The Stare, Malevolence of Evil

by Peusterokos

'Some Things Are Not Meant To Be...'

The Stare: Malevolence Of Evil

Chapter 1:
'Some Things Are Not Meant To Be...'

A melancholic atmosphere filled the air of Canterlot Psychiatric Hospital, with the heavy weather outside adding more to the depressing ambiance of the place as a mourning Celestia oversees Patient Room N.013. A faint, but audible weeping cry was the only thing that the Princess could hear while visualizing the dimly light room. This was a tragic thing to hear these word-less ramblings from one of her subjects. The Princess closed her eyes shut, as a tear ran down on her left cheek.

"Diagnosis?" she quietly asked a pony on her side.

"It's complicated, my Princess. He has null brain activity and near total brain damage beyond any possible repair, yet he's there alive and breathing. My colleagues and I earlier have witnessed his physical recovery by his sudden burst of outrage, making him the most remarkable and most disturbing recuperation yet by anypony that has ever come to this hospital in my years of career. In addition, he was diagnosed with a severe case of dementia. It's a surprise that he can even do a single thing such as living with the amount of damage that he sustained." the doctor replied.

With these words, Celestia's heart fell into a deep crevice of sadness. Helplessness consumed her emotions entirely. Her prized student had succumbed into such a state after she had allowed him to leave Canterlot to perform studies, studies that in the first place she should not of allowed. It was her fault that he had become what he is now from whom he was a week ago. After a few moments of deep silence, her eyelids opened.

"Euthanize him. He's gone through a lot, and his soul should be put in peace." Celestia calmly said before trotting away in a slow pace.

The doctor, dumbfounded by what the Princess, his majesty, had just ordered him to do. He stared emptily at the alicorn who had given orders to end the life of a fellow pony, and worse, his patient. When the princess had disappeared from view, he looked down on his note pad held by his magic. A pen came into view and came down to check out a squared space found on the bottom-right corner of the page. This space was reserved for the absolute worse cases, and it was something that was rarely used in this hospital, even less when it's Princess Celestia who gives the order.

[x]-[Euthanize]

Inside Patient Room N.013, the weeping cries had somewhat stopped. Shadow Rush had stopped his deranged spree of uncontrollable whimpering.

"What is your name, sir?" a feminine voice he was now familiar with asked.

(My name. What is my name again? Something. Som...so, Sha....shara-no that can't be right. Shadow Rush, there we go. Shadow Rush was my name. Who...who am I again? I remember feelings, feelings I can't remember the name nor how to describe them. I'm so scared. I don't know why I'm so scared right now, but I just am. I- That's right, I was the student of...of...why can't I remember her name? Ce...Celestial, I think that's-....no, Princess Celestia. I was her student, her prodigy, her protégée. I worked at Canterlot's Magical Archives in the Starswirl the Bearded wing. What was the name of that feeling again? Happy? Joyous? Sad. I'm so sad right now. What was I working on? The dragons, the dragons and their progressive activity onto Equestria. I had to help find a solution. Solution, death is solution now. I can't remember my name. There was something I was looking for, somewhere, what was it? Where was it? The...the....what was it again? The-)

"You've seen it, haven't you?" the feminine voice echoed through his mind.

Thoughts of the events came back flooding Shadow Rush's mind in an instant.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

-A week ago-

Shadow Rush was in Canterlot's Starswirl The Bearded archives, sleeping deeply and drooling on a open tome. Beside him was a large pileup of spell books, scrolls, medicinal reviews and many more works of literature that stood in a pyramid, along with dozens of emptied ink bottles, a few dozen garbage cans filled with crumpled papers and many, many broken quills. His last remaining candle, which was nearly finished itself, shun a weak light over him and the pile of rubbish, while it's flame crackled quietly.

He, and along other scholars, scientists, adept magic users and many more had been given the task to find a solution to a very worrying situation that affected all of Equestria: dragons had seen an explosion in population in the last few years and had formed an army, attempting to take over the land of Equestria as they were now creating havoc and destruction to the neighboring countryside. The last time the land of Equestria had such a concerning problems was when the Elements Of Harmony were still around. The dragon swarm, on the other hoof, was spreading like wild fire throughout the continent, and there were no signs of them retreating from their destructive streak. It would of been so much less of a problem if the Elements Of Harmony along with their vectors hadn't completely vanished nearly a century ago.

