead
“Don’t worry Shadow…This Race is all mine” yells Dash as she zooms down towards the ground hoping to find a faster route.

I continued to race the same route finally being able to fly in any empty lane that was free. I notice Dash directly below me flying as hard as she could as if I was the hardest opponent she has faced in a while. It was the final part of the race and I have done well at dodging any Pegasus I had nearly come to colliding with, and I had just noticed I had gained the lead off of Dash.
‘Yes im in the lead’ I think to myself, ‘Okay Shadow calm down don’t get cocky’
I take a deep breath and give myself a little pep talk to convince myself I can win. I see Dash alongside me again proving that the route she was trying to take wasn’t as good as the rout I was flying. We were only inches away from the main entrance of New Yorke and Victor was growing within my grasp, the sound of the wind blowing of my body and the trail of black and red along with the trail of rainbow following behind me and Dash was growing longer over the intensity of the limits we were pushing our self’s to. 
“Yes im going to win” I yell in excitement to dash
“Not I I have anything to do about it” says Dash zooming of gaining the lead for the second time.
“No…No...No…” I scream watching as the hopes of winning fade away.
That was it there was no possible way of catching up before Dash one or so as I thought, as I looked around I could see a red aura begin to surround my Pegasus body, causing me to soar through the air faster and at I much higher speed to Dash.
“Yeeeeeaaahhhh” I screamed as I flew past Dash in a blink of an eye
‘I did it I beat Dash to the main entrance’ I thought to myself in excitement as I landed waiting for Dash to appear
“Hey Shadow were did that burst of energy come from” asks Dash in amazement of my enigmatic speed.
“I don’t know… It came out of nowhere” I say looking back at Dash, “Just like that night I saved Rarity from that beast when I first arrived here in PonyVille I was hit with a sudden surge of energy causing me to defeat it”  
“Well however you did it; I hope it happens when we go back to PonyVille” Smiles Dash 
“Yeah me to” I say softly looking towards the ground, “we better wait here for Vinyl and Applejack” 
I sit down on a bench located on the side of the main entrance waiting for Vinyl and Applejack to arrive. It was about two hours before we heard Vinyl and Applejack arrive awaking us from the sleeping state Dash and I had drifted into.
“So who won” asked Vinyl eager to hear the results
“Yeah who won?” says Applejack as eager as Vinyl
“Well the lucky winner was Shadow of course…who somehow had this mysterious surge of energy causing him to beat me” says Dash as if she was admitting defeat
“Hey congrats Shadow” says Vinyl giving me a bro hoof
“Well since that’s out of the way how about we find this Alexia Jordson” I say hoping to hurry this trip up so we can go back to PonyVille not knowing if every pony was alright or not
“Yeah shouldn’t be too hard” Yawns Dash as she stretches her hind legs out
“Tired Dash” I smile
“Yeah that race took it out of me” yawns Dash again but not as loud
“Well yawl better hurry up before good ol’ Rainbow Dash falls asleep” laughs Applejack