• Published 29th Jun 2015
  • 4,049 Views, 66 Comments

The Dragon's Abyss - DarklordAxel20



All is right in Equestria, Tirek has been defeated, and Princess Twilight is living peacefully in her new home. Things change when a call of distress is sent by her brother, and at the same time a mysterious dragon has arrived in Ponyville.

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Bad News and Settling In

Inside Twilight's Castle

Upon finishing the letter sent to her, Twilight had an expression of utter shock and horror. Spike attempted to grab her attention by shaking her, " Twilight, what's wrong, cmon say something," but despite his attempt to snap her out of it, she still remained where she was, frozen from shock.

Eventually Spike got tired of waiting for Twilight to snap out of it, so he grabbed her tail, and yanked it as hard as he could, resulting in Twilight jumping from the sudden pain, " Ow!, Spike was that called for," she was about to chew him out for what he did, but before she did the thought of what the letter had written on it, hit her, and as a result she suddenly broke into tears, " Oh Spike!..it's terrible, the Crystal Empire, it was attacked by a dragon, Shining Armor, he was...was," she had to get her composure back before continuing her sentence, " Shining Armor was hurt badly, I want to go check on him but Cadence said it would be best if I stayed here,". Spike watched as Twilight slumped down and began crying again.

He hugged the crying princess and patted her head, " Twilight it's gonna be OK, Shining Armor is a tough pony, he'll be better in no time," where as his words didn't stop her crying, it did tone it down a little. In reality, Spike didn't know if Shining Armor was going to be OK or not, he hadn't read the letter, and if it was so urgent that they needed to send a letter, then it must've been serious, he just needed to think of something to say so that Twilight would stop crying, his idea only half worked however. Twilight walked away from spike to attempt to find comfort in a book, and while she was doing that, Spike picked up the letter and began reading it, " Wow....this does sound bad, the dragon that did all this must be huge, or at least really grumpy," a look of concern formed on Spike's face, if the Crystal Empire could barely hold off a dragon like that, what would happen to Ponyville if it showed up, the very thought made him shake, but he stopped when he felt something on his head.

Shade had crawled out of bed as soon as the pain in his side left him, his rather sensitive ears had picked up the sound of someone crying. He stepped out of the room as soon as the sobs traveled from one room to another, and where the crying originally was, sat a young purple dragon, shaking in fear. He walked up to Spike and placed his clawed foot on is head and softly rubbed it, " Whatever troubles you young one, just push the fear to the back of your mind, it can't bother you there," for some strange reason, the tone of Shades voice along with how gentle his touch was, calmed Spike down. Shade followed the sound of the cries, which have seemed to have toned down to jut sniffles, and once he found the source of the sniffles he saw Twilight, who was sitting in a chair and reading a book, tears had stained her cheeks where they had been rolling down, her eyes were puffy from having cried so much. He walked up to the sniveling princess, looked at her and then put his claw on the top of the book to lower it in order to get her attention, " A beautiful princess shouldn't cry you know, your a strong individual from what I can see, what would cause you to sob like this,".

Despite the fact he was practically a stranger to her, Twilight felt a slight warmth from his comforting tone, the fact that he cared at all was enough to tell her that he was a good hearted individual in her eyes. She looked him in the eyes, trying her best ot hold the sniffles back, " It's my brother...he...he was hurt badly, a dragon attacked his home and he was injured....I'm glad he's still alive, if he were I'd.....well i don't know what i'd do to be honest...," Shade saw the tears welling up in her eyes, the last thing he wanted on his claws was a crying princess, so he needed to think fast on what to do.

He gently began patting, " I'm sure your brother is fine, from the sound of it hes a tough individual, you shouldn't worry so much, I'm sure he wouldn't want to see you like this," he wasn't quite sure of what was coming out of his mouth, but it seemed to be working as the sad look left Twilight's face. He inwardly let out a sigh of relief, that was the last thing he wanted to deal with at the moment, but for some reason he couldn't help but feel good about himself for helping Twilight, " That was close, the last thing I need is her sobbing, but at the same time, I feel like I accomplished something in helping her get past her pain ," he wasn't in thought too long, cause while he was thinking to himself, Twilight gave him a quick and unexpected hug.