A shadow crept into the archive, slowly opening the two-way doors leading into them. It noticed Shadow Rush sleeping on the table, and gave an appealed grunt. The individual closed quietly the doors behind him and tipped topped on his hooves to his target, without making much noise. It dragged behind him a metallic wheel cart, piled up with nothing more but more tomes, books and scrolls. He stopped a few hoof away from the sleeping scholar, unclenched his teeth of the cart's handle, and gave a quiet cough.

"GOOD MORNING, SHADOW RUSH WHO IS SLEEPING!" a shout ringed into Shadow Rush's ears, making him jump out of his seat, violently waking him up.

He looked around, dazed to find the source, and found a dimly lit figure of a zebra standing on his side.

"ZEQUUS, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" he angrily shouted.

The zebra had a good laugh, mocking his friend's sudden awakening. Zequus ran a hoof across his face to wipe a tear, and continued chuckling.

"There there, my friend. I hope I didn't bring your dirty dreams to an end." he continued on in laughter as Shadow Rush gave him a bloodshot glare that could kill.

"Have you found any solution of our situation at hoof, or has our research ended up in another goof?"

Shadow Rush rubbed his eyes slowly.

"No, these books just don't have anything. Nothing that could defeat what is essentially an entire army of dragons, even less to scare them off. It's kind of a surprise to me that I haven't found anything useful in this wing yet." Shadow Rush replied to the zebra scholar as he rubbed his hooves off his eyes and brought in another candle with his unicorn magic, replacing the current one.

"My my, I can't let you have all the credits for finding the possible solution. It just isn't in my notion. Here, I have brought more manuscripts, now we can work together again and prevent further dozing away to unwanted slips." Zequus continued talking as he threw the content of the cart on the table, while Shadow Rush displaced the previous pile of tomes onto the small vehicle.

The unicorn briefly looked outside after he moved the pile away, only to notice that Zequus was not wrong about the current time. The sun was indeed creeping slowly across the sky and sprayed the visible lands of Equestria with it's heart warming glow. He quickly turned his attention back to the upcoming studies and grabbed a few books using his magic, closely observing the spell books.

"Zequus, I've gone through at least half of those books while studying the other nights. Didn't you say last night you'd bring more books the next time you'd see me?" the unicorn curiously asked the zebra, with a slight tune of sarcasm in his voice.

"I had to go through great trouble to get more of these tomes. Perhaps I should return them because my friend here apparently can read dozens of dictionaries in a night and manage to remember everything in his dome. Which is kind of the truth, of what I heard from the rumors that go through the roof." he amusingly nagged his bookworm friend.

"Hey there, it's none of your business of what I do at night when I'm bored. I should maybe mention that you should stop frequently bother the mares working at the library. I should also inform you that some of them are relatives with the Royal Guards." Shadow Rush playfully barked at his zebra co-worker.

The zebra stopped moving for a few moments. Completely frozen to what his friend had said, as he glanced him with a slightly terrified stare.

"Well, it's not my fault. They are such pretty fillies, and I've always been a good colt. Shall we?" Zequus said as he came to his senses before sitting down on the chair across Shadow Rush's side.

"We shall."

The two scholars quickly fell into silence, each grabbing a few books from the pile and set their eyes in the transcripts. As Zequus patiently read word by word the spell book he had in hoof, Shadow Rush had been speeding through the majority of the books, most of which he had previously read. Nothing could catch his attention, not a simple clue of something that could help the dire situation of the dragons swarms invading equestrian countryside.

Nearly an hour and a half had passed since they had both sat down and opened their books and eyes. Shadow Rush still hadn't found anything. Nearly finishing yet another pile of books, he tossed the tome he held with his magic into the examined book pile on his right and gave an exhausting sigh. His attention had quickly faded away with the hours long lecturing, he started to wonder if they'd find anything in any of this magic archives section. He set his mind into something instead. His attention had drawn to birds flying in the exterior, wondering about a few things. Mentally asking question after question, only to mostly answer them with a logical sense. He gave a loud, bored sigh as he continued fixing the exterior.

