How would a pony from earth deal with finding himself in a world that is just impossible.
A pony is separated from the one he loves and finds himself in a world that even he knows is impossible. How will he cope with his new surroundings, can he find a way home, would he even want to go home?
Our story begins on a farm in Austin Texas, it was a small farm with cows and chickens and such, but there was only one pony on the farm. The farm was run by a kind man named Bill with a young daughter named Emily, Emily was fourteen years old, she had long brown hair that she would wear in a ponytail. She and her dad lived on the farm while her father’s ranch hands lived in their own houses nearby. This story is about the pony I mentioned. His name was Shadow, he had a dark grey coat with a black mane, tail, and hooves. Shadow was given to Emily on her birthday when she turned twelve. Emily and shadow became fast friends, she loved Shadow very much.
Some nights she would sneak out to the barn where Shadow stayed at night to read stories to him and tell her all about her day, some days when she didn’t have school, she would play with him and run all over the farm. There were days when she wasn’t there and shadow did have to help around the farm by carrying things around the farm or help plow fields. Shadow didn’t mind though, he had a good life on the farm, the two humans took good care of him, but none more than Emily. She would brush his coat and mane and help her dad trim his hooves. She even helped her dad clean out his stall.
Today was a Saturday so Emily had a free day to hang out with her favorite pony. She was wearing a red plaid shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and white tennis shoes. After breakfast, Emily went up to her room on the second floor of the house and grabbed one of her favorite fantasy stories about a world with pegasai and unicorns. Even though Shadow couldn’t read, he could understand Emily while she read stories to him and talked to him. She made her way back downstairs and out the door to the barn. It was a small green barn that was just for Shadow, the other animals had their own pen or barn to stay in. The green barn also had a few farming tools stored in it as well, such as pitchforks, ropes and a bucket or two.
Emily came to the door of the barn and found Shadow inside eating a pile of hay Bill had left for him for breakfast. She smiled at him as he saw her, Shadow let out a joyful neigh upon seeing his best friend. “Hey shadow, It’s Saturday, you know what that means right?” Shadow let out another neigh in response. “That’s right, you and me get to spend the whole day together again, but first, as usual, we start off with a story, it’s one of my favorites, I’m sure you know which one it is.”
Shadow just breathed out through his lips causing them to vibrate and make a kind of flapping noise as if to say, ‘yeah I know which one it is’. Emily took a seat on another bale of hay that was next to the door in the barn. Shadow made his way over and lay down on his belly to hear Emily read the story. Because of these stories, he knew that such creatures as flying or magical horses didn’t exist. It was a nice fantasy though. He just laid there and listen to Emily read him her favorite story for the millionth time, but he didn’t care, he liked the story too.
Emily finally reached the end of the story and it was now time to play. “So Shadow, you ready to play your favorite game?” Shadow got up and gave another joyful neigh. “All right then.” She placed the book on the hay bale where she was sitting, walked up to him and touched her finger to his nose. “TAG, you’re it!” She then ran out the barn with shadow hot on her trail. They ran all around the field, chasing each other down, Shadow would tag her with his nose while she would tag him with her hand. They played for a while until they were both good and tired. They lay on the grass and looked up at the sky to rest, Emily was on her back while shadow lay down on his belly with his hooves tucked under him.
As they lay in the grass to rest, Emily heard her dad call out to her. “Emily, it’s time for our trip to the flea market!” Bill was wearing overalls over a blue plaid shirt and a cowboy hat and boots, he was on the chubby side.
Emily quickly got up and looked in the direction of her father. “Oh, right, I forgot we were going today. Sorry shadow, I’ll be sure to bring something special back for you to make up for not being with you for the whole day like I promised.” They both got up, Emily wrapped her arms around shadow as he nuzzled against her. “I’ll be back later, I promise!” She shouted as she waved and ran to her father.
Bill looked down to his daughter. “You ready to go Emily?”
She answered back. “Yes, but could we get something special for Shadow while were there, I promised to get him something to make up for not being with him for the whole day.”
“Really, now Emily-“
She cut her dad off. “PLEASE dad, you know how he gets when I’m not around, besides, I already promised him I would!”
Bill let out a light chuckle at Emily’s enthusiasm. “All right, well get something special for shadow.”
Emily put on a big smile at her dad. “Thank you daddy, I just know we can find something nice for him.” The two then climbed into an old red pickup truck that looked rather dusty that was parked in front of the house. Shadow just watched from behind the fence as his friend and boss drove off into town for their shopping.
Shadow made his way to another part of the farm to hang out with the other animals while Emily was gone. (In this part of the story, the animals will be talking, but not English, this will be a translation from animal to English.)
Shadow came to the barn where the other animals were gathered, it was a big red barn, all the cows and chickens and pigs were gathered together just chatting up a storm. One of the pigs saw shadow come in. “Hey shadow what’s up, let me guess, Emily and Bill went somewhere right?”
Shadow looked to the pig and answered. “How’d you guess?”
The rooster then spoke up. “Because you never really hang out with us unless Emily isn’t around.”
Shadow then looked to the rooster to respond. “Sorry guys, there’s nothing wrong with you all, your all great friends, it’s just that Emily and me are best friends.”
One of the cows then spoke up. “We know, you and her spend practically every minute together. You two might as well be siblings.”
The whole barn then erupted in laughter at that. Even shadow shared in the laugh. “Yeah, I guess so, anyway, I do like you all, you’re all great friends too.”
One of the hens then spoke up. “You’re not so bad yourself….for a pony.”
Shadow gave her a playful very funny look.
Back with Emily and Bill, they were going through the flea market to get fresh food. Emily was keeping a sharp eye out for something for Shadow. As the father and daughter made their way, something caught Emily’s eye at one of the stands. She quickly rushed over with her father behind her.
On the stand was a beautiful silver necklace with the side of a hoarse head with a small white diamond for an eye. She looked at it with admiration. “Dad, can we get this for Shadow, I just know he’ll love it.” Bill looked at her and the necklace with uncertainty on his face. “I don’t know honey, a necklace for a pony? Pony’s don’t need jewelry dear.”
Emily wasn’t about to give up without a fight. She put on the saddest face she could. “PLEEEEEASE dad, I promised Shadow. This would be perfect for him.”
Bill didn’t stand a chance against his daughters pleading stare, he caved in. “All right, we’ll get the necklace for Shadow.”
Emily smiled so big at her father. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She jumped forward and hugged her dad. He turned to the vendor at the stand. “How much for the necklace?” With the necklace paid for, the two left the market and headed home.
Emily quickly got out of the truck and ran to find Shadow to give him the necklace she and her dad got him. Shadow heard the truck pull into the driveway, as did all the other animals. The rooster spoke up. “Well, sounds like Emily and Bill are back. You might as well go greet her.”
Shadow looked to the rooster and responded. “Are you sure, I don’t mind hanging with you all while she’s here, besides, she’ll probably be busy helping Bill with the groceries.”
One of the cows then spoke up. “Just go, she’s probably looking for you right now.” Shadow gave an appreciative smile. “Thanks guys, you’re the best.” Shadow then ran out of the barn to find Emily. They soon found each other and Emily gave shadow a hug.
“Hey shadow, I’m back, and I got you something neat too, just like I promised.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the necklace. Shadow looked at it and gave out an appreciative neigh at the gift. “I knew you’d like it.” She then put it around Shadow’s neck. Shadow gave another appreciative neigh at the gift. “You’re welcome Shadow.” Emily hugged Shadow again as he nuzzled against her.
A week went by and it was Saturday again. Shadow still wore the necklace Emily gave him, he was in the barn waiting for Emily to come. It was very cloudy out today though, the wind was blowing very fiercely. Bill had seen on the weather report that their area was going to get hit with a big storm.
“I’m sorry Emily, but the storm could start up at any minute, you’re going to have to stay inside today.” Bill had just told Emily that she couldn’t go out to play with Shadow today because of the storm that was here.
“But dad, Shadow will get scared, can’t I just stay in the barn with him.” She was trying very hard to get her dad to let her spend some time with Shadow.
Bill would not budge on this issue. “I’m sorry Emily but the answer is no. He’ll be fine, his barn is very sturdy, I promise he’ll be safe.”
Emily finally gave up after realizing how adamant her father was about her not going outside. “All right, I’ll stay inside.”
Shadow was still waiting for Emily to come as he lay in his stall with the barn door closed. He didn’t know about the storm outside though. After an hour of waiting Shadow was starting to get worried, but before he could make for the door, the whole barn started to shake violently. It seemed to sway back and forth, making it difficult for Shadow to stay on his hooves. Outside the barn, a tornado had appeared and struck the farm. Shadow’s barn was right in the tornado’s path, it shook the barn greatly until finally lifting it up and carried it away from Shadow’s home.
Our story continues in another land known as Equestria, more specifically, a small town called Ponyville. This small town had buildings made of wood with straw roofs. It was a quiet town, but today, Ponyville was having its own weather problems. It was close to morning, but it was hard to tell with the dark clouds and fierce wind blowing over the town. To make things worse, there was a tornado heading straight for the little town, it drew closer and closer, but before it actually hit the town, it faded out and was gone. Morning came and the clouds had dissipated over the town thanks to the pegasai in charge of the weather.
But what was of real importance was a huge gathering near the outside of town close to the town library. Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn with a light purple coat, dark blue mane and tail with a dark purple and pink stripe through it, and purple eyes was at the front of the crowd with her friends. Applejack was an earth pony with an orange colored coat with a blonde mane and tail tied up at the ends with red bands, three white freckles on each side of her face, wore a Stetson hat, and had green eyes.
Pinkie Pie was another earth pony with a light pink coat, a dark pink puffy mane and tail, and light blue eyes. Rainbow dash was a Pegasus with a sky blue coat and a rainbow colored messy mane and tail with ruby red eyes. Rarity was a unicorn with a white coat, violet colored mane and tail styled in curls with light blue eyes. Finally Fluttershy was a Pegasus with a soft yellow coat and a soft pink mane and tail that was rather long and had blue eyes.
They were all gathered in front of a strange green barn that seemed to come out of nowhere, the six ponies mentioned earlier were the ones at the front of the group of other ponies as they were usually the ones to deal with strange things. Applejack was the first to speak up with a country western accent. “Well I’ll be, where do ya think it came from Twilight?”
Twilight answered back with a voice that could very well belong to a teenage book worm. “I’m not sure, it’s like it just fell out of the sky.”
That’s when Pinkie interjected with a bubbly kind of squeaky voice. “I knew something was gonna fall, my Pinkie sense went off just this morning.”
Rarity then spoke up in an accent that could easily belong to any high society socialite. “Well, wherever it came from, it isn’t a very pleasant color.”
Before any pony else could say anything, they all heard a kind of moaning coming from within the barn. Rainbow Dash, with a kind of raspy tomboyish, voice spoke up. “Whoa, what was that, you don’t think it’s haunted do you?”
Fluttershy was a very timid Pegasus with a quiet soothing voice, the thought that this barn that seemed to come out of nowhere might be haunted scared her. “Oh my, I hope not.” The mere suggestion that it might be haunted also scared off all the other ponies as they ran back into town, leaving the six ponies to deal with this barn themselves.
Twilight didn’t believe in ghosts. “Oh pu-lease, there is no such thing as ghosts.” She said to Rainbow Dash. After she said that, another moan erupted from the barn.
Rainbow then spoke up again. “All right then miss smarty pants, prove it, go in there and see what that sound is.”
Twilight gave Rainbow an agitated look. “Fine, I’ll prove you wrong, I’m sure it’s just some poor pony in need of help.” With that, Twilight made her way over to the barn and used her magic to open it up a little for her to squeeze in.
She looked around the inside of the barn, there were ropes strewn about the floor and a pitchfork lying on the ground to the side. Rays of light were shining through holes in the roof which provided some illumination. Twilight called out. “Hello, is any pony in here?” Her answer was just another moaning sound. She looked to the back of the barn and could swear she saw a tail sticking out from behind a wooden divider almost as tall as her.
She quickly made her way over to the back of the barn and found a stallion pony lying on the floor with a dark grey coat and a black mane, tail and hooves with a bucket on his head covering his eyes. Twilight tried to talk to him. “Hello, are you all right?”
The pony stirred and got up, he spoke. “Oh, my head, what hit me, why can’t I see anything?”
Twilight smiled a little at the funny sight. “I think it’s because you have a bucket on your head.”
The pony was a little startled at the new voice. “Huh, who said that, who are you?”
Twilight thought it best to get the bucket off his head before introductions. “Why don’t we get that bucket off your head so we can talk.”
The pony agreed. “Good idea, it’s kind of hurting my head.”
“All right, brace yourself, on three.” Twilight was going to pull it off while the pony tried to push himself backwards. “One.” Twilight took hold of the bucket with her magic, ready to pull it off. “Two,….Three.” Twilight pulled while the pony pushed hard. After a second, the bucket came loose and both ponies fell backwards. Twilight was the first to get up.
