Back at Twilight's Castle
Twilight Sparkle had always seen her former teacher as a kind and caring ruler, one who would never judge wrongfully, and always treat the people of her kingdom fairly, but what she was hearing did not sound like the kind princess she knew. " Princess.....how could you.....," tears of anger welled up in the purple alicorns eyes, but before she could start scolding her former mentor, something else caught her attention, the sound was large scaly wings beating against the wind at rapid speeds. " Princess....you and I shall discuss this some other time...just, please leave now," she watched as Celestia opened her mouth to deny Twilights command, but she was cut off before a single word could be uttered. " Please!, just go, Shade is on his way back and I don't think you want to be here do you, I'll visit the castle after the festival...just..please go..for your safety,".
To say Celestia was at a loss for words was an understatement, she knew if she stayed things would get worse, but she couldn't just leave. Her mind however, quickly changed as the sound of a nearby roar caught her attention, it was a roar that was fueled by a fiery rage. She looked her former student in the eyes before slowly nodding, " Very well....we shall discuss this after the festival...goodbye Twilight Sparkle," and in a magical flash, she was gone.
Upon seeing Celestia leave, Twilight collapsed onto the ground and began quietly sobbing, never before had she felt so hurt, Celestia had said it herself, Shade was sick in the head, but she never attempted to help him, and to top it off not only did she make it worse by concealing him away from the world, she also lied about it for all those years. The sound of a window opening caught Twilight's attention, and when she looked up her eyes rested upon Shade, and in his left claw was a sleeping Spike. She rushed over to them and wrapped her hooves around the both of them, " I'm...so glad...your both OK,".
Shade placed his free claw around Twilight and held her close to him, " What did she do, what did she say," he spoke in a serious tone, but at the same time it felt calming to Twilight.
" She told me what you did....what she did to you..it wasn't right, I don't care how bad the crimes you committed were....nopony deserves what happened to you, she also told me about Spike...she had no right to do that," she could feel more tears welling up, but she managed to hold them in.
He lowered his head slightly, " So it is true, this young one...he is mine, damn you Celestia," he gritted his teeth at the thought of her doing the same thing to his offspring that she had done to him. However before he could let his rage get out of hoof, the sound of light sobs caught his ear.
Twilight buried her face into shades chest and sobbed, " Shade...please...please make me a promise, I want you to be happy, after everything that's happened in your life, you deserve to be happy, promise me that you'll stay here, and promise me you won't hurt anypony innocent," tears ran down her face as she looked up at him.
He gave a solemn nod, " I promise," he gave her a kiss on the head and sat down on the ground before wrapping both Twilight and Spike in his wings. " I also promise that no harm will ever come to the two of you, and that Celestia will pay...," as much as Twilight didn't exactly agree with the last part, she knew in his head he thought he was doing right, that and she was too tired to deny it. After a few minutes of laying in Shades embrace, Twilight finally fell asleep, and after she had fallen asleep Shade picked her up while still keeping Spike in his other claw, and proceeded to carry both of them to Twilight's room.
Twilight's Bedroom, Five hours later
Twilight slowly opened her eyes, a slight pain ran through her head but was gone as soon as it was there, she looked towards the window only to see that it was late at night and raining. A small light source caught her attention from the corner of her eye and what she saw made her smile softly. Shade was sitting only a few feet away from the bed with a book in his claws, a small candle aided him in reading in the dark. " Shade..," she said in a slightly tired tone yet she still managed to keep her smile.
Shade raised his head and averted his eyes away from his book to look at the now awake Twilight, " Did you sleep well?,". His tone seemed much more calm than usually, not to say he wasn't calm, but it seemed more peaceful than previously.
She gave a nod in response to his question, followed by a question of her own, " Have you been there the whole time?,". He gave a small nod before looking her in the eyes. " Is..is something the matter?," she questioned, unsure as to why he was looking at her like that.
He gave a small chuckle before shaking his head, " No, I've just been doing some thinking, like, why am I so drawn to you, when I broke free I vowed vengeance against any and all royalty, yet....I felt no hostility towards you Twilight, only a strange warmth,". He closed his eyes and took a short breath, it was obvious that something was going on inside of his head. " The whole time you were asleep I've been thinking as to why, then i noticed something, in a short time I've grown more feelings for you than I had for Celestia in all the years I've known her,".
Her eyes slightly widened, " Sh...Shade, what are you saying exactly," she asked with a slight stutter.
He opened his eyes too look her in the eyes once again, " I won't sugar coat it Twilight Sparkle, I'll be up front with you, I think.. I think that I'm falling in love with you, something I've never done before,".
Twilight's eyes widened, she was at an utter loss of words, she wanted to say no, but she knew she'd be lying to herself if she even tried denying him. She could feel her heart beating faster and faster as she forced herself to admit her feelings, " Shade, I lo-," her confession was cut off by a monstrous tremor that shook all of Ponyville and the surrounding areas. " I don't know what that was, but that can't be good," she said in a worried tone.