(Would I ever have the guts to talk to that mare, what was her name again? Who am I kidding, I can't even remember her name, and I never even had the courage to tell her 'Hi how are you doing?' Would she even think the same way about me as I do about her? Why is it so hard for guys like me to find a girl that would be compa-)

Shadow Rush's thoughts quickly faded away as he felt something impact on the side of his head. Yelping at the hit, he turned around to see a less-than-amused Zequus fixing him with serious eyes.

"Shadow, you've got to stop dozing off! Or else I will be reporting your lack of attention to the toff!" Zequus barked to Shadow Rush in a unamused tone. "This is serious!"

"Yea yea, I get it. Your the reason to blame why I'm dozing off so much. Give me a break at least, I had very few hours of sleep and...Hey, what's this?"

Shadow Rush lifted an old and leathery tome that Zequus had thrown on his cranium with his hooves. He brought it to close view with his face. He rubbed a hoof on the dusty cover of the book, revealing it's true colors and the cover.

"The Tome of Forgotten Spells. Written by..." he said as he read the title, his voice fading away when reading the non-existent name of the author.

"Huh, strange. Zequus, where did you find this particular book? I've never seen or heard of it..." he glanced up to look at his zebra friend, who in return also glanced at the strange book, in disarray of what he was seeing.

"I...I do not know. I don't recall picking it up during my scavenging, Shadow." the zebra stuttered, nearly breaking his rhythm

The two scholars stared at each other, examining each other just in case one of them was pulling a prank. After a few moments, their eyes slowly transitioned to look at the mysterious book that the unicorn was holding. It was clear that this was a special discovery: Zequus had somewhat provided the book, and Shadow had, in a way or another, discovered it's possibly important content.

"Here, let me come to you, I will sit down and we'll take a good view." the zebra said, clearly very excited of this discovery as he moved his chair near his friend.

"Ok, here it goes."
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Hours have passed. Back in the Starswirl the Bearded wing archives, the two equines had been sitting down and examining this new tome for hours now. They had made so many discoveries, and they were so excited! Discoveries on oh-so many types of spells, from powerful enchantments to mediocre ones, the most amazing shape-shift spells to the silliest ones. So many interesting things that they had discovered, but none of which could of greatly help deal with the threat.

"This...book...is...AMAZING! How many times have I said it? Hundreds of times? Thousands of times? Zeequs, We've discovered something quite possibly...what's the word...right... AWESOME!!!" Shadow Rush expressed himself in a quite loud manner, but also very gleeful.

"Yes we did, Shadow. But it isn't the time to turn this tome into a hallow. Not yet." the zebra answered back to the unicorn that held a nearly-stupid grin on his face.

"Oh you're always so darn negative, Zequus. Seriously, I sometimes wonder how they ever even accepted you into Celestia's School of Gifted Unicorns. Think of all the possible outcomes of our discoveries that we made today! All these incredible spells! Well, except for the 'Male Proboscis Elongation Spell'. Like, even the name sounds silly. But aside from that: This book is a FREAKIN' GOLD MINE OF MAGIC ADVANCEMENTS! Oh we will soon become famous, Zequus! Think of it, Shadow Rush and Zequus, greatest arcane scientists and saviors of the land of Equestria! We will become more famous than Starswirl and the Elements of Harmony ever combined! Oh, I'm sorry, now I'm just going off tracks again. Better get back to studying." the gleeful unicorn continued his rambling.

"I for one like this Male Enlarger spell, Shadow! Think of all the possibilities!" he said to Shadow, hinting with his eyebrows what he had in mind.

"Oh come on, Zequus, that's just darn wrong! You sometimes are worse than me when your mind goes astray. And why would any mare want to have a stallion with a....what is this?"

After turning a page while talking to his zebra friend, the current page's content had caught Shadow Rush's attention. This seemed to home a spell that seemed quite different from the other spells they had gone through previously. This wasn't a spell, not an enchantment, nor a recite. It was very different indeed, the illustrations of the page seemed to be old, very old, centuries old in the least. Most of the texts seemed to be missing, or have been erased either in time or somepony had intentionally done it.