"Thank you, I know you haven't been here long, but in the time you've been here you've been a better pony to me in a short time than most are in a day, well everypony is really nice to me, but your a special kind of nice," she held a big smile on her face as she hugged Shade. He however was blushing, but he didn't know why, perhaps it was the warmth that Twilight was giving off and it was making him hotter, or perhaps it was something else, whatever it was he seemed to enjoy it. Twilight saw the red on his cheeks, but only assumed he was hot, " Oh, your cheeks are so red you can even see it on your black scales, you must be burning up, perhaps your wound got infected before I could tend to it," Shade sheepishly grinned as best as he could and simply shook his head. He was about to suggest that he go somewhere else, not wanting to bother the princess, when he remembered they were in Twilight's library, he couldn't help but stare at all the books around them, Twilight saw him looking at their surroundings and promptly let him go, " I see you like my library, this isn't all of it, but I still have an impressive collection," She watched as Shade picked out a very old looking book,he eyes widened as he grabbed the fragile book, " Oh wait please do be careful that's a one of a kind and very old,".

To her surprise though, Shade held the book as if it were his own prized book, he flipped from page to page with such fluent movement even for just flipping through a book, " Impressive is correct, I remember there only being three copies of this book in existence," he inwardly grumbled to himself, " And if memory serves me well one of them belonged to myself... ,". Twilight looked at Shade in slight shock, she hadn't known of anypony but herself with knowledge of books like the one in Shade's claws, in fact other than the Princesses the attendants at the royal library, and Twilight herself, nopony else knew of that books existence. " You seem to be an adequate reader, I'm impressed, nopony other than myself has ever loved reading this much," his words brought a smile to Twilight's face, it was rare that anypony had praised her for her love of books, most told her books weren't everything.

Twilight stared at Shade as he flipped through the book, never in her life had she met a stallion, well she guesses that sh should refer to him as one, but never in her life had she met a stallion like him before, " Such a kind hearted and intelligent individual, I wonder if he has a special somepony, oh what are you saying Twilight, you only just met him, besides he probably has more important things on his mind, ". As Twilight argued with herself in her head, Shade moved onto another book, another old one, but not as old as the previous one, he read it with an intrigued expression while Twilight remained stuck in thought. It wasn't until a thought hit her that she was pulled from her inward argument, the thought, introducing Shade to her friends. " Shade, I have a great idea, since your up and able to move around, maybe i could let you meet my friends, you know, help you get accustomed to Ponyville, I mean if your gonna be staying you need to know the area....you will be staying won't you," she looked at him with a pleading look, to be honest she didn't want him to just leave right then and there.

Shade looked at her for a good three minutes, staring at her in awkward silence before finally answering, " Of course I am, what form of guest simply leaves when their hostess is as kind as you are princess Twilight," she could tell he was doing his best to sound formal, why he was, she didn't know, all she knew was his response left a big smile on her face.

" That's wonderful news, now let's hurry, I can't wait for everypony to meet you," despite the fact he didn't want to leave the library, he had to comply, after all. he was the guest of royalty, something he thought he would never be again in his life, but there was something about this princess that was different from all the others he had met, he just couldn't put his claw on it. By the time Shade started pondering the thought, he was already out the door with Twilight holding onto his claw.

Near the Center of Ponyville, Inside Rarity's Boutique

Rarity had invited her friends over to show all of them her new line of clothing, she felt proud as this felt like one of her greatest accomplishments to her, " I'd like to thank all of you for coming for this momentous occasion,". She however was quickly cut off by Applejack who tapped her with her hoof.

" Not to ruin yer moment sugar, but not all of us are here, a certain princess is missin," Applejack only rolled her eyes as Rarity and the others gasped, she was the only one who had noticed that Twilight was the only one of them who hadn't shown up yet.