The other pony rolled over on his belly and propped himself up on his front legs, he turned to Twilight to give his thanks. “Thank you for helping me get that bucket off-“ He cut himself off as he saw the pony before him. A huge smile appeared on his face and looked as if he were trying to keep himself from laughing, he let out a couple of snickers. He couldn’t contain himself any more. “BWA HAHAHAHAHAHA AH HAHAHA!”
Twilight looked down at the pony with a curious expression as he rolled on the floor through a laughing fit. “Just what is so funny?”
He tried to talk through his laughing. “HA HA YOURE HA HA HA YOURE COAT, AH HAHAHAHA YOUR MANE AND TAIL HA HA HA! YOU LOOK SO SILLY HA HA HA HA!”
Twilight then took on an angry look. “Just what is wrong with my mane, tail and coat?!”
The pony managed to stop himself from laughing so hard but was still snickering as he spoke. “I’m sorry tch, but you look like something from a fairy tale. Let me guess he he he, you are part of some company that dyes the coats of ponies to look more colorful for a little girl’s birthday party and they put a fake horn on you to make you look like a unicorn. HA ha ha, and what’s with those marks on your flank, a dark pink five pointed star with four small white ones around it, ha ha, this is just too rich.”
Twilight was really mad that this pony had practically offended her. “EXCUSE ME, my coloring happens to be natural, my horn is real, and the marks on my flank happen to be my cutie mark!”
That statement sent the pony into another laughing fit. “Cutie mark,…….BAH HA HA HA HA OH MY GOSH, THAT IS TOO MUCH HA HA HA OHHH HO OH HAH HA!”
That was the last straw, she levitated the bucket she helped him get off his head and swung it hard to hit him in the head with it. He fell down on his side and cried out in pain, ceasing his laughing fit. “OW, what did you do that for?” When he got up to speak to her, he saw the bucket floating in front of him with a purple aura around it. His mouth hung open as he saw that same aura surrounding the horn on twilight’s head. “But…..but…..that’s impossible……how are you doing that? You can’t be a real unicorn. They’re just a myth.”
Twilight then lowered the bucket and took on a slightly worried look that maybe this pony had a reason for acting the way he did. “What do you mean unicorns are a myth? Of course were real. Just where are you from anyway?”
“Where am I from?! Where are you from?! How is it your on my farm?.....wait a minute, this is a dream isn’t it? I knew all those fantasy stories Emily read to me was going to give strange dreams eventually.”
Twilight continued with her curious look. “Emily, who’s Emily? I’m afraid your mistaken, were not on your farm. Your barn is just outside Ponyville. And besides, if this was a dream, that bucket to the head wouldn’t have hurt would it?”
The pony's face took on a look of realization. “Your right, but then…..if that’s true……and you’re a real unicorn…..then…..I’m not on my farm am I.” He started to look very sad as his brown eyes started to water. “This can’t be, no no no no NO! THIS CAN’T BE TRUE THIS JUST CAN’T BE, WHERE’S EMILY, WHERES MY FARM, WHERE AM I!” The pony finally broke down and started to cry his eyes out as he lay on the floor.
Twilight started to feel sorry for the pony as she then realized that he had been separated from his home and someone he cared about. “Hey now, it’s all right, I’m sure we can figure this out, look, I’m sorry for hitting you with the bucket. Why don’t you come with me and I’ll help you try to figure this out ok.”
The pony then looked up at her through teary eyes and sniffed. “You-you mean it, you’d be willing to help me after I pretty much insulted you?”
Twilight gave him a big reassuring smile as she spoke. “Of course, I promise to do what I can to help. My name is Twilight Sparkle, what’s your name?”
The pony then got up, still with tears in his eyes. “My name is Shadow, and I’m sorry for laughing at you, it’s just that I’ve never met a real unicorn before.”
“It’s all right, come on, I’ll even introduce you to the rest of my friends.”
Shadow then took on a curious look. “Wait, there’s more of you?”
“Yes, well they’re not all unicorns, one of my close friends is, two of them are pegasai, and two others are earth ponies like you.”
“There are Pegasus ponies too, wow, if Emily was here, she’d have a blast.”
Twilight then got curious at this Emily Shadow kept bringing up. “Who is this Emily anyway?”
He took on a somber look. “She’s only my bestest friend in the world.”
Twilight then took on a reassuring smile. “Well don’t you worry, like I said, I will do my best to try and find a way to get you home.”
Shadow then looked up at Twilight and smiled. “Thanks Twilight Sparkle.”
“Just Twilight is fine.” And so, Twilight took the lead to head out of the barn with Shadow behind her. As they were heading out though, Shadow heard a creaking above them. He looked up and saw a cross beam ready to fall. It came loose and was about to fall on Twilight. Thinking fast, he quickly ran forward and pushed Twilight out of the way just in time, only to have the cross beam land on him. Twilight quickly got up and looked back behind her to see why she was pushed.
When she turned, the site that greeted her was one that filled her with fear. Shadow had just saved her from being crushed from a big heavy cross beam, it was now on top of Shadow instead of her. “SHADOW!” She cried out. She quickly ran over to him to try and push the thing off of him but it was too heavy. She then turned to the barn door and opened it all the way. “GIRLS, QUICK, I NEED YOUR HELP!”
Applejack called back. “What is it Twi, what happened in there?”
“There’s no time to explain, there’s a pony who needs help now!” The girls all rushed in behind Twilight and saw a pony under a cross beam.
Rainbow Dash spoke up when she saw the scene. “What happened in here, is he okay?”
“Please just help me get that thing off of him and get him to the hospital!” The girls all complied, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were going to try and lift it while Twilight helped with her magic. They lifted the cross beam up and Fluttershy grabbed Shadow by the front hooves and pulled him out from under it.
Applejack then spoke up. “Quick, put him on my back, I’ll carry him to the hospital.” Rarity and Fluttershy carefully lifted Shadow up and gently placed him on Applejack’s back. With Shadow now on Applejack’s back the group left the barn and quickly made their way through the town to the hospital.
A Pony Out of Place Chapter 3: Getting to Know You
The girls had just gotten to the hospital and dropped Shadow off, they were all gathered in the reception room so Twilight could tell them about what happened. Rarity was the first to ask. “Now Twilight, dear, who is that stallion, what happened in there?”
Twilight began. “He said his name is Shadow, he pushed me out of the way just as that cross beam came crashing down, he saved me. I think that tornado that hit our town last night might have hit somewhere else as well because he started to panic when he realized that he wasn’t on his farm and home anymore. Not to mention the fact that he was surprised at the fact that I was a unicorn.”
Fluttershy then spoke up. “Oh my, away from home, how awful. The poor dear.”
Applejack then came in. “Gosh, where do ya think he’s from then if’n he’s never heard of unicorns then?”
Twilight answered. “I don’t know, but he also mentioned some pony named Emily. He seemed really upset about being away from her too.”
As the girls talked, the doctor who was attending to Shadow came in to inform them of his condition. He was a unicorn with a light brown coat with a dark brown mane and tail. He was wearing a white lab coat with a stethoscope around his neck. “Hello girls, I have good news. The pony you brought in will be just fine, he just has a couple of bruised ribs, so he will need to take it easy for now. You can come and see him if you’d like, he will be waking up any second now.”
Rainbow spoke up to give her thanks. “Thanks doc. We’d like to meet the pony who saved our friend.” The girls then followed the doctor to the room where Shadow was.
Shadow started to stir from his unconsciousness, his vision was blurry as he slowly opened his eyes and saw an array of blurry colors before him, he could hear voices, but they sounded muffled at first. Within seconds, the blurry colors came into focus and he saw six ponies before him. “Oh, my head, what happened, where am I?” Then he saw Twilight and remembered, he quickly took on a look of panic and jumped out of the bed and curled up in the corner of the room to the right of the bed. “AAAHHHHH, NO NO NO, This can’t be real! Where am I, where’s Emily!”
The girls but Twilight all took on a worried and concerned look on their faces, Twilight calmly approached the distraught pony as he cringed in the corner. “Shadow, it’s ok, do you remember me?”
Shadow then looked up at her and slowly got back up as he began to remember. “Oh, yeah, your that unicorn that found me in my barn. Um…..your name was Twilight, right?
“That’s right, I wanted to thank you for saving me from that cross beam that fell.”
Shadow was still feeling apprehensive as he spoke. “Um, sure…no problem.” But then, something struck him. “Wait a minute, am I actually talking? Am I actually really talking? But how…..I wasn’t able too before…..what’s going on here?”
Pinkie then spoke up. “What do you mean you weren’t able to talk before, you are a pony aren’t you?”
Shadow looked in her direction to answer. “Exactly, ponies aren’t able to talk, how am I doing it, how are you doing it? And where am I anyway?”
Rarity then Spoke up. “Dear, we’ve always been able to talk, why would you think we weren’t?”
Twilight then interjected. “Shadow, just calm down, I’m sure we all have a million questions about what’s going on, but in order to figure this out, I think it best to start from the beginning and tell us where you are from. Is that ok, can you do that?”
Shadow looked over them before he answered, he took a deep breath and began. “I guess I can try. I come from a farm in a city called Austin, it is a big city but also has plenty of open land for farms, it’s the capital city of the state of Texas.”
Twilight looked curiously at him as she had never heard of those places. “I’m sorry shadow, but none of us have ever heard of those places.”
Shadow took on a slightly worried look. “Texas is only the biggest state in the United States of America. Don’t tell me you never heard of it.” Shadow knew all of this because Emily would always share some of the things she learned in school with Shadow.
Twilight just shook her head. Shadows eyes began to widen in fear that he was much further from home than he thought. He raised his head up and cried out. “WHERE ON EARTH AM I!” Shadow then collapsed to the ground, ready to cry again.
The girls all felt so sorry for him that he came to the realization that he was much farther from home that he thought. Twilight walked over to him and put a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “Shadow, I’m so sorry that you got separated from your home, but like I said, I promised to do what I can to try and get you back.”
As she was saying this, shadow started to remember something from back in the barn where she found him, the bucket, she was levitating it with magic that he thought didn’t exist. It was then that he had a thought, he looked up at her with anger in his eyes but still teary. “YOU!” He got up and glared at Twilight as she backed up. “You did this to me didn’t you, with your freaky magic, you brought me here and took me away from Emily! You’d better do something and send me back right now! Emily must be worried sick about me, so you better use that magic of yours and undo what you did to bring me here!”
Rainbow Dash heard enough, she took on an angry look of her own, she quickly flew over Twilight and landed in between her and Shadow. “NOW HOLD ON, Twilight didn’t do anything wrong, you can’t just go around accusing others of something they didn’t do without any proof!”
Shadow’s glare never faded as he looked at the pony now before him. “You do not want my attention right now PEGASUS, I remember Emily reading me fairy tales about how pegasai can manipulate the weather, how do I know it wasn’t you that created that tornado that brought me here to this freaky world away from my home,….away from….Emily.” Shadow was on the verge of breaking down again.
Rainbow saw this and decided to back off a little, she could see he was only throwing around accusations because he was upset at being taken away from his home. Twilight then came up beside Rainbow Dash to try and talk to Shadow. “Shadow, I swear, neither me nor Rainbow Dash had anything to do with you coming here, it had to be some magical accident some unicorn did. I promise you we will figure this out, now why don’t you come with me to my house so we can talk about this.”
Shadow looked up at her with a very sorrowful expression. He then looked away as he spoke. “I’m sorry for accusing you Twilight, and you……..what was your name?”
Rainbow put on a smile as she answered. “My name is Rainbow Dash, and it’s cool, I guess I can understand why you were throwing around accusations.”
Shadow smiled back at her as he gave a little sniffle. “You know, for mythical creatures, you all aren’t so bad.” He gave a little chuckle at that.
The tension seemed to have left the room at this as the other ponies seemed to take on a smile. Twilight thought now would be a good time to introduce her friends. “Shadow, these are my friends I mentioned.” She went around the room and pointed out each one as she said their names. “You already met Rainbow Dash. That there is Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy.” Fluttershy was just hiding behind her mane during the whole scene near the door to the room.
Shadow looked at each of them as Twilight introduced them. “It’s nice to meet you. So what is this building anyway? It’s not like any vetinary place I’ve ever been to, and how come I was in a bed?”
They all once again looked at him curiously, Applejack began to explain. “That’s cus this aint no vet place, this is a hospital, ya know, where ya’ll can get fixed up for when yer sick or hurt. Vets are fer animals.”
It was Shadows turn to look confused. “But, we are animals, hospitals are for humans, not ponies.”
The confusing looks never ended as this continued. Rainbow Dash spoke up. “What’s a human?”
“You……don’t know what a human is? Then that must mean that humans don’t exist here do they?” Shadow had another somber look as he came to this realization.
Twilight then spoke up. “Come on Shadow, let’s go to my place so we can talk.”
Shadow looked up at Twilight as he answered. “Ok.” So the group left the room and left the hospital. As they walked, Shadow noticed that each of the ponies around him had a mark on their flanks. Pinkie had three balloons on her flank, one was yellow while the other two were blue. Fluttershy had three pink and blue butterflies on her flanks. Rarity had three white diamonds on hers. Applejack had three red apples, and Rainbow Dash had a white cloud with a rainbow colored lightning bolt coming out of it.