"The Stare..." the two equines said, as they both spelled the name simultaneously.

"The Stare. A semi-psychokinetic, semi-magical ability that originated from Ponyville. Essentially an animal control spell, it was developed to deter wild and dangerous creatures of the EverFree Forest away during the early years of Ponyville's foundations. It had never been used, and was nearly lost in time, but re-emerged after one of the Elements Of Harmony, the Element of Kindness, had somehow learned to use it. Well known to handle and take care of creatures, some of which were known to be very aggressive, the Element Of Kindness used it on several occasions, and it's been known that this shy pony had been able to scare off timber wolves, dragons, manticores, and the list goes on. The Element had eventually harnessed enough powers to face off and even scare off a cockatrice's deadly stare..."

"...And the information stops there." Shadow Rush finished with.

The two ponies, completely mind boggled from what they just read, didn't put up any expressions. This spell that they have discovered was literally a godsend. It was nearly an coincidence that they had found something so wonder and useful, yet it heavily lacked information from all angles. Why hasn't anypony even bothered to write more details about this wonderful spell? Why wouldn't they? Zequus and Shadow Rush turned to look at each other. They had found it: they had found the solution! The two had smiles slowly creeping on their faces, before they exploded in joyful shouting. They nearly overthrew the table over as they gleefully stood up on their hind legs, shouting, celebrating and hugging each other to the phenomenal discovery of theirs. Although their cheerful celebration soon afterwards receded as they had more important things to talk about.

"Hey, you know what? We still haven't finished the book, maybe there's more information on The Stare in later pages."

Zequus gave a nod, agreeing with the unicorns proposal as they quickly dashed back to their seats and flipped the pages. But it was immediately clear that this booked lacked far more information that it's size promised at first glance. Nearly all of the following pages, at least a few hundred more, had no words nor images inscribed into them. It was a massive and important book, but that was now clearly and improperly unfinished in the shame of this tome's author. Shadow Rush quickly shuffled through the empty pages, desperately looking for any more scribbling, whenever it was about The Stare or not, even if it was just a simple image. After a few minutes of rushing through the hundreds of pages in the book, they had found nothing but something partially written on the back cover's interior. It is what could of been the original author's initials, and is followed by a heavily distorted and nearly erased sentence under it.

- T.[ ]

.̮̣̙̭̒ͥ̔̋.̩͖͓̈̕.̷̳̬̊ͫͣͫͫ͂s̨̡̛̤̙͍̦͕͖̔ͪ̆̔̽͗̿ͩͤǔ̡̟͖̩̯̯͊̀ ̶͉̪̦̫͑́ͬ͝d̚͏͓̟̯̰͎̤̹́ͅͅeͫ̓̃ͤ̈͆ͪ҉̖͚͙͉̯͙ͅy̙͈͈ͮͦo̪͂̄̏ͤ̕̕r̸̷͍͎̯͆̃͂ͯ̓̂ͭ̚t̻̺̥̦̝͔͔͙̮ͪs̆ͬ̊̅҉͞҉̻̮̫̫͚̯͎̘ͅȩ̶̣̠̼̜̬͌̌̋̓͊͡dͪ͏͔̬̻ ̸̨̜̫̙͈͎̟̺̜́ͭͣ͗̒̈͢l̶̦̳͑̎̒̾͡i̮̗͚̰͓͓̗ͨͯ̓͞v̸̢̦̖̯̞̭̘̉̕e̝͈̱͈̯̲ͨ͑ͥͥ̿̒̍͟͡ ̛̛̱̻͇̯̌̀̈́͆̐f̶̡̝̳̜͔̭͗ͨ̓̚o̵̹̤͇̿̋́̀ ͚͐́ͥ͋͜ͅę̻͚͎̲̠̩̜̉̍̈ͦͧ͘c̡̼̦̯͐̅̀̃̉̚͜͠ͅn̜͖̮͇̼̱͕͎̼̄̇̕͡e͚̙̺̼̩̯̱̺ͩ̆̅̐ͦ͘l̦̘̫͈͉̓͒̋o̷̗̣̖̩̯̙̩̗̾͗̐̏̈́͘v̵̗̱̮̰̟̒̿̆͜e͍̭̺̘͗ͫ͊͂̽ͣ̍͌l̷̗̣̺̠͉͚̐̊̉̾͂ͣͫ̉̈́̀ȁ̧̜̤͛͐̌̀̚̚m̩͍͇̺̭̱̰̼̲ͨ̓̉́ ̷̧̘̪̹͖̳̝̅̽̎͛͛͝ͅe̴͈͓͚̺̩̱͎ͪ̋͋͊͒̅h̷͖̱̣̥͖̰̮̜ͯ͆ͤt̮̞̹̄̈́́͋ͅ.͚͍͎̰̳͔̥͛ͪ̃̓̚ ̛̻͚͈͕͚ͥ͌l̴͙͎̙̪̟̺̉͂ͪ̄͢a̱̝̓̇̒̔ͮ́͞t̯̬̬̮̥̯̥͑ͮr̠̣̞̪ͩ͂͊͡͡͞o̧̱͙̫̣͙͈̤͛̃͊͆ͤ̏͂̀m̴̰̩̼͕ͭ̏̓̅́̓͠ ̡͈̱͍̏̓ȩ̛͔̱̼͚̦ͧl̬̰̣͍̼̤̗̣̱ͣ̑̍̏ͦ͌ͪͪ̀͝p̢̩̟̙̪͔̻̹̆ͪ̂͜ͅṃ̴̤ͪ͊i̯͇̙͕̗̦̻̍͐͆͞š̴̶̼͕͖̰̼͗̿ͧ͋̇͜ ̼͕͑͆̋͂ͧ̆ͮͧ̕ë̡̝́̌͑r̩͓̂̌ͫ́ͯ́̽̏a͙͔̔͋͗̈́͠ ̙͔͎̱ͣͣ̈́̚e̦̟̰̗̣͚ͫ̉̚͡wͧͨ̆̌҉̶̜̝̩̹̥̙̟.̢̙̼͌ͩͦ̿̆̏͞ ͇ͬͥ̂s̖̖̼̭̝ͪ͒͐ͭ̆͟u̸̬̲͇ͨ͛͛͗̆ ̷̨̘̟͓͈̝̦͙͇͋͗̄ͫ͌̽̽̅o͉̙͖͍͎͙ͥ̉ͩ͜ͅt̓̏ͣ͆҉̛͉̟̭̣͈̬̲ͅ ̨̖͓͕͗̐̆̀̓͠ͅn̴̉̒̅͒͋́͐҉͙e͉̝̞̦͕ͧ͌̊ę̜̭̭͕̝̊ͅs̵̨̎ͪͣ̾̓̂ͯ̾͏͓̱̤̟̪̦ ̸̵̥͎ͮ̊͜ë̶̦̺̾̍b̨͍̟̗̬͇̣̂̅͗̋ ̻̗̳͈̞̝̗̣̂̉͆̋̿̄ͨ͟͜o̩͚̻̣̩̳̟̣̒ͮͧ̚t̮̙̪͙̤̗̘̅͗̓͒̓ ̬̟̼͚̉̏͆̿̆t̴̻͇̞̲̹̜͂ͨͤͥ̃ͩ͛̔̚n̴̯̹͔̟͇̹͔̊ͩͦ̇̆͞å̶̧̚͏̠̘̳̹̫͎ȇ̡̡͚͇̤͙̫̞̋̏ͣ̓̎̆͢m̙͍͇ͨ̑̓̓ ̬̱̼͙̲̑ͧ̇͐t̨̫̲̹̪ͧ̒ͯ͆͒ͅͅỏ̸̩̜̱̞̮̃͊ͨ̆ͩ͑ͤ͠n̋̾͊ͩͮͣ̾ͨ̍҉̝̖͎̗̗̼͈͇ ̰̮̩͍̄̇̀͜e̵͐ͪ͒̓̈́́ͦ̿͏҉̥r̜ͮa̎͗̍ͭ̎ͮ҉̹̤͇̜́͢ ̬͖͉͓̹̈̏ͫ̀͌̓s͚͈̱̳ͬ̍͞gͥ͊́̐ͯͯ͢҉̙̗̗̙͈̬n͍̩͎̞͚͈͉͉̏͗ͮ́̉͋̂́ǐ̜͇̒͗̈̂ͪ̚̚h̡̧̛̝̳̯̻̫͍ͨ̔̊͂̉͐ͅt̛̩̤͗͑̽͌͒͠ ͎̮̰̭͕ͥ̓̎̆ͪ̄͌ę̽̔͌͒ͧ̓̌͛͆́҉̠͇m̙̼̻͍̫͉͓͗ͥ͂͌ỏ͕̩̗͂͆̀s̷͚ͥͬ̂̏͜.̛̲̂̇̈̔͒͜.̘͉̖̹͕̗͈̟̒ͯͮ̇͝.̹̺̀̾̆̿͜

By reading this partially complete text, an unexpected shiver crawled down to Shadow Rush's spine. Something was just not right about this. But they had it: the solution to this war against the dragons was written down on the last, partially complete page of this tome. Shadow Rush then fell in deep meditation, letting his mind gobble down the amazing information he and Zequus had discovered. His mind worked on how he could possibly find more details.

"Shadow? Shadow?? Shadow!" he heard a familiar voice calling to him in his ears.

His eyes opened wide right afterwards.

"I've got it Zequus! Here, you stay here while you look up a few things about Ponyville and the Elements of Harmony while I'm going to talk with Princess Celestia. I'll be right back soon, she needs to hear this!"

"You now going to WHAT!? Shadow, you can't just go and spread the word out! We aren't even one-hundred percent sure if were on the right about. The page on the spell lacked too many details: no casting requirements, not even a clue of it's magic retails!" Zequus called out to his friend, worried about his friend's actions while they lacked evidence and information that this spell could not be what it was.

As Shadow Rush slowed his galloping pace to a halt, he turned around to look at his zebra friend and smiled to him.

"No worries, Zequus. I'll have this whole thing figured out after I come back after a few weeks from my trip. Besides, I'm Celestia's most prized student. There is just no way that she'll deny me a simple favor."

The unicorn continued his gallop, going through the exiting doorway that lead to Canterlot Castle's majestic corridors. Beforehoof though, Zequus opened his mouth in objection to what his friend had said, but it was too late as for he was already gone. The zebra stared blankly at the swinging doors, completely dazed by his friend's strange behavior. He wasn't such a hasty pony usually. And yet, he had managed to break his cautiousness. Maybe it was the lack of sleep that made him so jumpy. Zequus gave a heavy sigh, as now he was alone to do more boring studying while at this time he could be talking to some good looking mares. He got off his seat and started exploring the archive wing to find anything about this town known as Ponyville and the story of the Elements of Harmony.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

"No. You will not." Celestia said to a grey coated unicorn standing behind her.

"What? Princess Celestia, this is really important for my research! I've got to go to Ponyville to confirm this spell!" Shadow Rush replied, in complete disarray of what hi mentor had ordered him.

Princess Celestia turned and trotted to the interiors of her apartment, without even glancing at her prized and stubborn student. He trotted off the same direction, catching up with the princess as he came to her side.

"But Princess Celestia! This is what could save us from the dragons ravaging our lands!"

"I am not to trifle with such strange magic ever again, nor take any responsibility in letting you, my most prized student, to go to such a lost place in Equestria while dragons are destroying everything that belongs righteously to Equestria! Do I make myself clear?" she angrily said as she turned around to Shadow Rush, before continuing her pacing.

Shadow Rush didn't move a muscle. He had never seen his mentor so angry before, even less angry at him. She hadn't even bothered to wish him good luck nor tell him see you soon as she usually did. His mind flooded with thoughts and questions.

(Oh what could I do? What could I do?! I didn't expect this at all.)

His mind, the intellectual pony he was, clicked with an idea. A desperate, but worthy idea to save his research plans.

"Princess Celestia!" he shouted down the alley as he galloped to her.

The princess stopped yet again her pacing and turned around to see her student running to her.

