//------------------------------// // Awakening // Story: Tales of shadow // by TwistedShadow //------------------------------// I woke up in the middle of a field, no way of knowing how long I was unconscious. The sun was fully in the sky, so I could atleast tell it was midday. I just stared out into the distance for awhile, processing everything that had happened like some horrible dream. The adrenaline that the fear was causing had receded now. I started to feel like my muzzle was the size of a tree trunk. Trying to touch my muzzle, I felt dried blood. I guessed it must of happened when I galloped into the tree at full speed. The wound had stopped bleeding, but it was going to leave a scar. A moment later, I realized that which made me quiver in fear. All the ponies that had surrounded me in the forest, were dead. They would of been burned by the shockwave that destroyed the forest. In my head I kept saying, “They brought it upon themselves! IT WAS NOT MY FAULT! ...not...my fault...” I just laid there, thinking and processing everything that had transpired; wishing it was all a bad dream. After about two hours of laying there in a daze, I saw two figures approaching from the distance in front of me. My vision was still blurred from everything that happened, and I could not see much of anything clearly. I just stared blankly at the figures, not thinking much about them and hoping they were hallucinations. The figures got closer and I realized that they were not hallucinations. Fear swept over me as I tried to stand. All I could think was, “What if they were after me... somepony must be!” They were still too far away for me to see them clearly, especially with my eyes blurred. As I started to turn, one of them flew up and darted toward me. My head felt dizzy as I got up. Most of my energy was gone and my body still ached. It did not help that I had not eaten in about a week. I tried to gallop away, but I was very slow and I kept looking behind me as the figure got closer and closer. I felt like I was going to black out. After about thirty yards my vision deteriorated, and I was getting almost unbearably light headed. I galloped right into a pony without even realizing it. I faded out fearing the worst was to come, but as my senses left me I heard a sweet voice say, “I got you.” Slowly coming to, I could feel warmth all around me. I was wrapped in something warm and soft. My hearing came back slowly as I heard movement from next to me. Fear shot through my system as I opened my eyes. Through my blurred vision, I could see only a dark figure looking down at me. I started to shake from the fear as adrenaline started to course through me. Soon after I started shaking the same sweet voice I heard from before say, “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you.” With that I seemed to calm and my nerves were at ease. I was not to sure what was happening, but atleast I felt safe with that voice. My vision slowly returned, I could see the face of the pony looking over me. I could tell, by the way the pony looked, that the pony was female. Her face was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Her coat was a dark blue color and her mane was a lighter shade of blue with a strip that had a yellowish glow. She had wings sticking out of her sides. I did not know ponies could have wings. A weird feeling started to develop inside me. I was not scared, but my heart beated a little faster. When attempting to speak nothing came out. She grabbed a glass filled with water and poured it into my mouth. She started to speak, “My name is Moonlight. You are safe here. Nopony will hurt you as long as you’re with us.” With that, any worry I had went away. I just knew for some strange reason that I could trust her. A long screech come from behind moonlight. “I have food for you two, Moonlight.” a calm voice said, “Oh he is up.” “We should have left him there!” a deep voice spoke up. “But he can... help us.” a shy sounding voice said. “He is a DANGER!” a deranged voice said loudly. “No, he is not!” spoke the calm voice again. “Yes!” now a childish voice. “No!” said another childish voice. "Yes!” again with the first childish voice. “No!” said the other childish voice. Moonlight turned and shouted, “MASQUERADE! Leave the food and go! He needs to rest.” “Sorry.” said the shy voice. I was not certain where all those voices were coming from because Moonlight only said one name. All those voices were a bit strange and I had wondered how many other ponies were here. Soon after that, I heard another screech and the door closed. “Sorry about that, he can be a bit..... peculiar sometimes.” Moonlight said. What she said confused me greatly. I heard multiple voices, but she said “he” meaning one. I decided to drop the thought as moonlight brought the food over. She helped me sit right so I could eat the food that was brought in. My stomach was growling so much, I started to eat very fast because I have not eaten anything in so long. I could feel the bruise on my face were the scar was, but I did not care about the pain that emanated from the wound. Looking up at Moonlight, she gave me a smile and giggled. My face turned red and I put my head. Feeling started to return to my throat. The warmth of the food and the water allowed me to finally speak again, “Thank you.” I said in a low raspy voice with my head down. She looked at me with a warm expression. I felt safe there... for the first time since I can remember, I felt safe. After a few minutes the door screeched open again. This time I could now see the door and three figures came in. One kept shaking, another stood tall, and the third looked cold, like she did not care to be here. “He is awake.” said the tall one. “He was out for almost two days! It is about time.” said the cold one. “He’s only recently awoken.” Moonlight said quietly. “YES, yes, yes!” said the shaking pony with a deranged voice. “My name is Night Dasher.” said the tall one, “The shaking one is Masquerade and the other is Stargazer.” “Charmed I’m sure.” said Stargazer sarcastically. “hi,HI,hi,hi.” Masquerade said in many different voices. At that point I had realized all those strange voices came from Masquerade. “You caused quite the explosion in the forest,” said Night Dasher “We would not of even known you existed if it had not been for such a shockwave. We had to hurry, but we found you first. What is your name?” The question caught me off guard. I did not have a name I could remember. Hell I could barely talk because of the years that I had no need or use for my voice. There was a long pause before Masquerade spoke up, “Maybe he does not have a name.” with a calm voice “We should give him one.” “Purple shadow.” with a deranged voice “Magic Purple.” with a shy voice “Twisty Magic.” with a deep voice. “Twisted Shadow.” Moonlight spoke up as she pointed toward a mark on me “Your cutie mark looks like it has shadows twisting off of it. Now, do not get me wrong I liked the name, but I did not know what the mark on my flank was, and in a slight panic I tried to scrape it off. The mark was a crescent moon with three drops of water below the moon. There seemed to be weird black lines that look like shadows coming out of the moon. The moon had a yellowish color and the drops of water were shades of blue. “What.... is that?!?!” I said as my voice scraped it out. Stargazer stared at me with a blank look and said, “You do not know what a cutie mark is?” “What is a cutie mark?” I pushed my voice to say. “He-he-he even I know THAT!” Masquerade said in a deranged voice. Moonlight started to speak, “It is a mark on our sides showing our special talents.” “I had not had one.” I said as my voice was slowly improving, “There was nothing on my side before-” I stopped myself from finishing because I remembered the horrific event. “We know what happened.” Night Dasher said, “Did you do that on-” I interrupted him with a loud screech, “NO!” My voice hurt when I screeched that I had to put my head down. In a lower voice I spoke. “It was not my fault... I can’t control it.” They all were looking at me. “They put a device on my horn to stop my magic... and it shattered. IT WAS NOT MY FAULT!” I screeched again. My throat now in excruciating pain as I put my hooves around my neck. Moonlight put her hoof on my head and said, “It is alright. We will help you control your magic.” “It is impossible!” I lashed out as I raised my head, tears now going down my face. “ No matter how hard I try I can never control it!” Moonlight gave a smile and said “We can always try.” “You are all in danger!” I said in a panic. “Only time will tell.” Night Dasher spoke up “Get some more rest now, Twisted Shadow. We will explain all later.” With that Moonlight, Night Dasher, Masquerade, and Stargazer left the room.