Shadow wanted to ask them about those marks on their flanks, but was still feeling a little unsettled at the fact that he was in a world full of creatures that he thought were just a myth, as he looked up he saw more pegasai flying through the air, he could swear he saw a grey Pegasus with a blond mane and tail with bubbles on her flank with crossed eyes, that was really unusual to him, not only that, but it had a pair of bags hanging down on its sides.
They continued through the town and Shadow saw something really bizarre that made him stop in his tracks. What he saw was a pair of ponies sitting on a bench next to each other, it wasn’t the fact that they were on a bench that got him, but how one of them was sitting. The first pony he saw on the bench had a pale yellow coat with a dark blue and pink mane and tail with three pieces of wrapped up candy on her flank, she was on the bench with her legs folded up under her like a normal pony lays down. The other pony, which really got his attention, was a mint green unicorn with a white and mint green mane and tail with a lyre on her flank. She was sitting upright like a human, her forelegs coming down to her side with her back legs just hanging off the seat.
The girls noticed his stop and went to see what was wrong, they saw him just standing there with his mouth agape as he stared. Rarity was the first to speak and try to see why he was staring. “Shadow, what is it, what are you staring at?”
He just slowly raised his hoof to point in the direction of the pony on the bench. “How……how is she sitting like that…..that’s impossible.”
Pinkie jumped up beside shadow to explain. “That’s just Lyra, it’s not that strange, all us ponies sit like that in a chair.”
Figuring that it was just another weird thing about this place, Shadow just let it go and continued with the other ponies he met. Eventually they came to a large tree with windows a balcony and a red door at the front with a sign hanging from it that said Ponyville Library. Shadow then spoke up in curiosity at the place. “What is this place, why are there windows and a door in a tree?”
Twilight turned to him to explain. “This is the town library, and my home.”
“WHOA, whoa, whoa, your home, you mean you live in a tree that’s a library? That is just weird.”
Twilight gave Shadow a disapproving look but then dropped it upon remembering he isn’t from here. “Maybe where you’re from, but here it’s perfectly acceptable.”
Shadow then felt a little guilty for possibly insulting the one who was trying to help him again. “Right, sorry, I meant no offense.”
Twilight smiled back. “It’s fine, come on in.” The others had been following along as well as they were very curious to hear Shadow’s tale about where he came from and about these humans he mentioned.
Once inside, Shadow took a good look around the room, the walls were lined with books upon books, at the center of the room was a round table with the carving of a hoarse head. There was a couch set up against the wall with stairs that lead up to a door, Shadow figured it probably led to Twilight’s room seeing as she said she lived here. Twilight then spoke up. “Why don’t you all get comfortable while I get Spike and make some tea for every pony?”
The girls all gathered near the center of the room while shadow just looked around. He soon came to a perch with an owl sitting on it. Since this was the first familiar thing he had seen in this weird world, he figured he might try to strike up a conversation with it. “Hello, my name is Shadow, what’s your name?”
The owl looked at him and responded. “Who.”
“It’s nice to meet you Owlowicous. I take it you’re a friend of the unicorn Twilight Sparkle?”
“Who.”
“Really, that’s interesting. I’m not from around here, but it is nice to see something that seems normal, at least something normal according to where I’m from.”
“Who.”
“Someplace you most likely never heard of as the other ponies here have never heard of it.”
The other ponies in the room were staring in surprise as Shadow carried out a conversation with the owl, while Fluttershy merely looked on in wonder that this pony seemed to be able to actually talk to other animals. Fluttershy was able to communicate with them on some level but never be able to actually understand them like they spoke the same language. Even Twilight and Spike, who was already in the kitchen, had heard what was going on and came out to see for themselves what the noise was.
Spike was a little dragon with purple scales, a light green belly, green spines that ran from the top of his head down his back, had light green frills on the sides of his head where ears would be and stood on two legs.
Shadow soon felt eyes on him, he turned to the ponies and was very curious as to why they were all staring at him. “What, I’m just talking with the owl. Is it considered weird to talk to other animals here or what?”
Fluttershy then rushed forward, her shyness completely gone now, and started to ramble. “Oh my gosh, you can actually understand him, that’s so incredible, how do you know how to speak with other animals?”
Shadow was completely flabbergasted at this sudden change of mood from the pony he saw as shy. He wasn’t sure how to deal with it. “Well,…um…..it’s not like he’s the first owl I’ve met. I mean,….I did have other animal friends on the farm I came from…..can’t you understand other animals?”
Fluttershy seemed to let herself go back to her usual shy self a little as she answered. “Not like how you seem to be able to do.”
“Well, I guess it’s because back where I’m from, I was just an animal as well, I’m still surprised that I’m actually talking like this.”
Twilight finally came in. “And where did you say you were from, I already got the city state and country, but back in the hospital, you said something about earth?”
Shadow then looked to Twilight to answer. “Well that is the name of the planet were on, isn’t it?”
The girls all traded curious glances at each other. Before any pony could say anything, Spike saw the familiar glint of a diamond coming from Shadows neck, he crept closer and saw the necklace around Shadows neck. He began to speak. “Wow, nice little diamond, can I have it?”
Shadow looked down at where the voice was coming from and was surprised to see a big walking talking lizard like creature eyeing his necklace. “GAH, what the hay is that?!” He quickly recoiled at the creature.
Twilight came forward for introductions. “Spike, don’t be rude. I’m sorry Shadow, this is Spike, he and Owlowiciuous help me out in the library, Spike is my number one assistant, he’s a dragon.”
That really seemed to scare Shadow. “A DRAGON, as in really big scary nasty things that can easily burn you to a crisp or swallow you whole in one gulp dragon! Why the hay are you keeping something like that with you! Don’t you know what dragons eat?!”
Twilight chuckled at Shadow’s discomfort as she knew Spike was harmless. “Relax Shadow, yes he’s a dragon, but he’s a baby dragon, and he would never hurt any pony here, besides, I don’t know what you heard about dragons where you’re from, but here, dragons eat gemstones.”
Shadow seemed to calm down at Twilights words. “Gemstones, you mean like rubies and saphires and such?”
“That’s right, don’t worry, he won’t hurt you.”
“Well, if you say so. Um, hello Spike, it’s nice to meet you, uh sorry for my reaction earlier, I’ve just never met a dragon before.”
Spike smiled at Shadow. “Tell you what, you give me that diamond on your neck and we’ll call it even.”
Shadow looked down as he suddenly remembered the necklace, with everything that had been going on, he completely forgot about it. “NO WAY, I’m not giving you this, this is the last thing Emily gave me before I ended up here, she got this for me to apologize for not being able to spend a whole day with her like she promised, this necklace is too important to me and I’m not letting you have it!”
Twilight then interjected. “Spike, I’m surprised at you, you should know better than to just ask for something like that.”
Spike then took on a sorrowful look. “You’re right, sorry Shadow, that diamond just looks so tasty.”
Rarity then came in. “Dear, who is this Emily you keep mentioning, it seems like an odd name for a pony.”
Shadow then began. “That’s because she isn’t a pony, she’s a human, you know, like the ones I mentioned earlier.”
Twilight then spoke up. “Spike could you get a quill and scroll ready, I want to write this down.”
Spike gave a little salute and readied himself to write down what Shadow was about to say. Twilight then began. “So, what do humans look like?”
Shadow began to give the best description he could. “Well, I guess I should start with the human I know best, Emily is 14 years old, she’s about a few inches taller than me, humans walk on two legs instead of four like us, they have what they call arms and hands, like what Spike has, the tallest human I know is Emily’s dad, Bill. He is about 32 years old and is about twice the size Emily is. Humans have hair on the tops of their heads instead of manes, no tail, and pale pink skin.”
Spike was diligently writing down everything Shadow said. Twilight began. “Now, about where you’re from, I’m afraid your mistaken about the name of the planet you’re on.”
Shadow got worried at that statement. “What do you mean mistaken about the name of the planet? This is earth isn’t it?”
The girls all didn’t know what to say as he was sure to really freak out if he knew he was on another planet, quit possibly another dimension. Applejack opted to break the news as gently as she could. “Listen sugar cube, we’re not quite sure how ta break it to ya, but, the name o this here planet is called equis.”
Shadow’s eyes shrunk to mere pinpoints upon hearing this, not only was he in a whole nother country, but another planet as well. “You mean…….this isn’t earth……this is some other planet.”
Fluttershy tried to console Shadow. “Shadow, are you going to be ok.”
Shadow just kept his blank stare as he answered. “I’ll……I’ll be fine, I guess….apart of me already knew I was on some other world, I just didn’t want to believe it since it meant I was that much further from home. I guess this means I’m never going to see Emily again, it’s hopeless. How am I supposed to get home if I’m on some other planet?” Poor Shadow was about to cry all over again. Tears were starting to form in his eyes.
Twilight then had an idea. “Shadow, I think I know some pony who can help.”
Shadow looked at her with renewed hope in his eyes. “Really, who?”
Twilight put on a confident smile as she answered. “Princess Celestia, if any pony can help, it’s her.”
“Who’s princess Celestia?”
“She’s our princess of course, she’s the one who is in charge of Equestria, along with her sister Luna. Celestia is very wise and kind, she’s sure to be able to help you get back home.”
“You really think so?”
“I know so.”
Meanwhile, up in Canterlot, the capital of Equestria set on the side of a tall mountain, princess Celestia was on her way to check on her sister who wore herself out trying a spell out of sheer curiosity last night. Celestia was very tall and towared over her subjects. She had a white coat with large wings and a long horn coming out of her head. She wore a golden crown with a purple jewel at the center, a golden yolk, also with a purple jewel at the center, and golden shoes on her hooves. Her mane and tail wafted in an invisible breeze, they were colored with a light blue, light green, another light blue, and a light red streak in each. her eyes were a beautiful shade of purple.
Celestia made her way to her sisters room, princess Luna, and opened the door to see her. Luna was up and about now, Luna had a midnight blue coat with light blue eyes, her mane and tail looked as if they were made of the night sky itself and moved in an invisible wind like her older sister's did. Celestia began to speak. "Are you feeling any better sister, you should have known better than to try a spell you didn't know anything about."
Luna answered back. "I know sister, I am truly sorry, I was unable to lower the moon for you this morning because of it, I was also unaware of the warning at the end that said if the spell were cast incorrectly, it could very well be irreversible, I am truly sorry for my recklessness."
Celestia never let go of her stern face. "Well, in any case, it seems the spell you used didn't do any harm at the moment. I'm just glad it wasn't anything serious."
"I promise to never do anything like that again sister. It just seemed too interesting to try, a chance to see another world was just too good to pass up."
Celestia then gave a warm smile to her sister. "Well, I suppose I would have done the same thing in my younger days as well. Anyway, you should rest up, you will need to be back at full strength so you can resume your duties."
"Yes sister, I will get a good rest. I will see you when it is time for night."
Twilight had just finished telling Shadow that their princess, Celestia, would be able to help send him home. “You’re sure this Celestia can help me get back home?”
Twilight gave a confident smile as she answered. “Of course, she is very wise and powerful. I should also mention that she rules next to her younger sister, princess Luna.”
Shadow put on a wide smile at this news. “This is great, I’ll be able to go back home and see Emily again!” Shadow then dropped his happy face for a straight one. “I just gotta ask though, I am very grateful for what you are doing for me by contacting your princess on my behalf, but why are you helping me, it can’t be just because I saved you from that falling cross beam, as I recall, you were offering to help me before that.”
Applejack came forward to answer. “Well, while we don’t know what it’s like ta be separated from the ones you love, we can only imagine what it must feel like.”
Rarity then interjected. “Quit right dear, we do have families of our own, I for one would certainly hate for anything to happen to my little sister Sweetie Belle.”
Fluttershy then came in. “We wouldn’t wish anything like that on any pony. So it only seems right to try and help some pony who finds themselves in such a situation like what you’re in.”
Shadow’s smile returned to his face. “Thank you all for your help. I can’t tell you how grateful I am.”
Twilight then began. “Spike, take a letter please, to the princess.”
“You got it.” Spike gave a little salute and produced another quill and parchment, ready to write down what Twilight was about to say.
Twilight began to dictate. “Dear princess Celestia, you may find this hard to believe, but there is a pony here from another world. By some mysterious force, he was whisked away from his home and loved ones and brought into our world, I am sure that you will be able to help him find his way back to where he came from, I ask this of you because he recently saved me from harm, it will take a while to explain, so I will be more than happy to tell you in pony. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”
“Twilight Sparkle, got it. Ok, ready to go.” Said spike as he finished up the letter, he rolled it up and placed a seal on it. Then, to Shadow’s surprise, Spike set the letter ablaze, it turned to smoke and disappeared.
“What the hay did you do that for? I thought you were going to send that to this princess of yours.”
Twilight began to explain. “Relax Shadow, Spike’s fire is magic, any letter he breaths on with his fire is sent directly to the princess, and any letter that she sends comes through spike. He’s like our direct line to the princess.”