"Look, I know what I'm asking is very demanding. A few weeks in a town that isn't Canterlot, without bringing anypony with me while dragons are out there, raping and burning everything that is our country is actually something I haven't thought out through. But this spell, we cannot just let it go and pretend it didn't exist. It has to be one of the greatest forgotten spells that possibly exists, and its powers are exactly what you asked us to find: something that could deter away dragons! I've even read that users have been able to deter creatures much bigger and dangerous than dragons! As you said, it is possibly an unknown form of magic, but aren't we willing to use anything to save our people?" Shadow Rush elaborated to Princess Celestia.

The princess lifted her eyebrow, intrigued by what he had said.

"Just...just give me a few days. Give me a week, and I promise I will bring back enough information that we'll able to go to magic testing afterwards. Just please, please PLEASE LET ME GO TO PONYVILLE!" he begged, falling on his knees to meet her hooves as he looked at her with his best impression of puppy eyes he could make.

The princess looked down onto her begging student, staring at him and working out in her mind his pleas. After a few instant, she sighed heavily.

"Shadow Rush, please get up."

"As you wish." he said as he took her command like a soldier.

"You are allowed to go." she finished.

"Princess Celestia, it's only a f- wait, what?"

"You've somehow managed to convince me. We are in a dire situation, and anything useful is always welcomed to be brought forth. The Stare, as you said, is something that does fills up the demands that I've asked you and your fellow co-workers to figure something that could make dragons flee, instead of killing them. We've been fighting this war for well over a year and a half, and the casualties, on both sides keep going up. Except that ours are greatly higher than theirs, and they still come more numerous with each battle. I cannot keep the secret away from my subjects any longer. Soon ponies are going to ask questions about the disappearances of many Royal Guards, and this will be a corner for me and my sister. So this is why I allow you, Shadow Rush, to go to Ponyville. And on a side note, I've always had such a weakness for ponies giving me the puppy eyes." she added, as she gave a wink to her student.

Shadow Rush's face, as it was filled with confusion, grew a smile filled with happiness and excitement. He finally had the chance to explore another town other than Canterlot in this confined life of his.

"But I want to add my share to the game. First, you will not befriend anypony in Ponyville, as it will only slow down your studies. Second, Luna and I will be tracking your every movement during your trip, and your zebra friend Zeequs will have to come along with you on this trip. Third, if we ever notice anything out of place or you compromise the mission's confidentiality, we will personally come to the town along with a handful of Royal Guards and pull you out of there immediately. In addition, a week is all I can give you. You will be permitted to go back to Ponyville if everything goes according to plan. Maybe you'll meet a mare other there that you'd like to revisit her and make a few foals for us." she added, with a comical tone in her voice.

Her student became completely frozen and turned red from blushing so much after hearing his mentor's last comment. His stare had fallen from looking at Celestia's eyes to elsewhere, in hopes to hide his embarrassment.

"Oh Shadow Rush, you've got to stop being so shy when it comes with girls. It is natural for a colt to do something like that eventually, and I did hear from a few sources that a few mares here in Canterlot Castle hinted that they'd really like you to be their pair." Celestia continued with the playful bashing on her student, snickering, while she noticed her comments had made him weep down to his knees in embarrassment.

"Well, have fun in your trip Shadow. Be good and be careful. Your cart is going to be reading in an hour." the princess added some more while she left. Giggles could be heard in the corridor when Celestia came out of view of Shadow. He was heavily embarrassed, and he hoped that no one else had heard this conversation. But he had it, he had his mentor's approval to travel to Ponyville to perform his studies on this lost spell, The Stare. Those thoughts now came back and happiness overwhelmed him as he got up on his legs. This day could not go any better. He ran back towards the Starswirl the Bearded archives, hasty to tell the good news to Zequus.

Author's Note:

As a heads up for the following chapters, there will be some words or parts of phrases that are going to be in a different color. This will be indicating that if clicked on will link to a song found on youtube in order to bring more atmosphere in the story reading. It is strongly suggested that you do so to have a maximum experience in reading this piece of fiction. In addition, the songs should be stopped when a section of the story is cut-off, when another link appears or when they become unfitting, or unless they finish by themselves. Thank you for taking the time reading this, and I hope you enjoy the experience of my first (official) fanfiction on this website.

- Peusterokos1

Comments

[lolers]

your cover image literally scared the be-jesus out of me...
fun story though!