//------------------------------//
// 4: Explanations 
// Story: The Shadow of a Stranger 
// by Sugar_and_Sins 
//------------------------------//

"We've been walking for days, how much farther do we have to go?" Twilight huffed, dragging her hooves along the dirt path, lagging a good distance behind her travelling companion.

Shade stopped and got a map out of his saddlebags. "A long way yet," he shouted back at her. "But there is a town we can rest at a few miles from here, Manehattan."

"Oh, we could actually get some real beds for the night instead of solid ground," Twilight said, feeling an ache in her side as she thought of all the hard night sleeps she'd had recently. "And I wouldn't mind having a look around either, there are so many sights in Manehattan I'd love to see."

"We go, we rest, we leave, we can't afford to wander aimlessly about looking at tourist attractions." Shade snapped, putting away the map and carrying on.

"What do you mean? We have a whole year, that's a pretty lenient time limit don't you think?" Twilight queried, running to Shade's side, struggling slightly due to her exhaustion. "For the whole trip so far you've been uptight and all you care about is getting back and stopping the Vaash, which I can understand but, you have to relax once in a while otherwise-"

Shade stopped immediately, turning to Twilight and cutting her off causing her to fall on her haunches in surprise."We are not tourists! We need to get to Tanarfal as soon as possible, got it?!" He shouted, breathing heavily. 

Twilight just stared at him with wide eyes.  "I understand... Sorry Shade...."

Shade rubbed the back of his head, feeling a bit guilty for shouting at her like that. "Uhh It's ok Twi, sorry for snapping at you like that," he held out a hoof to help her up and they continued to walk.

"Wait did you call me Twi?" Twilight asked as she smiled.

Shade rubbed the back of his head again. "I guess I did, sorry."

"No no it's fine you can call me that if you want, Shay."

"Don't ever call me that."





The streets of Manehattan were bustling with ponies going about their daily lives, whether they be taxi carriage drivers, food cart chefs or simply just tourists. Shade and Twilight walked among the crowds, Twilight peeking in shop windows every now and then and Shade staring in awe at the sheer size of the skyscrapers.

"Ah this looks like a nice place to stay for the night, what do you think?" Twilight asked, turning to Shade to see him staring with his jaw dropped at almost every building. "Um Shade?"

Snapping out of his trance Shade replied. "Huh? Oh yeah, looks nice."

The two walked into the lobby and up to the reception desk, Twilight grabbed a sack of bits out of her saddlebags, trying not to use her magic until her head was fixed. "We'd like to stay for one ni-"

"Two nights please," Shade interjected, throwing a small sack of bits on the desk.

The receptionist took the two sacks of bits from the desk and handed Shade a key. "Room 409, fourth floor, 5th door on your right and have a nice stay."

"Thank you," both said in unison.

As they walked to their room, Twilight looked to Shade with a raised eyebrow. "Two Nights? What about your people? And you wanting to get back to Tanarfal?"

Shade sighed. "My people have suffered for a thousand years and sure I don't want their suffering to continue but, if I'm all tense and worn out from travelling all the time, I won't have any chance of saving them."

"Hmm I see," Twilight said, rubbing her chin. "You know, I don't think I'll ever understand the way you work."

"You've got a year, I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually," Shade said.

They arrived at their room and opened the door, the room was a fair size with a table against the far wall with all the essentials for making tea placed neatly atop it and an elegant looking sofa positioned next to it with smaller coffee tables at either side. 

Shade stuck his head into the on-suite bathroom. "Finally, I can get a decent shower for once," he sighed with relief.

Twilight cringed when she saw the most notable feature of the room, the double bed. "That's a little bit awkward..."

Pulling his head out of the bathroom, Shade looked at the bed with curiosity. "What are those little white things on the pilllows?" He asked pointing at them with a hoof.

Twilight followed his hoof to where the mints were. "Oh they're mints, most hotels do it as a welcome of sorts," she informed.

Shade smiled. "Sweet, free mints."

"It's not free if you pay to access it," Twilight sighed.

Shade narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't ruin my pleasure with your logic."

Twilight rolled her eyes and set down her saddlebags on the sofa. "We've still got a bit of the day left, might as well go out on the town, so what do you want to go and see first?"

Shade shrugged. "Dunno, whatever you wanna see," his speech slightly slurred while he sucked on the mint.

Twilight tapped her chin. "We can decide as we walk, I picked up a tourist map at the reception desk with all the sites marked so it should be easy enough to find them. Oh, this is going to be so much fun!" She giggled, clapping her hooves together.

"Are you gonna eat your mint?" Shade slurped.





The Museum of Equestrian History, a place where ponies can go to learn about the vast history of the land, an archive of writings and artefacts made by ponies in Equestria centuries ago. "Look! Its the armour of Commander Hurricane! Perfectly Preserved too!" Twilight pointed out excitedly.