Shadow looked on in wonder at this bit of news. “Oh, I see, there was never anything like that in any of the stories Emily read to me.”
Pinkie spoke up out of curiosity. “So what kind of stories did Emily read to you?”
“All kinds of stories, some of my favorites were stories about how these brave knights would go on quests to save a princess in danger, in one of them, a brave knight must fight an evil……” He stopped, he was about to say dragon but he was worried at how the little dragon before him would take the news of a fairy tale where dragons were monstrous evil beasts. “Um, evil beasts that were truly ferocious.”
Fluttershy recoiled a bit at the mention of a ferocious beast. Pinkie was still curious. “What kind of beasts. Don’t leave us hanging, this sounds good.”
Shadow didn’t know how to proceed with this. He figured that if he just described it, they wouldn’t know he was talking about a dragon. “Well, huge beasts with long necks, sharp teeth, massive claws, and large wings.”
Twilight, being smart as she was, could almost already tell what he was talking about. “Shadow, were these beasts in the story dragons?”
Shadow stumbled over his next words. “Well, um, you see….I didn’t…um..the thing is I didn’t know how you would react if I told you that we have stories in our world where dragons are evil.”
Spike didn’t show any real disgust at this news. Twilight smiled as she spoke next. “It’s ok Shadow, you said so yourself that they’re just stories.”
To try and amend the situation further he brought up something else. “Well, not all the stories involving dragons portray them as monsters, in some of them, the dragons are actually good and help the heroes of the story. I think those are my favorite.”
Rainbow Dash then spoke up. “Wow, I sure would like to hear one of these stories about knights and quests and stuff, it sounds awesome.”
Soon, Spike began to look like he was about to burp, he held his claws to his stomach with his cheeks all puffed out, then he let out a belch with a green flame that then turned into smoke. The smoke swirled and finally turned into a rolled up scroll with a seal on it. Spike picked it up and opened it to read it out loud for every pony to hear. “My dearest student Twilight Sparkle, I am intrigued by this bit of news, I believe that I may have the answer as to how such a thing has occurred. Such information would be best explained in pony as well, when I have some free time in three days, I will come by Ponyville myself to see you and this pony. Your loving princess, Celestia.”
Shadow became a little confused at the letter. “Wait a minute, she knows how I got here, well then why can’t she send me back now, why doesn’t she just come here and send me home, why do I have to wait three days to go home?” Shadow was becoming very agitated at this.
Twilight tried to console Shadow. “Shadow, calm down, it’ll be ok, I’m sure the princess is just busy with her royal duties to come see you now and help you, I promise she will do what she can when she’s available.”
This didn’t seem to work. “AVAILABLE, don’t you think that a pony who was taken away from his home is important, apparently this princess doesn’t seem to think so! I thought you said she was a kind ruler, if she’s so kind, then why doesn’t she do something to help me now?!”
Applejack came forward to try and calm Shadow down. “Now looky here sugar cube, bein a princess isn’t easy, she does have a lot of responsibilities to take care of. I realize yer desperate ta get home, but yer just gonna have ta be patient. I promise that when she comes, she’ll look inta tryin ta send ya home.”
After some thought, Shadow figured she was right, he was just going to have to be patient. “All right, I guess I can wait, I just want to get home so bad, I just know Emily must be frantic over my disappearance.” Suddenly, the room was filled with a loud rumbling, the girls and Spike followed the source, it was Shadow’s stomach. He gave a sheepish grin as he spoke. “He he, guess with all this excitement, I forgot that I hadn’t had anything to eat for breakfast yet. I would ask where I can get some oats or hay, but since you ponies are the dominant species here, I’m guessing you have other things to eat.”
Pinkie immediately took charge of the situation. “OF COURSE WE DO, we can go to Sugarcube Corner and throw you a welcome to Ponyville party and you can get something to eat then. I’ll have the party all set up by the time you all get there. BYE!” Pinkie then zipped out of the library before Shadow could say anything else.
Shadow just had to ask something about what Pinkie said though. “What does she mean by a ‘welcome to Ponyville party’?”
Rainbow Dash answered. “Pinkie always throws a party for when a new pony comes to town, or for just about anything else that she feels needs to be celebrated. She’s really good at throwing parties.”
“But why is she throwing me a party to welcome me here, I don’t intend on staying in case you all forgot.”
Applejack then came forward. “There ain’t no fightin it, one way or another, she is throwin you a party and she will get ya to it, so you might as well just come with us and try ta have fun, a good party will help take yer mind of a yer troubles.”
Rarity then came in. “Pinkie really is good at helping others forget their troubles and smile, trust me, you won’t regret it.”
Shadow was a little hesitant but after hearing this, he figured he might as well try. “Well, all right, if you think it’ll help me feel better.” So the six ponies and dragon left the library to go to Sugarcube Corner to the party. But then, another question came to Shadow’s mind. “Wait, how is she able to set up a party so quick, how long does it take to get to this place?”
Twilight began to answer. “Pinkie is always ready to throw a party at a moments notice, it’s just one of those things that makes Pinkie Pie Pinkie Pie. Also, it isn’t far, just a five minute walk.”
Shadow was still amazed at the answer he got, but there wasn’t much he could do, so he just let it go and they went on their way to Sugarcube Corner.
Upon arrival, the building that greeted them made Shadow stop in his tracks. Sugarcube Corner looked like it was made out of a ginger bread house with giant candy canes on the corners, what looked like frosting on the roof and large peppermints along the building. “No way, you have got to be kidding me.”
The group stopped and Fluttershy was the one to see what was wrong. “What is it Shadow, what’s wrong?”
“This place looks like something out of one of those fairy tales Emily read to me.”
Rainbow Dash then spoke up. “Is it one of those stories with those knight guys you were talking about?” She asked with excitement.
Shadow looked to her as he responded. “Sorry but no, it’s a story about these two kids, a brother and a sister, who get lost in a forest and find their way to a house made entirely out of candy and gingerbread. They’re greeted by an old lady who is actually an evil which who tricks the kids into coming into her house so she can eat them. Luckily the kids come up with a plan to escape.”
“OOOh, that sounds like a good one, I’d like to hear more of it.”
“GAH! Pinkie, where did you come from?!”
“From inside the building silly, I was just in there finishing up getting your party ready. Come on, every pony is waiting for you.”
Shadow got confused at her last statement. “Wait, you already have others in there for the party?”
“Of course I do, it wouldn’t be a party without friends to party with. Haven’t you ever been to a party before?”
“Well, I’ve only heard about parties, I’ve never been to one, ponies don’t get parties, were treated as pets or workers on a farm, but I’ve never heard of a pony getting a party thrown for them.”
Pinkie let out a long gasp at Shadow’s statement. “GAAAAAAASP! NEVER, oh my gosh, then we need to make this party extra super-duper special! Come on, let’s get in there and boogie.” Before anything more could be said, Pinkie grabbed Shadow by the hoof and dragged him inside the building.
Shadow couldn’t believe all the ponies in the shop, and the fact that the party was set up so fast. He did feel a little unnerved at all the pegasai and unicorns, it just wasn’t natural to him for ponies to have wings or a horn, he did feel a little uncomfortable around the six ponies he first met, despite the fact they were trying to help him, but there was just so few of them, here they were everywhere. Pinkie then announced to all the ponies that the guest of honor had arrived. “Can I have everyponies attention! Every pony, this is Shadow, he’s new to Ponyville and this is his first party ever, so let’s all give him a warm Ponyville welcome!” The ponies all cheered for Shadow, the situation was just making him feel more uneasy, he wasn’t used to being around so many ponies.
Pinkie then dragged him over to the dessert table where all the treats for the party were laid out while the other girls mingled with the rest of the party. “Here Shadow, have a cupcake, it’s really good.”
Shadow didn’t know what to make of the cupcake, he had seen them before, but because he was a pony from earth, he only ever ate hay, oats, and a few different fruits and vegetables. “You ponies eat cupcakes? I don’t know, I’ve never had a cupcake before.”
This made Pinkie gasp again. “You’ve never had a cupcake either, man, life for a pony on earth must be so sad if you don’t get parties or cupcakes. You’ve just gotta try it!” Pinkie picked up his hoof and put the cupcake in it.
Shadow eyed it for a moment, then he moved it closer to his mouth, opened it up, and took his first bite of a baked good. It was delicious, Shadow had a big smile on his face as he chewed on the cupcake and ate it. But then he realized something. He stopped chewing, looked down at his hoof holding the cupcake, and freaked out. “YAH!” His hoof rotated back to where the bottom of it was facing the floor, causing the cupcake to drop. “What the hay, how did I do that!? My hoof was never that flexible before.
Pinkie looked at him curiously. “What do you mean Shadow?”
Shadow just stared at his hoof as he kept rotating it between where the bottom of it faced the floor and the ceiling. “I’m talking about this! How is my hoof able to rotate like that?! I was never able to move it like this before!”
Pinkie got worried for her new friend. “All us ponies can do that, maybe it’s just another thing you were given when you came here, like your ability to talk like us.”
“Maybe.” He just kept rotating his hoof as he looked at it.
Pinkie then had an idea to try and get him to cheer up. “I know, why don’t you try some punch, it’s really good, it’s my own special recipe.” She then showed Shadow over to the punch bowl and got him to stop obsessing over his hoof. She poured him a cup and hoofed it to him. “Here you go, you’ll really like this if you thought the cupcake was good.”
Shadow then took the cup the same way he took the cupcake, still a little unnerved at his newfound flexibility. “Um…thanks Pinkie.” As soon as he took a drink, his worries seemed to melt away as the drink was just too good for him to be upset about anything. “WOW, this punch IS good. Thank you Pinkie Pie.”
Pinkie smiled at Shadow, glad she was able to help him feel somewhat better. “You’re welcome Shadow, now why don’t you go and mingle with the rest of the party and get to know every pony, I’m sure you’ll make a new friend in no time.”
Shadow wasn’t too sure about that. But he gave Pinkie a smile as he spoke. “All right, I’ll try.” Pinkie then bounded away to mingle with the other party goers. Shadow felt very uneasy now that he was left to his own devices, he didn’t know what to do. Shadow just quietly slunk through the party and found a corner to hide in until the party was over with. He just wasn’t too sure about talking with the other ponies, especially the other unicorns and pegasai that were present.
Alas, he wouldn’t get the solitude he wanted as he saw two ponies making their way over to him, it was the two ponies he saw earlier on a bench, he remembered the unicorn was named Lyra.
The earth pony spoke first. “Hi there, my names Bon Bon and this is Lyra, your Shadow right?”
Shadow just quietly eyed them both before answering. “Yes, my name is Shadow.”
Lyra then spoke up. “It’s nice to meet you, Pinkie tells us that your from another world, is that really true?” Lyra asked with such enthusiasm.
Bon Bon spoke up before Shadow could answer. “Lyra, don’t be ridiculous, of course he’s not from another world. That’s probably some misunderstanding Pinkie made.”
Shadow then spoke up. “Actually, it’s true, I am from another world, and I am very anxious to get back home.”
Lyra’s eyes lit up. “I KNEW IT, I told you Bon Bon, Pinkie isn’t one to lie! So shadow, are there humans in the world where you’re from.”
Bon Bon shook her head in disbelief and facehoofed. “Lyra, not this again, how many times do I have to tell you, humans are just a myth.”
Shadow was a little unnerved that this unicorn seemed to know about humans. “Wait, how do you know about humans? I thought they didn’t exist here, at least, that’s what Twilight told me.”
Lyra got more excited. “So humans do exist where you’re from?!” Lyra was nose to nose with Shadow at this point and he was feeling very uncomfortable.
He answered carefully as to try and not rile this mythical creature before him. “Um…..yes.”
Lyra squealed in delight. “EEEEEEEHHHHH, I KNEW HUMANS WERE REAL! Every pony always told me I was crazy for believing in them but I was right, I knew it, I just knew it!”
Shadow was really scared of the unicorn now. Bon Bon saw the fear in his face and decided to try and amend the situation. “LYRA, THAT’S ENOUGH! You’re scaring the poor stallion!”
Lyra finally calmed down and spoke. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you, It’s just that I always believed in humans and now there’s a pony here who is from the same world as humans. You just have to tell me all about them.”
Shadow wasn’t in much of a talking mood. “I’m sorry but I just don’t feel like talking right now. I’m still a little broken up about being taken away from my home.”
Bon Bon then spoke up. “I understand, we’ll just leave you alone then, sorry about my friend here.”
Shadow gave a weak smile. “It’s ok, it was nice meeting you.” The two then walked away to leave Shadow alone. He just couldn’t keep himself from thinking about home, about the farm, about his animal friends, but most of all….about Emily. “Oh Emily, I miss you so much.” A small tear ran down his cheek at the thought.
Applejack noticed Shadow just sitting in a corner, keeping to himself. She went over to see if he was OK. “Ya all right there sugar cube, you look a little down, how come ya aint minglin with the others?”
Shadow looked up at Applejack as he spoke. “I’m sorry Applejack, no offense to your friends, but the wings and horns on the ponies is a little disturbing to me, it just isn’t natural, at least where I come from. I’m sure your friends are great but I just don’t think I can feel comfortable around pegasai or unicorns. It just seems to make me feel more out of place and remind me that I’m not home.”