A certain pink party pony didn't seem to excited about Twilight being late," She said she'd be here, maybe shes just being a tardy pants," where as pinkie did have a point, some of the others had other thoughts in mind.

Applejack was fed up with hearing the squabbling, " Now would all of yah hush up, I bet Twilight just got side tracked, it ain't the end of the world if she don't show up on time, I bet she'll walk through the door at any moment," and as if right on cue, Twilight walked through the doors, " That was was fast," Applejack implied, but she and the other ponies were even more shocked when the pitch black dragon walked in right behind her.

" We're here," Twilight chimed, " now everypony I would like you to me-," she was cut off by Rainbow Dash pulling her aside and stepping where she was getting right in Shade's face.

She gritted her teeth as she stared at the dragon, " Hey pal just who do you think you are following Twilight around, why I ought to slug you right here and now, explain yourself before I get mad," Rainbow Dash said in a rather hotheaded matter.

" Rainbow Dash please just listen to me," but her words fell on deaf ears.

" Not talking huh, well then here I come," She backed up, expanded her wings and launched right at Shade, but instead of hitting the dragon as she planned on, it was as if she passed right through him as she kept flying and slammed right into the dirt. Rainbow Dash along with her friends were shocked to see that Shade was in the same exact place he had been before Rainbow rushed him, as if he had never even moved, " Just, just who are you," she said in a slightly shaken voice.

That's when Twilight stepped in, " That's what I was trying to tell all of you before you went into over protective mode, everypony, this is Midnight Shade, hes a guest staying with me for the time being,". The rest of the main six had a look of shock on their faces which was quickly replaced with regret. Twilight saw the looks on their faces and used her magic to pull all of them to her where she gave them a big group hug, " Girls it's OK, but you need to know that not every suspicious looking pony in town is going to hurt me. The others looked rather confused when she referred to Shade as a pony.

Applejack was the first to speak everypony's mind, " Uh sugar, not to be rude or anything, but hes not exactly very...pony-like,".

This caused Twilight to chuckle slightly, which brought on further confusion to her friends, " That's because hes a hybrid," she saw that everpony, but Pinkie and Rainbow Dash understood her. She rolled her eyes as she began to explain, " A hybrid as in a mixed creature, hes a mixture of a pony, a unicorn to be precise, and a dragon," she watched in an amused manner as her friends looked at the hybrid with bewildered eyes.

" That's correct," Shade said, the ponies were slightly surprised, they hadn't expected the dragon to speak, " My mother was a unicorn, and my father was an unknown dragon who was passing by my home on the annual dragon migration, I possess both the physical prowess of a dragon with the magical prowess of a unicorn,".

Nopony spoke until Pinkie Pie got a sly look on her face and scooted over towards Rarity, " Hey Rarity, you know what that means, it means and Spi-," she was cut off by Rarity placing her hoof over her mouth.

Rarity had a nervous look on her face, " No Pinkie darling we shall talk about no such thing at the moment," she turned her gaze away from pinkie and towards Shade, " Please darling make yourself at home, a friend of Twilight's is a friend of mine, and might i say, your scales are an absolutely breathtaking shade of black, and your eyes, as red as rubies ".

Shade looked at the ground, it had been so long since anyone complimented him on his looks, it felt strange to him," Thank you miss....Rarity was it," She nodded in response giving a smile along with it.

After a few minutes of standing in the same place, he was about to sit down when he felt someones gaze on him, he turned to see the cyan pony who had attempted to attack him when he first showed up, she was inspecting his wings, " These look like some strong wings, you must be a fast flier," he only nodded to comply, " I like that, I'm Rainbow Dash, The fastest flier in all of Equestria, although I'm sure you've heard of me.