Shade shuffled along behind her. "Urgh I know, we've looked at it five times now..." He groaned.

"Fine grumpy pants, which exhibit do YOU want to go and see?" Twilight huffed.

Shade turned to the conveniently placed museum map board next to him. "Hmm, how about 'Ancient Weaponry'? That seems more my style."

Twilight shrugged. "Sure, learning about weapons is still learning I guess."

As they reached the exhibit Shade got an uneasy feeling. "Something's not right here..." He murmured to himself.

"Did you say something?" Twilight asked.

"No, nothing," he said, faking a smile at her. That's a Vaash presence... Here?

"Look, a tour guide," Twilight pointed to a large group with a single pony speaking at the front. "Lets go join them, you might actually learn something!"

The two walked over and joined the crowd. "So as you can see, the halberd was much to heavy to wield and the royal guard stopped using them until 40 years ago when they developed a much lighter version," the guide explained, pointing to a large glass cabinet housing a collection of pole weapons.

Shade examined it closely. "Well of course its heavy that's ebony wood, you need hickory or ash, they're much lighter and strong on top of that."

The group turned to Shade and stared at him blankly, Twilight simply face hoofed. "Sorry, please do go on," she said, smiling awkwardly.

The guide cleared his throat. "Moving on," he led the group to a smaller cabinet that contained two small daggers, etched with a peculiar mark on the blades. "These were found in the north near the coast shortly before the banishment of Princess Luna, no one knows where they came from but, there are tales that a the pony who found them had to battle a creature of shadow to acquire them," the guide explained.

Shade's stared with wide eyes at the daggers, as he heard a whisper emanate from them. "Master?" The etchings began to glow a deep purple while the surrounding ponies watched in awe.

"What's happening?" Twilight asked worriedly as she saw the expression on Shade's face.

Shade turned to her. "Those are Vaash weapons... And the Vaash is still inside them! Everypony get back!" He shouted.

The guide looked to Shade. "Excuse me sir but, if you blurt out once more I-" 

His speech was interrupted by the sound of smashing glass behind him and the screams of the entire group as a shadowy figure with two legs and two arms took shape in front of them. "Master?!" It screamed.

"Aw crap..." Shade muttered, standing on his hind legs and flinging both his forelegs out to his sides as shadow surrounded them in the shape of claws. "Everpony move!" He commanded as he dashed towards the creature.

Twilight watched on in shock as the other ponies fled. "Shade... What IS that?! What are you?!"

"Not now Twi!" Shade shouted as he grappled with the vaash. Shifting his weight he managed to throw his opponent across the room causing it to stumble but, not for long, it quickly steadied itself before charging Shade into the large cabinet holding the pole weapons, shattering the glass and toppling the cabinet on top of him.

Twilight gasped. "Shade!" The vaash snapped around to look at her, slowly creeping towards her and grabbing its daggers on the way over, as it got to her it raised its blades while Twilight desperately tried to cast a protection spell with little success. The vaash let out a shrill cry as it drove the daggers downwards, closing her eyes Twilight screamed. All went silent, at first she thought she might have died, opening her eyes, Twilight looked up, the vaash stood frozen with what looked like the head of a halberd piercing its chest.

The creature fell in front of Twilight revealing Shade stood behind it panting. "The guide was right, that thing was heavy," he stated as the vaash at his hooves began to dissipate and his claws faded. "Are you okay Twi?"

Twilight stormed towards Shade, anger pasted across her face. "You have a LOT of explaining to do!" She shouted.

Shade pulled his head back as Twilight rushed towards him. "I'll explain later but, right now we-"

Twilight cut him off. "No! You always say you'll explain things later and then never get around to it! Tell  me now!" 

Putting a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, Shade looked her in the eyes. "Twilight, I promise you I'll tell you everything when we get back to the hotel but, right now we need to get out of here."

Twilight stared at him for a short while, the anger on her face slowly fading. "Okay..."

Walking away from the smashed exhibit, Shade put a hoof around Twilight's shoulder. "You know I won't let you get hurt right?"

Twilight looked down at her hooves. "I know."





The hotel room was quiet aside from Shade preparing tea. "So, what do you want to know first?" He asked, pouring tea into two cups and passing one to Twilight who was sat on the sofa.

Twilight took a sip of her tea. "What was that and how was it in the museum?"

"It was a vaash and it was resting in the daggers, you see vaash can only exist if they are bound to something, it can be an item or a living thing it doesn't matter. It must have awoken when it detected the vaash inside of me, which I assume has explained another of your questions," Shade said.

"So those... Claws you had were a result of this vaash? And the one that came from the daggers called you Master, can you explain that?" Twilight asked narrowing her eyes.

Shade sighed. "It'd be a lot easier if I just started from the beginning," sipping at his tea he sat on the bed and faced Twilight. "It all started when I was younger..."