Applejack put a comforting hoof on Shadow’s shoulder. “It’s all right Shadow, I can understand.”
Shadow then gave her a curious look. “How do you know what it’s like to feel out of place?”
Applejack gave Shadow a smile as she began to explain. “Ya see surgar cube. When I was a little filly, I thought I didn’t want ta be a farmer like the rest of my family, so I set out for Manehatten to stay with my uncle and aunt Orange, they were rich ponies. Manehatten was such a big city and I was really blown away by the size of it. At first, I thought it was great ta be with my aunt and uncle, but they kept tryin ta make me how they were, all prim and proper, and don’t even get me started on the portion sizes of the food they ate. Anyway, one day I felt so homesick, I swear I felt out of place there in the big city. Then one day, as I was lookin out the window, I saw a big beautiful rainbow pointin home, at that moment I knew what I was meant ta do. So I high tailed it back home to ma family. That was also how I earned ma cutie mark.”
Shadow then perked up a little at that, this was his chance to find out what that mark meant. “So, what exactly is a cutie mark, is it those marks on your flanks, what do they mean?”
Applejack smiled as Shadow seemed less glum since he had something to talk about. Applejack began to explain. “Ya see, a cutie mark is somthin all young fillies or foals get when they discover their special talent, something their good at that separates them from others, once they discover that talent, a cutie mark representing that talent appears on their flanks.”
“Wow, that’s interesting, I guess it goes without saying that there’s nothing like that on earth.”
Applejack chuckled a little. “Say, would ya like it if’n I stuck with ya fer the rest of the party and showed ya around to the others? I wouldn’t mind helpin ya make some more friends.”
“I guess that would be ok, thanks Applejack.”
“not a problem Shadow.” So Shadow and Applejack spent the rest of the party together, Applejack helped shadow get to know some of the other party goers at the party, Shadow did seem to lighten up a little with a friend to help him around, he even started to have some fun as he joined in on the games at the party. It was rough at first since it was strange to play games like pin the tail on the pony and bobbing for apples, but he did have fun.
Soon the party started to wind down and it was time for the party to end, Pinkie Pie hopped over to shadow who was still with Applejack and the others now. “Hey Shadow, did you have fun at the party?”
Shadow looked to Pinkie to answer. “Yeah, I had no idea how much fun a party could be. Thanks for the fun Pinkie.”
Pinkie smiled a big smile at Shadow. “Glad to hear it.”
Rarity then spoke up. “Well this was certainly fun, but I really should get back to my shop, I do have a business to run, I’ll see you around Shadow.”
Rainbow Dash then spoke up. “Yeah, after this party, I’m kinda tired, I’m gonna head home and take a nap, see ya later Shadow.”
Fluttershy then came in. “I should get back to my animals too. Take care Shadow.” The three then left Sugarcube Corner.
Shadow waved his goodbye. “Bye girls thanks for a fun time.” Shadow then turned to the three other ponies still present. “I am kind of tired myself, would one of you mind showing me back to my barn, I’m still not sure how to get around.”
Pinkie spoke up first. “Sorry Shadow, but I need to get back to work here, I’m an assistant baker here. But don’t worry, Twilight and Applejack can show you back.”
Twilight then spoke up. “Come on shadow, I’ll help you back to your barn.”
Applejack then came in. “I’ll walk ya back too. Come on pardner.”
Shadow looked back to Pinkie Pie. “Thanks again for the party.” Shadow then followed Twilight and Applejack out the door, through the town and back to the barn.
Once there, Applejack just had to say something about it. “I gotta say Shadow, that there barn sure is sturdy, able to still stand after gettin tossed around by a tornado like that.”
Shadow just smiled at her statement. “Bill sure knows how to build them.”
Twilight then came in. “Bill is….your friend, right?”
“Yes and no, he is a friend, but he is also kind of my boss, it is his farm that I came from, and as I said, Emily is his daughter.”
“And, what about her mother, I’m sure she’s real nice too.”
Shadow took on a somber look. “I….don’t know. She wasn’t around when I came to the farm. Emily never really talked about her much. All I know is that when she was around, she was very nice and loving.”
Twilight and Applejack began to feel bad for bringing it up. Twilight began to apologize. “I’m sorry, I was just curious.”
“It’s all right, I never knew her, so it’s not a big loss for me.”
Applejack then decided to change the subject. “So, this here Bill fella made this barn himself?”
Shadow smiled again. “Well, not all by himself, he did have help. But he sure does know how to make them sturdy.” As if to demonstrate this, Shadow then walked up to a wall on the front of the barn next to the door and gave it a little buck with one of his hind legs. “See, solid as a rock.” But then, as if to disagree, a loud creaking started up from the barn. Shadow looked back and up at the barn with fear on his face. “Oh no, GET BACK!” He called out as he trotted away from the barn. Twilight and Applejack did as told with worry on their faces.
The barn then collapsed into a heap of broken wood and splinters. Shadow looked at his once wonderful barn as he slowly approached it. He spoke quietly. “My barn……it’s gone. What else can go wrong for me?” He didn’t cry, he just starred at it with sorrow on his face. “Now where am I supposed to sleep?”
Applejack came forward. “Hey now, don’t fret, ya’ll can come stay with me at my farm, I’m sure you’ll feel right at home there.”
Shadow looked to Applejack. “Really, you mean it?”
“Course I do sugar cube. Come on, let’s head over there and get you settled in.”
Shadow had a smile on his face again at the farm pony’s offer of a palace to stay. “Thanks Applejack.”
Twilight then spoke up. “Sorry about your barn Shadow, maybe we could get some ponies to try and rebuild it.”
“That’s OK Twilight, I may not know anything about magic, but I’m willing to bet that it would probably be too much trouble to get me and it back home. I’ll see you later, and thanks again for your help.” Shadow and Twilight waved goodbye to each other as Shadow followed Applejack to her farm.
As they walked, Shadow grew curious as to Applejack’s profession. “So Applejack, what kind of farm do ponies around here run?”
Applejack began to explain. “Well, me and my family run an apple orchard called Sweet Apple Acres. We’re Ponyville’s number one apple provider.” She said with pride.
“An apple orchard huh, do you ever have trouble trying not to sample your own wares when you’re picking them?” He meant it as a joke, but that then raised another question in his head. “Wait, how DO you pick them?”
Applejack chuckled at his confusion. “He heh, we don’t pick em silly, we buck em.”
Shadow raised an eyebrow at this. “Buck em’, what do you mean buck em’?”
“See, we buck the trees and cause all the apples to fall off.”
“That does sound faster than how humans get them down. From what I recall, humans would climb up on ladders leaning against the trees and pick them off one at a time.”
“You serious, dang, that does sound like harder work than how we do it.” It wasn’t long before they came to the farm Applejack called home. “Well, here we are, Sweet Apple Acres.”
Shadow was impressed at the number of apple trees. “WOW, I’ve never seen so many apple trees in all my life, this is amazing. Isn’t it hard to keep up with all these trees?”
Applejack smiled. “Sometimes, but it’s worth it, come on, you might as well meet the rest of the family, but I should probably warn ya about my sister, she and two of her friends are rather energetic at gettin their cutie marks and if’n they see you don’t have one yerself, they may be all over you like bees on honey. Just givin ya fair warnin. My little sister’s name is Apple Bloom, her other two friends ain’t here right now so it shouldn’t be too bad.”
“Thanks for the warning.” The two made their way through the front gate to Sweet Apple Acres and up a hill that led to a large red house.
The two stopped in front of the house and Applejack called out to her family. “COME ON OUT EVERY PONY, WE GOT A GUEST!” From the right side of the house, a large pony with a red coat, a short orange mane and tail and a wooden yolk around his neck came out. He had half a green apple for a cutie mark. The front door to the house flung open and two other ponies came out.
A little filly with a yellow coat and a red mane and tail with a big pink bow on her head came jumping out. An elderly looking pony with a light green coat and a grey mane and tail dun up in a bun came walking out. She had a pie for a cutie mark. Shadow felt a little intimidated by the red stallion as he was much bigger and muscular looking. Applejack began introductions. “Shadow, this here is Big Macintosh,” She pointed to the red stallion, “Granny Smith,” The elderly pony, “And ma little sister, Apple Bloom. Every pony, this here is shadow, he’s gonna be stayin with us fer a while till we can figure out how ta get him back home, that tornado that came by last night struck somewhere else and picked him up with it and dragged him away from home.”
Big Macintosh kept a straight face, Apple Bloom just looked up and began to speak. “Gosh, that’s horrible, well don’t you worry none Shadow, the apple family will make ya feel right at home till you can get back.”
Shadow smiled down at the little filly. “Thank you, I am very grateful for your hospitality.”
Granny Smith then came forward. “Where is it ya’ll are from anyway?”
Applejack came in before Shadow could answer. “It aint exactly easy to explain that, let’s just say fer now that he’s from somewhere very far away.”
Granny Smith spoke up again. “Well, all right then, if Applejack is willin ta let ya stay, I trust her judgment, welcome to our home pardner.”
Shadow smiled at Granny smith as well. “Thank you again. I guess I should at least earn my keep while I’m here, so if you have any chores you would like me to help out with, I wouldn’t mind.”
Applejack spoke up again. “That’s right nice o ya, we’ll be sure ta take ya up on that offer.” So, for the time being, Shadow had a place to stay while in this strange and magical world until he could get back home.
A Pony Out of Place Chapter 5: A Heart Wrenching Revelation
Applejack was giving Shadow a tour of the house while Big Mac went back to his chores, Granny Smith went back to her nap in a rocking chair in the room, and Apple Bloom was following along. “This here is the livin room.” She showed Shadow the first room that they entered from the front door. It had wood floors, a red couch at the center in front of a fireplace, and a currently occupied rocking chair against the wall on the other side of the room. To the left was a hallway and a staircase that led to the second floor of the house. To the right was the kitchen.
Applejack continued. “This here is the kitchen.” The kitchen had light green tile flooring, a refrigerator, a sink next to it on the far wall, and a pantry to the left of the entrance of the kitchen. Applejack then led him up the stairs to the second floor. They passed by a room on the left. “That room is mine.” Apple Bloom pointed out, Applejack pointed at another room on the left, “That’s Big Mac’s,” Applejack pointed out another room on the right, “That’s my room,” Finally a room at the end of the hall on the second floor on the left. “And this here will be your room.” Applejack opened the door to the room so Shadow could see it.
Shadow walked in with Applejack and Apple Bloom behind him. The room had a bed at the center against the wall on the right side of the room with a nightstand and a small lamp. On the left side of the room was a door. Applejack then spoke up. “That’s the bathroom, it’s got all the comforts a pony will need.”
Shadow was curious at that expression. “What do you mean all the comforts a pony will need?”
Applejack had forgotten for a moment that Shadow might not have had all the things that she and all the other ponies here had. She began to walk him over to the bathroom to show him. She opened the door and began. “We got a toilet for when ya need ta go, a sink ta wash up, and a shower fer cleanin yerself.”
Apple Bloom then finally noticed Shadow’s lack of a cutie mark as they left the bathroom. “Oh ma gosh, you don’t have a cutie mark?! How come you don’t have a cutie mark mister?”
Shadow looked down at the little filly, wondering if she would understand that he was from another world. “Well, you see, where I come from, ponies don’t get cutie marks. I’m sure it sounds strange to you, but that’s how it.”
Apple Bloom spoke up again. “Where are you from, how come no pony gets cutie marks where yer from?”
Applejack then interjected. “Now Apple Bloom, don’t go pesterin him, he’s had a rough day and he don’t need ya pepperin him with questions about cutie marks.” She was giving Apple Bloom a stern look.
Apple Bloom recoiled a bit from her sister. “I’m sorry mister, ah was only curious.”
Shadow looked to Applejack, then back to Apple Bloom and smiled a little. “It’s fine, I don’t mind, it’s just not exactly easy to explain. You see, I’m from another world and, through some magical mishap, was taken from my home and brought here. Thanks to one of your big sister’s friends, Twilight, Princess….Celestia was it,” He looked to Applejack for confirmation, she nodded. “Princess Celestia is aware of my situation and said she would be able to help, but it will be three days before she can come here and help me. So your sister here was kind enough to offer me a place to stay until then, which is why I’m here.”
Apple Bloom looked upon Shadow with wonder. “Another world, NO WAY, that’s amazin. What’s this other world like, are the ponies there any different than us, what are they like, are they friendly?”
Applejack cut in before Apple Bloom could ask another question. “APPLE BLOOM! Now that’s enough, ya don’t need ta be pesterin him about his home!”
Apple Bloom recoiled again, Shadow felt sorry for the little filly. “It’s ok Applejack, I don’t mind, really.” He said with a kind of sheepish grin. “I really don’t want to be a cause for you two to get in an argument.”
Applejack looked to Shadow. “Sorry sugar cube, me and Apple Bloom tend ta argue a bit sometimes.”