He only scratched the top of his head in confusion, " I cannot say that I have, and as for you being the fastest flier, where as I have never seen you fly before, I can say this, there is no such thing as the fastest, cause eventually, there will be somepony faster than you,". Rainbow Dash looked at him with a dumbstruck look on her face, not only did he not know her, but he also doubted her being the fastest, which in her book, was a first class insult.

Twilight came up and put her hoof on rainbow's shoulder, " Rainbow, Shade isn't saying it to be mean or anything, hes just saying you can't be the fastest forever , OK? the last thing Shade would do would be insult you,".

Rainbow Dash soaked in her friends words, before simply nodding, she then looked at he dragon, eyeing him all over , " What about you, are you a fast flier," she asked out of the blue.

Shade just looked at her before speaking, " I wouldn't say I'm the fastest, but I can maneuver well enough in the air, I trained myself by staying out in severe thunder storms and even a hurricane, dodging lightning bolts and holding against the harsh winds," After hearing this Rainbow Dash had a more shocked look on her face, she had heard of ponies flying in dangerous situations to hone their flying abilities, but never once had she heard of one willingly face a hurricane.

" Your something else you know, your like, an even cooler version of a dragon, like a twenty percent cooler version of one,"she patted Shade on the back before walking over to Applejack.

The farm pony looked at her friend with a teasing face and chuckled, " Someponies smitten ain't they,".

Rainbow growled at Applejack, " So I can't call a pony cool without liking them huh, I didn't say anything when I saw you looking at his flank,".

Rainbow's remark caused Applejack to blush deeply, " Oh hush up, you were lookin at it too, hes got a darn nice one," Rainbow Dash bumped Applejack in the shoulder with her hoof, " Hey what in tarnation was that for," but she wasn't getting a response, Rainbow was too busy laughing.

Twilight could only smile as she saw her new friend getting along with her best friends, although she was surprised when she saw Shade walk to the other side of the room. She trotted over to him to see he had a confused look on his face, " Shade, what's wrong, you seemed to enjoy yourself just a moment ago," she asked with genuine worry.

He looked at her before turning his head towards a window, " I was only thinking, being surrounded by so many friendly ponies, it reminds me of when I was young and had friends like this...I'll tell you about it when we return to your home, the memory is too painful to talk about in the current situation," Twilight nodded to him, he replied with his own gesture by giving her a slight smile.

She gave him a smile in return, " Shade, you may be new to my life, but consider yourself my new best friend," She gave him a hug, which surprised him, but because he had experienced a hug from her before, he decided to attempt to return the gesture, sure he was shaky, but he still managed to give her a hug. Twilight's smile got bigger as she took in the warmth he was giving off, " And your welcome to stay with me as long as you'd like,".

His smiling growing bigger, Shade, for once in over five thousand years, felt genuinely happy, " Perhaps I should forget my old life, maybe I can start a new slate, forget Celestia ,".

He kept hugging Twilight before promptly letting go, he thought that now he could start off on a new life, but before he could tell Twilight, a little white filly with purple and pink hair rushed inside towards Rarity, " Rarity, girls, you'll never believe, Princess Celestia is coming to Ponyville to hold some kind of festival,". Everypony looked excited at the thought of the festival, everypony, except for Shade.

One thought went through his head at that moment, one thought that been haunting him ever since he had been freed, the thought of being frozen in crystal and locked away, especially not now that he had finally made friends like Twilight and the others. He rushed out the door and towards Twilight's castle, " S..shade?!, girls i'll go after him you stay here," she made chase after him, something was wrong with him and she needed to get down to the bottom of it.

Author's Note:

Hey there ladies and gentlecolts, sorry if this chapter came out later than I had planned it too, I had to do some home renovations yesterday and most of the day before that. Anyway, I hope all of you guys and girls enjoy this chapter, there isn't exactly any action in it, but there will be in the next chapter, keep reading and I'll be sure to put out the next chapter as soon as possible, oh and I'm always up for taking ideas, so if you guys and gals have any, just send them to me in the message or leave a comment, that's up to you. Well I'll talk to everyone next chapter, later :pinkiehappy: