Guardians of Light: A Shadow Forms

by Alphadude007

Equestrian Integration

-Eastern outskirts of Ponyville, Fluttershy's cottage-

As the sun climbed to its mid-day position, three ponies and a baby dragon approached a cottage that sat on top of a small hill. At the foot of the hill was a small stream, over which a small grass-covered bridge spanned the watery gap. Squirrels, rabbits, birds, and many other creatures were outside the house, looking in through the various circular windows, trying to see how their caretaker was.

As the three ponies and dragon approached the front door of the cottage, noting the way the animals were acting and glanced nervously at each other.

Twilight gently knocked on the red half-circular wooden door of her yellow friend's cottage. "Fluttershy, are you there?" she asked.

"I'll bet she's too scared to get out of bed." A hovering Rainbow Dash suggested.

"I wouldn't doubt that at all. If our dreams were anything like hers, she's not going to be leaving her cottage for the next week." Rarity said in a concerned tone.

Twilight knocked again, this time hearing a response from the other side. "Come in."

The purple alicorn pushed open the door to find a surprising sight. Instead of cowering in fear of anything that moved like the four visitors were expecting, Fluttershy was laying on her couch brushing the white coat her pet rabbit, Angel.

Fluttershy looked up from her brushing to greet the four dumbstruck guests. "Hello, girls. Hi, Spike. What brings you here?"

The first to speak up was Rainbow as she landed on the wooden floor of the cottage. "You're okay?" She asked in a surprised tone.

"Of course I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be?" Fluttershy replied in a nonchalant tone, turning her attention back to brushing Angel, this time attending to the bunny's tail.

"But… Didn't you have a dream last night?" Spike asked, wondering if Fluttershy had a nightmare like the rest of them had.

Fluttershy stopped brushing Angel and looked like she was remembering. She then slowly nodded. "Yes, I did. How did you know?"

Twilight cleared her throat. "If my guess is correct, we all had nightmares last night. It can't be a coincidence that multiple representatives of the Elements of Harmony had bad dreams."

Rarity spoke up, gesturing to the purple dragon that stood beside her. "But Spike had a nightmare and he's not an Element bearer."

Twilight put a hoof to her chin. "That's right. So unless there's some mystical seventh element out in the world somewhere that is remotely connected to Spike, I don't know how Spike would have had a nightmare like the rest of us did." She said, pondering the implications of Spike having a bad dream like the others did.

"But what could have affected all of us with nightmares? Wouldn't that take a lot of magic to do that?" Fluttershy asked as she got up off the couch. Angel leapt from the couch as his owner stood up and looked up at her in concern.

"Inflicting a single individual would take years of practiced magic to pull off. But multiple dreams on at least six distinct ponies and a dragon? That would take more magic than the princesses' combined." Twilight said, the shock of her own realization making itself known through her words.

Everyone cast nervous looks at one another at hearing this.

"Maybe we should get everypony else and discuss this as a full group." Rainbow suggested, breaking the silence.

"I agree. If this concerns all of us, then we must make sure that everypony is a part of the discussion." Rarity said in concordance with Rainbow Dash.

Twilight spoke up, already having a plan in mind. "Alright then. Spike, Fluttershy and I will go find Pinkie Pie. Rarity and Rainbow Dash will head to Sweet Apple Acres and fetch Applejack. We'll meet in the library by dinner time where we'll talk about what to do in light of recent events.

Rainbow jumped in the air and began hovering, saluting Twilight in the process. "Roger that, boss. C'mon, Rarity!" She said, zipping out the cottage with a whoosh.

Rarity shook her head. "Hopefully I can meet her there by midafternoon." With that, the white unicorn took off galloping out the door.

Twilight turned to Fluttershy. "Any idea where Pinkie might be?"

Fluttershy's eyebrows narrowed and her eyes glanced up at the ceiling, as though pondering something. "She should be at Sugar Cube Corner. If she's not there, then I don't know where she would be."

"Then Sugar Cube Corner it is. Let's go, guys!" Spike said, charging out the cottage door, followed closely by two ponies.

As Twilight bounded down the path away from Fluttershy's cottage, she began to think. I just hope she's in good a shape as I found Fluttershy in. If she's had a nightmare as bad as we did, then I can only hope she's taking it well. She thought, galloping even faster towards the supposed location of her pink friend.

-Streets of Ponyville-

Palm Spring, Speedy Delivery, and Silver Star made their way down the main roads of Ponyville. Palm Spring had made the suggestion that the three belied ponies go their separate ways and do some reconnaissance on the town. Both Speedy and Silver agreed, each going their own way down the road.

Everywhere they went, ponies went about their daily business. Some were in the market selling or purchasing local goods, others were eating at the various restaurants that lined the town's streets, and young colts and fillies ran and played through the street, some of which earned annoyed looks from the adults. Each of the three disguised ponies was looking at the town through their own mind.

Speedy Delivery watched ponies go about their business. The funny thing to him was that everypony seemed to enjoy what they were doing. Back in the hive, every job was just a chore that had to be done. With these ponies, they enjoyed their livelihoods. Wow. This is nothing at all like the hive. Fang thought, his bright crimson eyes glancing from store to store. How can they find comfort or even fun in their work? He wondered, then stopped for a second to think about what he had just said. Well they don't have the threat of being eaten by their fellow ponies on their minds on a daily basis. He thought, resuming his stroll down the dirt road. As he passed the local food and goods carts, sellers began to take an interest in him.

"Care to sample my home-grown carrots? Made fresh every day!" A mare called out to him. Speedy turned his head to see a mare with a goldenrod coat, olive green eyes, and a curled orange mane standing behind a cart that was full of what appeared to be fresh produce.

Speedy looked back at the mare, then back at the vegetables, then back at the mare, who, by the look on her face, was expecting an answer.

"Uhh… I think I'm alright for now." Speedy said as he started to turn away, but the mare called him again.

"Say, I don't think I've seen you here before. What's your name, handsome?" The mare asked, leaning on her stand towards him.

For Speedy, it felt like the temperature got twenty degrees hotter all of a sudden. Did she just call me handsome? "Um, S-speedy Delivery." He said, inadvertently tripping over his own words.

"Well, Speedy, how about you buy some carrots and next time you come by, you can get a little something extra?" The mare asked, giving Speedy a seductive look.

A crème-colored mare with a two-tone raspberry mane spoke up from behind a stand on the opposite side of the road. "Lay off the poor guy, Carrot Top! Besides, I think the stallion would love my freshly cut roses! For a stallion such as yourself, you must get something for that lucky mare of yours." She said, gesturing to the goods on her stand. On her stand were a brightly colored array of various flowers and potted plants.

Now Speedy was almost breaking into a sweat. He needed to find a way to get away from these two mares and quickly. His mind, working a thousand miles a minute, chose the stand that hopefully involved not getting too mixed up with the locals. Quickly regaining his composure, he approached the rose selling mare's stand, much to the chagrin of the vegetable selling one.

"How much for one rose?" He asked tentatively.

"I'm actually having a sale today. Three bits for a six-count bouquet." The crème mare said cheerfully.

Suddenly, Speedy felt his confidence surge. While talking with a mare wasn't one of his strong points, bargaining certainly was. "Three bits for roses? I found better looking petunias that grew from the ground on my way over here." He said with a determined look, daring the mare to make a better offer.

Within seconds, the mare's countenance went from 'pleasure doing business with you' to 'oh no you didn't'. "Two bits and I'll throw in a free bouquet on your next purchase." The mare said, challenging the bold colt to accept her offer.

"Deal." Speedy said, fishing out a coin purse he'd swiped off some stallion on his way down the street. Digging out two golden bits with his hoof, he placed them on the wooden top of the stand.

The mare reached down behind her stand and took out a bouquet of six thorn-trimmed red roses. Taking the bouquet and thanking the mare for her business, Speedy walked off, but couldn't help but overhear the two mares arguing behind him.

"Having a sale? Really, Rose?" The mare named Carrot Top asked incredulously.

"At least I wasn't throwing myself all over the poor guy just to make a sale." Rose hissed back.

"Throwing myself at him? Just what are you insinuating?" Carrot retorted as Speedy's snickering drowned out the conversation from his hearing.

Palm Spring watched as the colts and fillies played in the schoolyard. Such innocence. She thought, mesmerized by the way the children laughed and cavorted about in the grassy yard.

Just a few minutes earlier, Palm had been wandering down the dirt road that led away from the busy center of Ponyville, when she saw a bright red schoolhouse on top of a hill that overlooked the village. As she approached it, she began to hear high-pitched squeals of laughter coming from the hilltop. Wanting to investigate, Palm neared the school and saw something that astounded her. She saw children having fun.

Young ponies of all colors and sizes ran about the yard, playing all sorts of games. Some played tag, several pegasi tossed a ball back and forth to each other in midair, and others sat around and chatted with each other.

This was all unfamiliar to Palm Spring. Growing up in the hive, children were practically programmed to do what they were supposed to do. From birth, a changeling hatchling would be determined what job they were to do in the hive. Be it gathering love sources for the hive, being scouts, or just protecting the hive as a guard, changelings were boxed into whatever duty they were assigned at birth. Here in Ponyville, it was quite a different case.

From what Palm Spring had noticed about pony culture, she made an interesting discovery. What job that a pony was doing, they had a kind of marking or illustration on their flank that depicted exactly what they were doing. She'd heard it being called a "cutie mark" by some of the children that didn't seem to have any marks on their flanks.

So they can become anything they want to be? Palm thought, amazed at the very possibility of having the chance to do what she wanted.

Her thoughts were interrupted as something big and red smacked into her face. Recoiling from the impact of the object, she looked down to see what had assailed her. Curiously, it was a small air-pumped red ball.

"Sorry about that!" A small country-accented voice shouted to her. Palm looked up to see three fillies looking at her with apologetic expressions on their faces. One of the fillies was a white unicorn with a curly two-toned lavender and pink mane. A second filly was a yellow earth pony with a red mane, in which was a big pink bow. Finally, a third filly was an orange pegasus with a spiked-up purple mane.

Palm Spring gave a quick smile. "It's okay." She said, pushing the ball back to them with her hoof.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that." The yellow filly said in a country accent. "We would've caught the ball if Sweetie Belle didn't have butterhooves." She said, glaring at the white unicorn filly next to her.

"Hey! It wasn't my fault. Scootaloo was the one that couldn't throw it straight." The white filly said, pointing accusingly at the orange pegasus.

"What? How is this my fault?" Scootaloo asked incredulously. "Besides, Applebloom should have been making sure nopony was in our way." She said, casting an angry glance at the yellow earth pony.

"At least Ah can throw the ball straight." Applebloom retorted. Instantly, the three fillies began arguing with each other, trying to figure out who to pin the blame on.

Palm Spring just watched the three fillies argue with one another. Wow. She thought, watching the three started going for each other, kicking up a dust cloud around them as they tussled. All this over a simple accident? Sheesh. You'd think they'd be more civil in this kind of thing.

Palm approached the wrestling fillies, trying to stop them before somepony got hurt. "Hey!" She shouted at the three ponies.

The three fillies stopped what they were doing instantaneously, the dust cloud around them beginning to fall back onto the ground. Sweetie Belle was lying on her back, about to buck Scootaloo off her, who was gnawing on Applebloom's ear, who was about to give Sweetie Belle a right hook.

"It was just an accident, okay? No need to do this all on my account. I gave you your ball back. Now go on and continue playing like you were before." Palm Spring said in an almost motherly tone.

The three young ponies got off each other and hung their heads. "We're sorry." They solemnly said at the same time.

Palm couldn't help but smile at the fillies. "It's okay. Now go on and play again." She said, gesturing for them to go.

The three began to leave for the schoolyard again when Applebloom suddenly turned around. "We could use another player if you want." She said with a smile.

The others turned around with smiles on their faces. Sweetie Belle spoke up in a cheery voice. "Yeah. You can catch the ball with us. Or catch whatever Scootaloo can throw at you." She said, casting a mischievous glance to her orange friend.

Scootaloo gave Sweetie a sour look. "That was so funny I forgot to laugh." She said, turning back to Palm, her face lighting up again. "So you wanna join us?"

At this, Palm felt shock. Were they asking her to play? "Um… sure." She said nervously.

"Awesome! Now just stand right there and we'll toss you the ball." Applebloom said, taking the red ball in one hoof and tossing it in the air above her. As the ball came back down, she butted the ball towards Scootaloo with her head. Giggling, Scootaloo returned the ball by butting it towards Sweetie Belle. Careful to not pop the ball with her horn, Sweetie bounced it in Palm's direction.

Just do what they were doing. Butt the ball with your head! Her mind said, as she craned her neck upward as the ball approached her head. She felt the ball bounce off her head and watched it sail towards Applebloom.

"There! Now ya got it!" Applebloom said with a smile, butting the ball to Scootaloo again.

As the circle continued and head-butts ensued, Palm began to giggle at the activity she and the fillies were doing. Soon, the giggling became laughter at what she was doing with the three young ponies. Palm felt a new sensation that day. It was a feeling that she had practically no concept of back in the hive. She felt… fun.