Apple Bloom then spoke up. “Yeah, I was just curious is all, I know I tend to get a bit carried away sometimes.”
Applejack looked to her little sister with a raised eyebrow and a smile on her face. “Sometimes?” She said curiously.
Apple Bloom looked back at her big sister. “All right, most of the time.” The two then shared a laugh after wards.
Shadow let out a sigh of relief, glad to see the tension between the two siblings was gone. “Whew, glad that’s settled.” Then a thought crossed his mind. “Applejack, would you mind explaining how the hay do I use those things in the bathroom, the toilet and the shower.”
Applejack gave a smile as she spoke. “Right, I’ll show ya.” Applejack then began to explain how everything worked.
Once the explanations were done, it was about time for lunch. “Well, that’s everythin, I imagine yer hungry right about now.”
As if to answer that question, Shadow’s stomach let out a growl. “I guess I am. What kind of stuff do you ponies eat for lunch around here, usually I just get hay or oats, sometimes even some carrots or apples.”
Applejack answered. “Today fer lunch, me and Big Mac are gonna make us some Apple pie with a side o apple fritters. Yer gonna love it.”
The three then went down stairs where Big Mac was already in the kitchen waiting for Applejack to get started. Applejack addressed Shadow. Why don’t yall wait in here while we get lunch goin.” Shadow just nodded and waited in the living room with Apple Bloom and Granny Smith.
It was an uneventful lunch, other than the fact that Shadow had a bit of a difficult time trying to use the silver ware for eating the pie. It took a few tries until Applejack showed him how to handle it. “Thanks for showing me how to use the silver ware Applejack, that food you and Big Mac made was amazing, I’ve never had food that good before, thank you again.”
“Don’t sweat it partner, glad ya enjoyed the food.” Applejack said. “Now that lunch is out of the way, I’d like ta see how good you can be at apple buckin. Come on outside with me and you can start earnin yer keep.”
Shadow then got up from his seat. “All right, but I don’t know if I can, I’ve never tried bucking a tree before.”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll show ya the ropes, c’mon.”
Shadow then followed Applejack out of the house while Big mac went back to his own chores on the farm. Apple Bloom called out to her sister. “Applejack, me and my friends are about to have our crusaders meeting, I’ll see ya later ok.”
Applejack called back. “All right, you three just better not get inta anymore trouble, ya hear?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll be good.” Apple Bloom then ran off to meet with her friends.
Applejack led Shadow to a tree with Apples on it. “All right Shadow, apple buckin is real simple, ya just turn yer flank to the tree, make sure ya got yer legs lined up with the trunk and kick it with all yer might, like this.” Applejack then demonstrated and managed to knock all the apples off the tree in one buck.
Shadow was impressed. “Wow, I don’t know if I could do that, but I’ll give it a try.” Shadow then made his way over to another tree and lined himself up with it just like Applejack told him. He raised his back legs and buck the tree as hard as he could. Only one apple fell out….and landed on his head. “OW, that hurt!”
Applejack tried to stifle a giggle. “Nice try sugar cube, try again, only this time, try and use a bit more force.”
Shadow gave a determined look as he lined himself up with the tree again. He raised his back legs and bucked the tree with all his might. This time he was successful in his attempt and made all the apples fall into the baskets around the tree. “HAH, I did it, how about that. Not too bad for a beginner huh?”
Applejack smiled at the confident pony. “Nice work there Shadow, you might prove to be a good worker on the farm after all.”
The rest of the day was uneventful as Applejack showed Shadow all the chores he would have on the farm while he stayed. The day wore on and soon the sun began to set. It was now time for dinner. Granny Smith made a nice meal of steamed vegetables and some apple cobbler for dessert. Needless to say, Shadow enjoyed another great meal. “Man, you ponies sure now how to cook, that was a great dinner, thanks Granny Smith.”
Granny Smith smiled at the compliment. “Awe shucks youngin, yer welcome, after how hard ya’ll worked fer us today, ya’ll deserved it.”
Big Mac agreed. “Eyup.”
Shadow let out a yawn. “Oh man I’m beat. You wouldn’t mind if I went ahead to sleep would you?”
Applejack responded. “Course not, ya’ll go on ta yer bed and make yerself comfortable.”
“Thanks Applejack, I’ve never slept on a bed before so this might be an interesting experience.”
Applejack smiled. “Trust me pardner, yer sure ta find a bed much more comfortable than sleepin on hay.”
Shadow then made his way upstairs to the room he would be staying in. Before trying out the bed, he made his way to the window on the other side of the room to look out at the night sky. “Wow, the night sky looks just as beautiful here as it does back home, maybe more so. It’s like I can see all the stars in the sky. Even the moon seems bigger than back home. Don’t worry Emily, we’ll see each other soon.” With that last thought, Shadow made his way over to the bed, he climbed in and managed to get the covers over him with his mouth. “Applejack was right, this bed is better than hay. Good night Emily, wherever you are.” He said as he looked at his necklace. He laid his head down and fell asleep faster than he would have expected, most likely due to how comfortable the bed was.
Shadow found himself back on the farm. There were dark clouds over head blocking the sun. “What, what’s going on, am I home? Then everything that happened must have been a dream.” He thought, joy seemed to be filling his heart as he smiled. Then he heard a voice call out to him.
“Shaaadoooowwww.”
“Emily, is that you?” Shadow thought to himself. He began to look around frantically for Emily.
“Shaaaadoooooowwww.”
He heard it again. “Emily, where are you?” He was calling in his head. He let out a loud whiney to try and signal her. He looked and saw her in an open field waving to him. Shadow put on a huge smile upon seeing her. He started to gallop towards her as fast as he could. But something was wrong, no matter how hard he galloped, he didn’t seem to get any closer. The house started to lift up off the ground as the rest of the ground started to fall away and the sky faded leaving a black abyss. Shadow was too fixated on Emily as he began to get worried as he didn’t seem to get any closer.
“EMILY!” Shadow called out to her. He started to notice the ground give way around him, creating a kind of trail of ground around him.
“Shaaaadoooooow.” Emily kept waving at him with a smile on her face.
Shadow kept trying to run to her, but then the ground under him gave way and he began to fall into the black abyss. Shadow cried out in fear as he saw Emily slowly fade away. “EEEEMILYYYYY!”
He woke with a jump in his bed as the morning light shown through the window of his room. “EMILY!” Shadow was panting hard, he soon realized that he just had a nightmare. “Emily, it was just a dream, but it seemed so real.” Shadow just laid on his belly and curled up on the bed with his head in front of the foot board of the bed as he began to silently weep.
Twilight had just finished her breakfast as she got her saddle bags ready, she was wanting to learn more about the world Shadow came from, and to see how he was doing. “I hope Shadow is doing ok. Spike, I’m going to head over to see shadow and see how he’s doing, can you watch the library while I’m gone?”
Spike smiled at Twilight. “No problem Twilight. I can handle it.”
Twilight smiled at Spike. “Thanks Spike, I’ll be back in a bit.”
Back at the farm, Shadow was still in the room thinking of how much he missed his home, mainly because of the nightmare he had. “Emily, I wish I could see you at least and see how you’re doing.” With that wish, the diamond on Shadow’s necklace began to shine brightly. Shadow looked down at his necklace. “What the hay, what’s going on?” The necklace then shot out a beam of light to the center of the room where a hole seemed to open up. The hole then showed a farm that Shadow knew all too well.
“My home, I don’t believe it.” Shadow smiled as he began to realize that this could be his way back home, before he could react, the scene changed again and showed Emily. “EMILY!” Shadow cried out in Joy, without another thought, he leapt off the bed to the hole only to pass through it and land flat on his belly on the wooden floor of the room. “What, what happened?” He turned around to look back at the hole. The scene then showed Emily with another pony with a white coat and brown splotches and a brown mane and tail, she was hugging it and showing it the same level of affection Shadow came to know from her.
Shadow was stunned at what he saw. “Emily, what’s going on here, why is she…….where did that other pony come from?” He realized that what he was seeing was a kind of window back to his own world, but at the moment, he didn’t care, all that mattered was that Emily seems to have forgotten all about him as he watched Emily with this other pony. “I don’t believe it, I’ve only been gone for a day and already I’ve been replaced, how could she? I thought she loved me.” Shadow’s eyes began to tear over as he watched the scene before him. Emily was hugging and playing with this new pony.
Unable to see anymore, Shadow raced out of the room and the image disappeared. He ran through the hall with tears in his eyes as he passed Applejack.
“Shadow, where ya goin, what’s wrong?” She saw tears in his eyes for a brief moment as he ran past her. She figured something was wrong and decided to try and follow him.
Shadow burst out the front door and ran to the right into the orchard. Twilight was walking up the path at the time and saw shadow run out the door. She was too far away at the time to see the tears in his eyes as he ran, she tried to call out to him. “SHADOW, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?”
He didn’t hear her. Twilight then saw Applejack come out trying to catch up to him. Twilight followed her and caught up to her. “Applejack, what’s going on, where is Shadow going?”
“I don’t know Twi, I was on my way up ta his room to get him fer breakfast when he just ran right past me with tears in his eyes, somethin musta happened that upset him but I don’t know what.” The two just kept pace with each other as they tried to catch up to the distraught Shadow.
Shadow just kept running, trying to escape what he just saw. After a while he got tired and stopped at a hill with a view of the rising sun. He sat on his haunches as he cried. “Emily, how could you, I thought you loved me.” He then took the necklace around his neck in his hoof and looked down at it. A scowl came across his face as he remembered Emilys words the day she gave it to him. He ripped it off of his neck and tossed it behind him.
It landed in front of Twilight and Applejack as they approached. Shadow was too upset to hear them coming. Twilight looked down at the necklace and levitated it up off the ground. She and Applejack were confused as to why Shadow would just toss it like that when it seemed so important to him. Twilight spoke up to get his attention. “Shadow, what’s wrong, why are you so upset?”
Shadow turned to the two with a look of sheer sadness as tears were streaming down his face. He just turned his head back around and began. “I thought Emily loved me, but I was wrong.”
Applejack then spoke up. “What do ya mean Sugar cube, why would ya think she don’t love ya no more?”
Shadow began. “While I was in my room this morning after waking up from a nightmare I had, I was wishing that I could at least see Emily again. When I did, my necklace started to glow and a kind of window or something appeared, it showed me my home, I saw Emily there, but…..she was hugging another pony. I HAVEN’T BEEN GONE FOR TWO DAYS AND ALREADY SHE REPLACED ME! I….I thought she loved me, but……..but..” He couldn’t continue, he just broke down and cried all over again.
Twilight and Applejack couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Twilight put the necklace in her saddle bag for now, she and Applejack made their way over to him to try and comfort him. Twilight was on his left and Applejack on his right. Twilight began. “Oh Shadow, I’m so sorry, I can’t believe this, you made Emily sound like such a wonderful pony.”
Applejack then spoke up. “I swear I can’t believe some pony could be so cold hearted. If she could just up and replace you after just one day, then that just means she wasn’t a friend after all. She ain’t worth sheddin tears over sugar cube.”
Shadow then took on a look of anger as he looked up at Applejack. He got back up on his haunches and looked back out over the horizon as he spoke. He sniffed first. “*SNIFF* You’re right Applejack, if she didn’t really love me, than I don’t need her, all this time I thought we were the best of friends, but if she can just toss me aside like a broken toy, fine, I don’t need her. Twilight, you can tell your little dragon that if he still wants that necklace, he can have it, diamond and all, I don’t want it anymore.” Shadow then turned around and stormed back to the house, his eyes still wet from his tears.
Twilight ran up beside him with Applejack. Twilight had a question for him. “Shadow, how did you see all this again?”
Shadow kept his stern look as he kept his eyes forward. “Like I said, I was wishing to at least see Emily again to see how she was doing and my necklace started glowing and showed me Emily. I don’t know how or why it did, and frankly, I don’t care. I don’t want it anymore.”
Applejack then spoke up. “Well then, what about goin home, do ya still want ta go back despite all this?” She too had a worried expression on her face for Shadow.
“What would be the point, my whole reason for wanting to go back was because of Emily, and now, since she’s pretty much forgotten about me, then there’s no reason for me to go back. Besides, this world certainly seems better than where I was from. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have chores to do so I can earn my keep at Applejack’s place.” Shadow then picked up his pace and ran back to the farm house to begin his chores to try and take his mind off of what he saw, to try and start forgetting about Emily. “I don’t need her, I’ll be just fine here.” He said to himself.
Twilight turned to Applejack. “Applejack, I think I need to get a closer look at this necklace, do you think you can calm down shadow on your own?”
Applejack answered back. “I’ll sure try, I just can’t believe that this Emily would do such a thing with the way Shadow made her sound.”
“I know, I’ll come back later after I’ve studied this necklace.” Twilight then headed back to her library while Applejack was left to contend with an upset Shadow.
She still wore a worried look. “I sure hope I can get him ta calm down a bit.” Applejack then headed for her farm to talk to Shadow to try and comfort him in hopes of helping him feel better.
Shadow was now back on the farm trying to buck a tree to get the apples off. “Stupid Emily, UGH, stupid Bill, UGH, stupid farm, UGH, STUPID TREE, COME ON YOU STUPID APPLES, FALL OFF ALREADY!”
Applejack had come up to Shadow as he was trying to buck a tree. “Um, Shadow, that tree was already bucked, there aint no apples on it.”
Shadow looked at her, then up at the tree and saw that it did indeed have no apples on it. He just gave out a disgruntled sigh and went to another tree, this time making sure there were apples on it.
Applejack tried to talk to him. “Come on now sugar cube, why don’t ya take a break, ya haven’t even had breakfast yet.”
Shadow just looked at her still with an angry expression. “I’m not hungry.” As if to disagree, his stomach let out a rumble.
Applejack tried not to laugh a little. “Don’t sound like it ta me.”
Shadow just kept his eyes forward. “Fine, I’ll join you for breakfast.”
Applejack smiled. “Glad ta hear it, I’m sure a nice hot meal will help take yer mind off yer troubles.”
Shadow silently followed Applejack back to the house keeping his eyes on the ground. Once inside, Applejack saw Big Mac already had breakfast ready. Apple Bloom and Granny Smith were already at the table.
Big Mac turned when he heard them come in. “There you two are, wher’d ya run off ta?”
Applejack answered. “Sorry big brother, kind of a long story. I’ll explain later.”
Big Mac gave her a curious look. “Well, all right. Take a seat and get comfortable, breakfast is ready.”
Shadow took a seat between Apple Bloom and Applejack, all the while he just kept staring down. Apple Bloom noticed the forlorn look on his face. “What’s wrong Shadow, why do ya seem so down?”
Shadow didn’t feel like telling the whole story, so he figured he would just say it was because of the nightmare he had last night. “I just had a bad dream last night.”
“Gosh, is that why ya came runnin outta yer room like ya did?”
He lied. “Yes, it is.”
“That musta been some nightmare then.”
Applejack then cut in but not in a stern way. “All right Apple Bloom, don’t go pryin now, if he don’t want to talk about it, don’t be tryin ta force it outta him.”
Apple Bloom nodded to her big sister. “Alright, I didn’t mean ta pry.”
Big Mac finally served up breakfast and took a seat across from his little sister Applejack and next to Granny Smith. The family talked over breakfast about the things needed to be done around the farm and Applejack going to sell some of their apple products in market today. Shadow just sat and ate in silence while they talked. Applejack then had an idea that might help Shadow cheer up. “Say Shadow, why don’t ya come with me ta town today and help me sell some of our apple products.”
Shadow didn’t seem to hear her at first, but then realized she was talking to him. “Huh, oh, uh, yeah, ok I guess.”
“Great, it’ll give ya a chance ta see the town more and maybe help ya ferget about yer……nightmare.” Applejack almost said your friend Emily there but figured it was best not to bring it up as it would raise questions from her family, and she knew that was the last thing Shadow needed.
Once Apple Bloom was done with breakfast she got out of her chair and went to collect her saddle bags. “Alright, I’ll be headin fer school now, see ya’ll later.”
The rest of the family waved bye to the little filly. Applejack called out after her sister. “Ya’ll have a good day at school now.”
Now with Apple Bloom gone, Applejack figured now was a good time to head out for the market. “Come on now Shadow, it’s about time we headed out fer town.”
Shadow looked up from his position, he just gave a nod, got up and followed Applejack out to the barn to get the wagon stand. Shadow and Applejack loaded up the cart with all the apple based baked goods. Applejack hooked herself up to the wagon and the two made their way into town.
Meanwhile, back at Twilight’s place, she was busy going through her books to try and find out how Shadow’s necklace was able to provide a kind of window into another world. She was starting to get upset when she couldn’t find anything. Spike was also getting annoyed with the search not getting anywhere. “Twilight, can we please take a break, we’ve been through every book that could possibly hold the answer and we haven’t found anything.”
Twilight looked to Spike feeling a little down she couldn’t find the answer. “All right Spike, I just don’t understand how something like this is possible.” She held the necklace in her magic grasp as she eyed it curiously. “Hmmm, I wonder if I could make it work.” She then decided to try it out for herself, so she put it on and began to try and see if she could make a window appear. “I wish to see where Shadow came from.” She said silently to herself. Suddenly, the diamond lit up and shined a beam to the center of the room and the same window shadow saw opened up.
Spike stared in awe at what he was seeing, as was Twilight. She saw a farm before her eyes through the window. “It worked?! It worked, this is incredible!” Her eyes widened in amazement at the sight before her, she was looking into another world. She saw a farm with two creatures standing on two legs before the farm house in the window. “Spike, quick, wright this down!” Spike then began to write down what Twilight described to him what they were seeing for future references. After a while the window faded.
Spike spoke up after a while. “Do you think that was Shadow’s home with his friend Emily?”
Twilight answered back. “It must have been, I did wish to see his home where he came from. The only explanation I can come up with on how this necklace can do that is that when Shadow was brought here through whatever magical means, the spell somehow attached to the necklace and can provide a window to the world it came from.”
Up in Canterlot, Celestia summoned her sister to the throne room to talk to her some more and inform her that the spell she used the other night had indeed done something. “Luna, we need to talk, I know you are already sorry for your actions in casting that spell the other night, and I have already forgiven you, but it seems the spell did indeed do something.”
Luna looked upon her sister with worry and sorrow. “What exactly did it do sister?”
“The spell you cast seems to have brought some poor pony from another world into ours, at the moment, he is in Ponyville with Twilight and her friends. Twilight sent me a letter informing me of this yesterday and I have agreed to come and talk with the pony tomorrow, I would like for you to come with me to meet the pony and explain to him why he is here.”
“I understand sister, I just can’t believe that my actions have caused such trouble. I will come with you tomorrow to meet this pony.”
Back in Ponyville, Shadow and Applejack had the stand all set up now and ready to start selling some apples and apple baked goods. Shadow was still depressed though. Applejack already planned on letting Shadow explore the town a bit instead of helping her in the market, she just used it as an excuse to get him out of the house. “Thanks fer helpin me set up Shadow, why don’t you take a look around town fer a bit, get to know the area and locals a bit more.”
Shadow was a little confused at this. “I thought you wanted me to help you sell some things?”
“I just said that ta get ya out here, I figured if I didn’t, you’d be mopin around the house. You need ta get out there and look around, I just know you’ll be able ta feel better if’n you take a look around and meet some of the other ponies. I’ll be right here when yer done.”
Shadow didn’t like that he was kind of tricked like this, but he knew she did it to be helpful, so he just wandered off to look around the town a bit. He walked along just looking around at all the sights when he heard someone call out. “LOOK OUT!”
Shadow quickly looked behind him and saw a pony falling right for him. It was too late for him to react and the pony crashed right into him. He slowly opened his eyes as he heard a voice call out to him. “Hello, are you ok, hello.”
Shadow looked up from the ground with a groan. “Ugh, what happened, what hit me?” Shadow saw a grey Pegasus with a blond mane and tail and bubbles for a cutie mark. She had yellow eyes that weren’t aligned.
The Pegasus took Shadow by the hoof and helped him up. She began to apologize quickly. “OH, I’m so so sorry, I didn’t mean to bump into you, I wasn’t really looking where I was going, then I noticed a bird in front of me and I had to swerve to avoid it, then I lost control and ended up flying into you. I am so so so so sorry.”
Shadow was a little awe struck at the pony before him. She seemed to have such beautiful eyes, despite the fact that they weren’t aligned. “Oh, uh, that’s ok, no harm done.”
“Are you ok, I didn’t hurt you too bad when I crashed into you did I?”
“Oh no, I’ll be alright, are you ok.” This sudden meeting certainly seems to have taken his mind off of his troubles as he began to talk with this pony.
“Yeah, I’m ok, this kind of stuff happens to me a lot, I’m used to it. Say, are you new here, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before. I work for the postal service of Ponyville so I know all the ponies, but I don’t think I’ve met you before.”
“You could say that, yes, I am new, I just got here yesterday. My name is Shadow, it’s nice to meet you.”
“HEY, you must be that pony every pony is talking about, your that pony from another world right?”
“Every pony already knows about that, man, news seems to travel fast around here.”
“It sure does, it is kind of a small town after all, my name is Derpy Hooves, welcome to Ponyille.”
“Thanks, I already got quit a reception yesterday, thanks to Pinkie Pie.”
“Yeah, she like to throw parties for new ponies, so where are you staying then?”
“Applejack was nice enough to let me stay with her, I was going to try and find a way back home, but something came up and I decided to stay here.”
“Really, what about your family, don’t you have friends there?”
“I don’t mind telling you, but could we go somewhere a little more private?”
“Sure, follow me, we can go to the park.” So Derpy led Shadow through the town to the park so they could talk. Once they reached the park, Derpy led Shadow to a tree near the center of the park.
They sat down and Shadow began. He told Derpy all about where he came from, the friends he had, more specifically Emily, and about what he saw this morning. “So that’s my story, The one person who I thought was my best friend was just someone who only saw me as nothing more than a pet, so I decided that I might as well stay here, my whole reason for wanting to go back home is now gone.”
Derpy looked at Shadow with pity in her wall eyes. “Gosh, that sounds awful, I’m so sorry shadow, I can’t believe some pony would do that.”
A voice out of nowhere came in. “I’ll say, If I had the chance, I’d buck her good. That is no way to treat a friend.”
Shadow and Derpy looked up to see the source of the voice. Shadow saw who it was and spoke up. “Rainbow Dash, what are you doing here?”
“It just so happens that I was taking a nap in this tree when you two came along, I heard everything.” Rainbow Dash then flew down and landed in front of the two. “So you’re really thinking of staying here?”
Shadow answered. “I don’t see why not, so far this place seems a whole lot nicer than where I came from.”
Derpy then interjected. “But don’t you think you might be jumping to conclusions, I mean, things might not be what they seem.”
Shadow seemed to tense up at that statement. “HEY, I KNOW WHAT I SAW! I was gone for one day, ONE DAY, and she already has a new pony to replace me! As far as I’m concerned, I don’t need her, I’m better off here. At least here, you ponies seem genuine in what you say.”
Rainbow Dash then came in. “Well I think that, if you had the chance, you should at least talk to her and give her a piece of your mind and let her know how you feel. You know, really let her have it.”
Shadow then looked at Rainbow Dash. “Your right, when Celestia comes tomorrow, I’ll tell her that I want to at least go back home for a bit just so I can tell Emily off and let her know just how much she hurt me. Thanks for the talk you two, I think I feel a little better than I did before, I’ll head back to Applejack and help her with her sales. I hope to see you again Derpy, and I know I’ll see you again Rainbow Dash. If you run into the others, feel free to tell them about all this.” Shadow had a smile on his face as he addressed the two.
Rainbow smiled back. “No problem, I’ll see ya later, I got some training I need to catch up on.”
Derpy then spoke up. “You’re welcome Shadow, I’m glad I was able to help.”
The three then went their separate ways. Shadow made his way back to Applejack. Shadow got back to Applejack’s stand and saw Twilight there as well. “Hey Twilight, I’m glad you’re here, there’s something I need to tell you.”
Twilight looked to Shadow. “I have something I need to tell you two, after examining your necklace, well……I’m not too sure on how it was able to do what it did, but I was able to make it do it again.”
Shadow then took on a bit of a stern look. “Twilight, I already told you, I don’t want anything to do with that stupid necklace, just let spike eat that diamond and do whatever else you want with the rest. Now look, I’ve decided that I want to go back home just for a while. So when Celestia comes, I would like her to send me back just long enough for me to talk to Emily if I will still be able to so I can tell her off, she played with my heart and I want her to know.”
Applejack both didn’t know what to say to that. Applejack tried to say something. “But what if you find out that this whole thing was just some misunderstandin, wouldn’t you want to stay then?”
“Applejack, I already made up my mind, I’m staying here, I don’t want anything more to do with Emily after I have a chance to confront her, if I get that chance.”
Twilight spoke up. “Well, all right, If your absolutely sure. But I think I’ll hold on to the necklace for now, just in case. I’ll be heading back to the library now, I’ll see you tomorrow Shadow. ”
“See ya later Twilight.” Twilight then left Shadow and Applejack and headed back to her library.
Applejack got curious about how Shadow came to the decision he did about confronting Emily. “So what made ya come ta the decision ta talk to Emily if you could about this?”
“I ran into the towns mail mare, Derpy Hooves, or rather, she ran into me, and I told her all about what was going on, as we talked, Rainbow Dash was up in a tree that me and her were under, it was really both their ideas that I do this.”
“And yer absolutely positive about this?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Well, all right then, just know that whatever happens, yer more than welcome to stay at the apple family house.”
Shadow couldn’t help but smile at that statement. “Thanks Applejack, I really appreciate it.” The day went on with nothing particular happening. Shadow helped Applejack with selling her wares for the rest of the day. Afternoon came and it was time to head back to the farm, this time Shadow pulled the cart for Applejack back to the barn.
“Thanks fer all yer help today Shadow, I appreciate all yer hard work.”
Shadow Responded back. “Thanks, I’m just glad to be of help.”
“Come on in, I reckon Big Mac and Granny Smith have dinner goin.”
“Sounds good to me.” Shadow and Applejack then headed inside for dinner.
The next day had finally come, it was another uneventful day up to the time when the princesses would arrive. The ponies were all gathered at Twilight’s place and awaiting the arrival of Celestia and Luna, however, they didn’t know Luna was coming yet. Thanks to Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie had all been informed of what Shadow had seen and been through. Needless to say, they were all horrified and left in shock at the fact that someone could seem so heartless as to forget a friend after only one day.
Shadow began to speak to the ponies there. “Look every pony, I appreciate the concern but I’ll be fine, when Celestia gets here I will tell her what I intend to go through with. You have all been better friends then I could have hoped for in just three days and I am not about to go back to a place where friends are fake.”
Pinkie spoke up. “I don’t blame you, I sure wouldn’t want to be with some pony who didn’t really like me. Emily is just a big fat meanie mean pants.”
Rarity agreed. “Quite right, no pony should be fake with their feelings like that.”
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. “I got it.” Spike ran to answer and see who it was. He opened the door only to see Celestia and Luna standing before him. “Princesses, welcome, come on in.” Spike gave a quick bow before stepping aside to let the princesses in.
Celestia gave her greeting to Spike. “Hello Spike, it’s good to see you.”
Celestia and Luna made their way in. Twilight was the first to say her hello. “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, welcome, it’s good to see you.” The ponies all gave a respectable bow before the princesses, except for Shadow, who was awe struck before the two alicorns in front of him.
He couldn’t believe that such beings were standing right in front of him. He had never imagined that he would be standing in the presence of such creatures that were rare even in fairy tales. He didn’t know what to say or how to respond. He just stood there staring at them. Twilight noticed and tried to get his attention. “Shadow, are you okay?”
Nothing, Celestia and Luna took notice at the fact that they were being stared at. Celestia couldn’t help but chuckle a little as she quickly realized that this pony must be the one she was informed of and came to meet. Celestia finally spoke up. “Greetings my little ponies, it’s always good to see you, and I take it this is the pony you told me about Twilight?”
Twilight looked to Celestia to answer. “Yes, he is, I apologize for his staring, he’s never seen an alicorn before. His name is Shadow princess.”
This time Luna and Celestia let out a slight giggle. “It’s alright Twilight, I suppose you’re all wondering why Luna is here as well, why don’t we start off with an explanation as to what happened upon your arrival Shadow.”
Shadow quickly shook his head to regain his senses. “Oh, uh, yeah, ok um, well….I....I….I.” He couldn’t speak, he was just too amazed at Celestia and Luna.
Twilight then cut in. “Um, maybe I should tell it. It seems he’s too stunned at the moment.” Twilight then began to tell about all that happened from Shadow’s arrival up to now. She did leave out the part about him wanting to go back temporarily so he could talk to Emily and live in Equestria. “And that’s what happened. So will you be able to send him home?”
Celestia began. “Well, I think that is up for Luna to tell.”
The group was a little confused at this. Luna stepped forward and began to tell the ponies in the room what she had to say. “Shadow, it is my fault you are here.”
The girls all let out a collective ‘WHAT’ at this bit of news. Shadow just looked shocked.
Luna continued. “You see, on the morning that you arrived here, I found a spell that would allow me to see into another world, I was just so curious I went ahead and tried to cast it, however I did it wrong. It is because of me that you are now here and have been taken away from your home. I am truly sorry for this and I only hope you can forgive me for my reckless behavior.”
Shadow was still at a loss for words, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, this alicorn, a creature of which he had never even heard of was apologizing to him. After a moment of so many thoughts going through his head, he started to go through what he felt, anger that it was her fault he was taken away from home, but then odd that because of this he found out that Emily didn’t really care about him, and confusion at the fact that a princess was apologizing to him. Finally, after a minute of thinking, he finally found the words to speak. “Princess Luna, I forgive you for this, if it wasn’t for your actions, I may never have found out that the friend I thought I had was a fake.”
Now Celestia and Luna was confused. Celestia asked first. “What do you mean Shadow?”
Shadow then began to explain the incident with his necklace. “That’s why, after some major thinking, I decided that I would very much like to stay here, as it turns out, I don’t have a real home, and the ponies here have been very nice to me. But if it is possible, I would like to be able to at least go back to my world temporarily and keep my ability to speak so I can talk to Emily and tell her how I feel. Let her know that she really hurt me, I need closure.”
Luna then began. “Well, the thing is that since I didn’t cast the spell correctly, you are stuck here anyway. There was a warning in the spell that said if it wasn’t cast correctly, any side effects that occur would be irreversible. As it turns out though, there is a spell that could send you back temporarily, it’s a kind of a spell that let’s one visit another world for a few minutes and then you will be taken back to the world you came from. Since it is a different spell, it is a kind of loop hole in the whole permanent thing from the spell that brought you here.”
“So, if you use the spell to send me to my world temporarily, would I still be able to talk?”
“I believe so, yes.”
“All right then, Twilight, would you give me my necklace, I’m just going to give it back to Emily as a goodbye gift to let her know how much she hurt me.”
Twilight simply nodded and levitated Shadow’s necklace over to him and placed it around his neck.
Luna then steeped up to Shadow. “Are you ready for this?”
“I am, send me home.”
“All right then, you will have about thirty minutes to talk to the human you wish to see.” Luna then began to focus magic into her horn, it let off a dark blue glow as she focused and concentrated on the spell. The room began to be filled with an ominous wind as light formed around Shadow. The girls and Spike couldn’t look anymore as the light grew brighter and brighter. Then in a flash, Shadow was gone.
On the farm where Shadow came from, a young girl of seventeen was coming out of the house of the farm to tend to her morning chores around the farm, when suddenly, a bright light formed in front of her. “What the heck?” The light grew brighter and brighter, she had to shield her eyes, she was very confused as to what was going on. “WHAT IS THIS?!” In a flash, the light disappeared and a pony was now there in its place. The girl quickly rubbed her eyes to try and see clearly in front of her.
After rubbing her eyes, she looked at the spot where the light was only to see a grey pony with a black mane and tail wearing a silver necklace with the side of a hoarse head with a small diamond for the eye. She looked at the pony with astonishment, unable to comprehend what she was seeing.
Shadow looked upon the strange girl in front of him. She looked to be about seventeen years old. Shadow wasn’t sure what to make of this girl, this wasn’t Emily like he was hoping it would be.
The girl Finally spoke up to the pony. “Shadow, is that you?” She then noticed the necklace around his neck. “Shadow it is you!” The girl had on a big smile on her face as she quickly ran over to hug Shadow.
Shadow saw the unfamiliar girl coming towards him and backed up quickly. The girl saw this and stopped in her tracks. “Shadow, what’s wrong? It’s me, Emily. I know it’s been a long time but come on, you’ve got to know me. Where have you been all this time?”
Shadow couldn’t believe what he just heard. He stayed silent as he tried to process this information in his head. How could this seventeen year old girl be Emily? Shadow took a few steps closer and looked into her eyes carefully.
Emily got a little closer as well, hoping that Shadow would recognize her. “Come on Shadow, it’s me, remember how we used to play tag and run around the farm, remember those nights I came to your barn and spent the night with you, remember how I used to read to you? You have to remember me.”
Shadow began to be struck with recognition as he stared into her eyes as she said all this. “Emily, is it really you, what happened, how did you get so big?”
Emily was now dumbstruck at the fact that her pony friend had just spoken. “Shadow……….did……did you just ….talk? But……how, how are you talking? OH MY GOSH, THIS IS INCREDIBLE!” Emily then ran over to him to give him a big hub.
Shadow didn’t want that. “EMILY, STOP!”
Emily quickly did as she was told upon hearing such a forceful call from Shadow. “Shadow, what’s wrong, aren’t you glad to see me too, I missed you so much. What happened to you, where were you?”
“Never mind where I was, what happened to you, how did you get so tall? You weren’t this tall the last time I saw you three days ago.”
Emily was confused at Shadow’s statement. “Three days ago, Shadow……it’s been three years since you disappeared, me and dad thought you had died when that tornado struck and carried off your barn.”
Shadow was now really confused. “WHAT, THREE YEARS?! That can’t be right, I’ve only been gone for three days! How could it have been three years for you?!”
“Shadow, please tell me, where have you been all this time?”
“Well, you probably won’t believe me, but given the circumstances, you may.” Shadow then began to tell Emily all about the world he ended up in with unicorns and pegasai. And when he got to the point about the alicorn princesses, Emily was in even more awe.
“Wow, you actually got to meet real unicorns, pegasai and alicorn princesses? That’s amazing, oh I wish I could see it. Well it doesn’t matter, what matters is that your back home now, and you can talk, this is so amazing. I can’t tell you how much I missed you shadow.”
“Hold on Emily, I’m not here to stay, I’m only here to say goodbye.”
Emily then took on a confused and somewhat hurt look. “Goodbye, but why Shadow?”
“While I was in that world, I was missing you so much that one morning in Applejack’s house, I made a wish that I could at least see you to make sure you were ok, when I did, the necklace you gave me opened a window back into this world so I could see you, and when I did, you were hugging and playing with another pony. I hadn’t been gone for two days and you had already gotten another pony to replace me.”
Emily was dumbstruck. “Shadow, that pony you saw me with was one me and dad got a year after you had disappeared. No pony could ever take your place, sure I was playing with it, but just to be nice, I could never find a pony as wonderful as you. That pony was only to replace you as a worker, not a friend, I was so distraught when you disappeared. I put up flyers everywhere I could with your picture for weeks hoping you were still alive and just lost. You’re my bestest friend ever you silly pony.”
Shadow couldn’t believe what he heard. “So…….you really loved me then? You didn’t replace me like I thought?”
Emily smiled at Shadow. “Of course I loved you, why would I just read stories to a pony I didn’t care about so much, or sleep in a barn with? You were my friend Shadow, and you still are.”
Shadows eyes began to tear up upon hearing such words from his longtime friend. “Emily, how could I have ever doubted you? I am such an IDIOT!” Emily then knelt down and wrapped her arms around Shadow’s neck, Shadow then began to nuzzle against her head as they both shared a cry. “Emily, I missed you so much, I’m so sorry I thought the worst of you. Can you ever forgive me.”
“Of course I can, I’m just glad your home, now we can be together again.”
Shadow then opened his eyes upon hearing this. He began to back away to break the embrace and looked away from Emily. “Shadow, what’s wrong, aren’t you happy that were back together again?”
Shadow looked back up at her with a depressed expression. “Um, about that, you see, as I said, I was brought to that world through a spell mishap, the thing is that since the spell wasn’t cast correctly, the effects it caused are permanent, meaning that I’m stuck there.”
“But then, how are you here now if you’re supposed to be stuck there?”
“You see, princess Luna, one of the alicorn princesses I mentioned, used a spell that lets one travel between worlds temporarily. I’m afraid that soon, I’m going to get sucked back to the other world. We…..won’t see each other again after that.”
“What, but that…that’s not fair, why did she even cast such a spell that brought you to their world in the first place if she didn’t know what she was doing?!” Emily was very upset at this point.
“I know it isn’t fair, it was just an accident, and now, we’ll never see each other again after this. All this time after my second day I thought you had forgotten about me and didn’t care, while you were worried sick about me for so long, and now that we finally get to talk to each other after so long…..it’s..to say goodbye.” The two were about to start crying all over again.
Emily and Shadow embraced each other one more time as they started to cry. Shadow began to speak. “You know, when I was mad at you for thinking you had forgotten about me, I was going to give you back this necklace you gave me. I still think it might be a good way to say goodbye, you know, so you can remember me.”
The two broke the embrace as Emily began. “Shadow, I never forgot about you, I don’t need that necklace to remember you by, I gave it to you because you are my best friend in the world. You keep it to remember me by and to remind you that I always have and always will love you.” Emily gave a sad smile to Shadow.
Shadow looked up at Emily with the same expression. As he did, sparkles started to appear around him and he started to fade out. Emily was startled by this. “Shadow, what’s happening?”
“I guess it’s about time for me to head back to the other world. I’m going to miss you Emily, and I promise to never forget you.”
“I promise to never forget you either, and I will miss you very much Shadow, I’m just glad to know that you’re ok. You take care now.”
“You too,….bestest friend in the world. Goodbye Emily.”
“Goodbye Shadow.” With final goodbyes said, Shadow faded out and disappeared before Emily’s eyes, leaving her on the farm she and Shadow called home.
Back in Twilight’s library, the girls and princesses were all waiting for Shadow to reappear and inform them of how things went between Emily and him. Shadow then began to fade in and reappeared before their eyes. He had fully solidified and was standing in the center of the room with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face.
Fluttershy was the first to speak up. “Shadow, how did it go, did you see Emily?”
Rainbow Dash spoke up next. “Yeah, did you really let her have it for ditching you like she did?”
Shadow kept his smile as he responded. “No, I didn’t need to.”
Rarity then asked. “How come dear, what happened between you two?”