" You took the words right out of my mouth," he stated.
She hopped out of her bed and made a mad dash to get outside, but stopped as soon as she saw Shade sitting in the same exact place, " Aren't you coming?,".
Shade then stood up in front of her, " I will, but first i need to make sure Spike is safe, you go ahead, I'm sure your friends are already waiting, I won't be long,".
Twilight looked him in the eyes before quickly hugging him and taking off out of her room and out of her castle, right as she stepped out of the front gate her eyes fell upon something that greatly shocked her. A massive chunk of crystal was sticking right in the center of Ponyville, it has completely crushed the town hall underneath, it was easily taller than the town hall, being at least a story and a half taller than the building that once stood there. " No way," was all Twilight could utter before taking off as fast as she could go until she was in the center of town.
"
In the Center of Ponyville
"
Waiting for her in the center of town was her merry band of best friends, and the first one to say something to the princess upon showing up was Applejack. " There ya are sugar, what took ya so long, we were all sound asleep in our beds when all of a sudden there was this really loud crash and here we are, standing right here in front of whatever this here thing is," the rest of Twilight's friends nodded in agreement.
" Whatever it is, its gorgeous," stated Rarity as she stared in awe at the massive chunk of crystal.
" Maybe its... ROCK CANDY!!," Pinkie exclaimed as she attempted to run near the crystal, only to be picked up by Twilight and placed right back where she was.
Twilight just shook her head at the pink ponies antics. She then placed her attention back on the crystal, and the longer she stared at it, the more something dawned on her. " Girls, I think I know what this is, Shade showed me something he had been placed inside of a long time ago, this crystal is made out of the exact same stuff,".
Pinkie pie had an awestruck look on her face for a moment before replacing it with her usual face, " So you mean theres a HUUUUUUUGE dragon pony thingy inside of that there big rock,".
Twilight could only facehoof at Pinkie's question, " no," Twilight stated.
" Well then spit it out egghead, if it's something dangerous then it needs its butt kicked, and I'm the one whose gonna do it," Rainbow Dash said as she held a confident and cocky grin on her face.
" No would you listen," Twilight said, it was easy to tell she was annoyed by the tone of her voice, but before she could give her friends a proper explanation as to what it was, the ground began shaking violently. Along with the ground shaking, the crystal itself began cracking severely until finally it shattered. Twilight's eyes widened and her pupils shrunk as she stared at what came from within the crystal, " I...was saying...there was something....inside," all the ponies that had came to investigate the crystal all began to slowly back away and cower in fear.
" Wh..what in tarnation is that," Applejack asked in a shaken up voice.
" I..I...I don't know, but whatever it is, it doesn't look friendly. The creature before them was massive, being at least ten feet taller than Tirek was in his final form, it's body seemed to be made of a pitch black stone or mineral as well as being covered in many crystals similar to the ones it was previously encased in, it stood on two legs that held up its enormous upper body, it possessed two massive arms with hands that ended in crystalline claws, its head was the most menacing part, its head was conjoined to its torso making it appear as if it were apart of it, a large horn sat atop of it and on its face rested four glowing crystalline eyes that stared down the ponies that had come to investigate the crystal. .
" Well...you said you were gonna be the one to kick it to the curve...weren't you Rainbow Dash," Applejack questioned, still visibly shaken up.
" I have no clue what your talking about," Rainbow Dash said as sweat poured down her face.
The creature let out an earth shaking roar that along with literally shaking the ground beneath it, caused all the ponies who were there to flee in fear, all except for Twilight and her friends. " Uh Twilight, do ya got any ideas," Applejack said in an intimidated tone.
" I do have just one," her eyes widened as the stone behemoth raised its foot into the air in order to crush the ponies before it, " RUN!!!!," Twilight shouted.
Inside Twilight's Castle
Shade tucked Spike into bed before turning towards the bedroom window, he then felt the ground shake again. " Rest well my son, when this is over you will wake up and know nothing of tonight," he opened the window, spread his wings wide and took off towards the golem that stood in the center of town.
Little did Shade know, Spike was never truly asleep, " please come back safe...dad..,".
Back in the Center of Ponyville
Twilight and her friends had just barely managed to evade being crushed by the stone giants foot, leaving the six friends in clear shock. " That...was close," Twilight wheezed, she quickly shook herself to regain her composure. She quickly spread her wings and took off into the air so that she could meet the stone beast at eye level, " You appear out of nowhere, you frighten the citizens of Ponyville, and you try crushing me and my friends!!, alright you asked for it," her eyes began to brightly glow white and a lavender hue covered her horn. " Leave and never come back!!," she yelled as she fired a beam of magic energy that collided right with the giants face, which resulted in kicking up a cloud of smoke from the magnitude of the blast. Twilight's eyes widened in shock as the smoke cleared, her expression turned to that of a horrified one as her eyes laid upon the stone golem, unscathed by her magical blast, " no way...,".
" Twilight get out of there!!!," shouted Rainbow Dash as she flew at breakneck speeds to push her friend and herself out of the way. The two ponies had just barely evaded a swipe form the golem's massive right arm. " That was too close for comfort," but they weren't out of harms way just yet, at that very moment the beast shot his other arm straight into the air in an attempt to grab the two ponies, and right as it was about to grasp the ponies in its massive grip, three searing hot fireballs slammed into the golem's face, and although ti did not damage the beast, it did draw it's attention away from the fleeing ponies.
The golem turned towards it's attacker, only to see Shade flying in the air at it's eye level, " You know, tonight could've been a nice night, but some giant flatfooted rock freak decided to ruin it, now I'm mad!!!!," Shade lifted his head into the air and opened his mouth sucking in as much air as possible. While Shade was doing this, the golem was reeling it's arm back, readying itself to throw a massive punch right at the hybrid. " Not so fast big guy ," Shade said to himself as he had finished taking in air, " LET'S TURN UP THE HEAT!!!!!," he shouted as he spewed a massive wave of fire from his mouth which quickly consumed the golem into the searing flames. As the smoke from the flames cleared, Shade was in just as much shock at Twilight was when she attacked the beast, " But my fire is hot enough to eradicate stone, grrr, fine you asked for it!!!!," with a single flap of his powerful wings he shot straight into the air, gaining great height before arching in the air and aiming to go right back down towards the golem. Much to Shades surprise a giant had game rocketing towards him from the golem, " No way!!," the massive hand took grasp of the hybrid before bringing him all the way back to the ground and slamming him into the cold hard ground.
Twilight's eyes widened in shock, her eyes began to water out of anger, and out of nowhere she took off towards the golem, her eyes and horn glowing simultaneously, " DON'T YOU DARE HURT HIM!!!!!!! ," Twilight's voice echoed loudly as she got up into the stone giants face before blasting him at point blank range. The power of the blast caused the golem to stumble back, giving Twilight enough room to fly down to where Shade was, the force of the impact practically buried the hybrid under stone and rubble. Right as Twilight was about to dig him out, his claw shot up out of the ground, soon followed by the rest of him, " Your OK!," she gave Shade a tight hug before quickly letting go.
" I'm fine," he then cracked his neck before turning his attention towards the golem, who had finally regained his footing. " It's powerful, I'll give that, but not powerful enough," he let out a deep growl as he spread his wings once more, Twilight watched in awe as Shade's body began to pump up looking more muscular and powerful before, " This is my dragon half taking full control, now the fun is gonna start,". He took off at breakneck speeds towards the stone adversary, reaching the behemoth in no time at all, he lowered his head and slammed it into the golem's chest. The golem let out a cry of pain as it came crashing towards the ground, falling apart upon hitting the earth below, " Too easy....way to easy," shade began scanning the area for anything strange, but by the time he saw what he was looking for, it was already in his face.
The golem's rock solid fist collided with Shade's body, launching him towards the ground, the only thing breaking his fall were the several buildings he got sent through. The Golem had rapidly reformed, this had given Shade no time to react, and after launching Shade through multiple buildings it made chase after him. Unbeknownst to anypony around, Rainbow Dash was flying upwards to the sky, going as high as she could without leaving the stratosphere," Let's see if this boulder brain can take a sonic rainboom!," a cocky grin formed on her face as she kept flying until she reached the distance she needed, " I just need a few seconds, I hope Shade can hold him till then,".
Shade had once again taken flight, this time he was furious, " That's it, now you've done it," he inhaled as much air as his lungs could hold. He then flew towards the golem's face, " Let's see how well you take the heat big guy, " . He spewed a super heated stream of fire form his mouth, hitting the golem at point blank range. The golem attempted to shield it's face with it's arms and began backing away from the hybrid. " If you can't take the heat then get out of the kitchen!!!," the stream continued to pour from his mouth, the stone behemoth quickly became enraged as he could feel his body heating up past it's limits. It lifted it's right arm high into the air, and swung i downwards, smashing right into shade, effectively stopping the fire, and crushing the hybrid beneath his hand at the same time.
Twilight looked in horror as she watched the stone giant crush Shade under his hand, " No!!," she fainted before being able to see what would happen next however.
Back up in the sky, Rainbow Dash had finally reached a suitable height, " Alright big guy, lets see how well you handle sheer awesomeness," her confident grin formed on her face as she turned back towards the earth below her and readied herself to perform the sonic rainboom.
Back on the ground, the golem was sure he had crushed the hybrid, but was surprised to feel that his hand was lifting up against his will. Shade was slowly lifting up the golems hand with his front limbs, using a mixture of sheer strength with his magic to help give him a boost. His eyes flared and began to glow a deep blood red, " Now i'm mad!!!!," he looked up at his attacker, a look of anger covered his face as he bared his razor sharp teeth at the golem, " No more games,".