Silver Star walked down the roads of Ponyville, looking at all the ponies he passed by. Mares, stallions, colts, and fillies. Each one was unique in his or her own way. From the interactions they had with each other, to how they managed their livelihoods. Every single pony was a unique part of the town they inhabited. However, they all had one thing in common. Each one of them was a love source that could be harvested and fed on.

Silver Star had to hold back from pouncing onto some random pony and sinking his teeth into the unfortunate creature. Oh what I'd do to just get one little nibble right now. He thought hungrily, glancing at a grey earth pony mare with a flowing black mane chatting with a white unicorn mare with a spikey two-tone blue mane with purple shades over her eyes. The earth pony looks too slim for my taste. The unicorn on the other hand… He began to think, but the still focused side of his brain mentally slapped him. Hold yourself together, Chassis! Remember what Chrysalis said. After this job, then you can feed.

Silver snorted in irritation at his thoughts. "Ugh. I need something to distract me from all this." He muttered to himself, looking for some place to eat. If he couldn't satisfy his hunger for love, then he could settle his stomach's need for food.

He browsed the shops along the street, looking for a decent looking place to chow down. So what am I in the mood for? He pondered as a rather ornate looking restaurant with an outdoor collection of tables crossed his vision. Nah. Too fancy for me. Silver Star marked the restaurant off his list, continuing his search. His search for a place to eat ended at a multistory building that looked like it was made out of dessert food. The roof was brown with white designs on it, almost making it look like the top of a cake. From the roof was a small tower that looked like it had pink ice cream on top of the spire. Hanging outside the purple doorway was a sign that read Sugarcube Corner.

"Sugarcube Corner, eh? Well love tastes kind of sweet. Hopefully the food inside is close enough to it." Silver told himself, walking up to the store's door and opened it. The disguised changeling looked around in awe at the interior of the shop. The wooden floor was painted a deep turquoise and had a couple green rugs on it. The walls were a light brown with candy designs all over them. Several peppermint-looking spiraling columns held up chocolate brown archways over the counter. In front of the counter was a glass display of several sweets like cupcakes and pies. Just the sight of the sweets made Silver's mouth water.

"May I help you?" A jovial voice asked from behind the counter. Silver Star looked to see a light teal earth pony mare with a swirly two-tone purple mane standing behind the counter with a smile on her face.

Silver Star approached the counter, his expression mirroring the mare's. "Yes you may. What kind of cookies do you sell here?" he asked warmly.

"You name it, we got it." The mare responded in the same manner.

"Any kind of cookie, eh?" Silver asked, putting a hoof to his chin as he began to wonder what kind of cookie he wanted. After a few moments, he had made his decision. "I'll have a chocolate cookie with vanilla chips please."

"Certainly, sir. That'll be four bits." The mare said, turning to a pair of saloon-style doors to her right while waiting for the stallion to get his bits out. "Pinkie! Chocolate cookie with vanilla chips!" She called to some pony in what Silver assumed was the kitchen.

"Sure thing, Mrs. Cake! I'll have it out lickety-split!" A high-pitched female voice said from behind the doors.

During all this, Silver reached a black hoof into a bag of bits he had gotten from Speedy before embarking on his recon of the town and pulled out four gold coins. Placing them on the counter, he received a "Thank you" from the mare.

"So you're name's Mrs. Cake?" Silver asked, trying to get information on the ponies he interacting with.

The teal mare nodded. "Certainly is. My husband and I own, live, and work here at Sugarcube Corner. The mare that'll be bringing out your cookie is named Pinkie Pie. Speaking of whom, you don't look familiar. Are you new here?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Silver nodded. "Yes I am. Just came through and wanted to see the town."

"Oh boy." Mrs. Cake said, putting a hoof to her face. "Well be ready. Pinkie loves to meet new ponies."

As if on cue, a pink earth pony mare with a darker pink poofy mane and bright blue eyes stepped out of the kitchen, holding a ceramic white plate, on which was a dark brown cookie with crème-colored vanilla chips.

"One chocolate cookie with… vanilla…" Pinkie's ecstatic voice trailed off as she looked at who had ordered the sweet treat. The pink mare slowly set the plate on the counter, not taking her eyes off the newcomer. As soon as the plate touched the wooden counter, she became a pink blur that rushed past Silver and up a staircase that was behind him.

Silver looked at the staircase, trying to contemplate what he just saw. He turned back to Mrs. Cake with a puzzled look. "Did I do something wrong?"

Mrs. Cake shook her head. "No, dear. But you'll find out what she's planning soon enough." She said with a slight smile. "Enjoy the cookie." She said, pushing the plated cookie towards a very confused Silver Star.