//------------------------------// // 1 - Well... This is New // Story: Shadows Within the Light // by Oddling //------------------------------// Four twenty-six… there were still a few more minutes left before his shift was over, but things had died down for the day. Mathew looked around the empty hardware store. He had been idly picking through little tasks for the last hour to keep himself busy. It was a little surprising how slow it was, even for a holiday weekend, but that was how things went for a town of 1,537 people. He stopped wiping down the counter and pondered what he would do after work. All of his friends were busy, well, until later in the day when it was time to get the parties started, but that still left him with hours to fill in until then. Last weekend he had hung out by the pond. The week before that he went to the movies. He was not entirely sure what he was in the mood for at the moment. His nose suddenly caught the scent of spring as his boss entered from the side door. The old field came to mind. His father used to take him there all the time when he was younger, and even at the age of twenty-two, Mathew loved that place. The field was close to home and was spread out over eighty acres, filled with rolling grass and flowers of all kinds. His mind was made up – he was going to go enjoy the sunset atop his favorite hill in the field. The moment his shift was over, Mathew hopped into his truck, turned up his stereo to rock out to his ‘Feel Good’ mix, and drove down to his relaxation location. In no time at all he arrived and parked his truck at the top of the hill. He set up an alarm on his cell and reclined for a quick nap. His windows were down, letting a cool Spring breeze pass over him, and his mix CD was keeping him in a zone of perfect content. This was just one of the things he enjoyed the most in life. After a satisfying nap, a snoozed alarm, and a wicked stretch beneath the glow of the setting sun, Mathew dropped the tailgate and sat down on the back of his truck. His eyes watched as the golden yellow from the sun’s rays melted to orange on the bellies of the few clouds in the sky. In that moment, he knew that there just could not be any better way to end a day. Then… the world was sucked away… and Mathew started to fall... ~~***~~ Princess Celestia and her sister, Luna, stood on the outer edge of a large room. The room had dark, almost black, marble floors. There were no windows, but many magical torches lined the walls of the ten-sided space. The air was thick with the humming of uncontrolled, chaotic energies. At the center of the room… placed atop an alabaster podium… a pale blue crystal, twice the size of a pony hoof, hovered in the air. Celestia’s eyes had been fixed onto the floating gem for nearly half an hour. She had only, briefly, looked away once Luna had joined her in the room. Her stern glare toward the gem had piqued Luna’s attention from the very moment that she entered the room. She had already been curious about why her older sister had requested her presence in the magical containment ward. Luna eyed the strange gem in the air. Something about the blue crystal gave her an unwanted familiar feeling. She just could not seem to put her hoof on what it was, exactly. Luna turned her attention back to Celestia. “Sister, what… what is that unsettling object? I do not like the feeling it gives off. It’s… well, for lack of a better word, it’s creepy.” she said, hopeful that Celestia could help ease her growing concern. Celestia, never breaking her gaze from the gem, nodded her head slightly. “Indeed, sister, I have been watching it for some time now… the magic emanating from it is very unsettling. It was discovered in the Everfree Forest, just this morning, by a group of archeologists. Apparently… it was found in some ruins of unknown origin. However… I’m sure you recognize the feeling, this crystal harbors a dangerous power within it.” Celestia said. Luna looked back to the mysterious crystal. She narrowed her turquoise eyes and gazed at it critically. She focused on that familiar feeling, trying to pin down the source. Then it struck her, it was the same feeling she once had within her – the powers of Nightmare Moon. But… the feeling from the crystal was not exactly the same. The dark energy within the object had distinct similarities to her old powers, but something was noticeably off. There was no hate or malice within the crystal. Luna turned to Celestia again. “It seems to share a familiar magic as Nightmare Moon’s, but something is not right. The longer I feel the magic from it, the more I notice… something.” Celestia nodded. Then, for the first time since she, herself, had entered the room, Celestia pulled her gaze away from the crystal and gave a wary but firm look toward her younger sibling. “Luna… I’m afraid that I’m at a loss as to what should be done with this object. Part of me wants to be rid of it, simply to deny any possibility for Nightmare Moon to dwell among us again – I could not bare to have you harmed by that presence again…” she said and sighed with hints of regret of what she had done in the past. “But… another part of me wishes to try and gain knowledge from this gem. Though it is uncertain what truly happened to Nightmare Moon, I do not feel the same threat from this strange magic. I can’t help but think that we could learn something of value from it.” Celestia smiled faintly as she held her gaze with Luna. “Luna… I cannot make this decision, alone. Tell me… what would you have done with this crystal?” she asked Luna. “I will take to heart anything you have to say about this… since you know it better than I ever could.” Luna was shocked for a moment. Her mouth opened to respond, but her answer was still caught between her mind and mouth. She closed her lips and took another long, hard look at the crystal. Indeed, there were differences between Nightmare Moon and that unusual gem, but it still made her fur crawl to feel that power again. On one hoof, if they did keep it they could possibly learn a way to counter Nightmare Moon, should she find a way to return to Equestria. On the other hoof, however, the gem could be a trap – one that would help to bring back the Queen of the Eternal Night. There were other possibilities to consider as well, but the risk of becoming the brash Queen again was just too great a risk for Luna – and it would be worse if Nightmare Moon took over somepony else. Luna shut her eyes and took a calming breath as she turned back to her older sister. She opened her eyes, steeling her resolve, and looked right into Celestia’s bright violet eyes. “Dear sister… ‘tis our wish to seal such foul magic away. The threat of Nightmare Moon’s return is far too great to ignore. For all we know, this artifact could be a trap. I think it best to quell any possible avenue for her to harm us again.” Luna stated firmly, leaving no doubt to her words. Celestia nodded and smiled warmly for her dear little sister. “I understand. Though we may not know if she is truly gone, so long as we have the Elements of Harmony she will not be able to strike us, or our precious little ponies.” Celestia said. She gently leaned forward and lovingly nuzzled Luna’s cheek, Luna returning the gesture just as affectionately. They both turned their gazes back to the gem. “Let us be rid of it then.” Celestia said. “We will seal the magic within so that it may never be used against Equestria again.” Luna nodded and hummed in agreement. The two alicorn’s moved to opposite sides of the room and faced the center. “Are you ready, Luna?” Celestia asked as her horn began to glow with the golden might of the sun. “Yes, my sister.” Luna replied as her own horn lit up with the silvery-blue elegance of the moon. The floor of the room came to life as the combined magic of both princesses activated a magic circle engraved into the dark marble. The room-sized circle glowed brightly with a brilliant white light. Celestia’s multi-colored mane, as well as Luna’s dark star-speckled mane, billowed rapidly in the flows of the growing magical power. Their magic reached a peak and both their eyes lit up in bright white light in perfect synchronization. In flawless coordination, something that the two sisters had always been able to do from when they were children, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna unleashed their sealing spells. Beams of gold and silver streaked across the room to collide in the center. The crystal instantly reacted to the two powerful magics… and ignited in a maelstrom of violently swirling waves of pale blue energy. Celestia and Luna immediately knew that they were in trouble. They switched to compensate for the massive burst of unstable power. Sealing the crystal had become a near impossibility at that point, the only thing they could hope to do now was to contain the energy and prevent an explosion. The sisters grit their teeth and focused on channeling more of their power into a containment spell – centered around nullifying the rampaging energies that could potentially lash out with unknown degrees of danger. The power of the crystal continued to rise, spilling forth from within like a cracked bottle of soda struggling to withstand the pressures after a Scotch Mint, or five, had been dropped inside. The energy that leaked from the crystal grew into a large orb around the gem. Luna started to grunt and groan as she strained to keep up with the rising magical surge. Celestia, too, suffered for her efforts, but she did everything she could to hold up against the crystal’s power. The swell of power started to level off. The crystal stopped pumping out its power. The energy around the gem started to shrink. Both Luna and Celestia started to feel that the end was near and that they had managed to prevent a catastrophe. That was… until the shrinking energy started to swirl and glow brighter and brighter as the seconds dashed past. The sisters grunted and pulled out the deepest reserves of their power they could muster to bulk up the strength of their containment magic. The orb of power grew smaller and brighter, brighter… brighter and brighter! Eventually Celestia and Luna had no choice but to shut their eyes or they would surely go blind from the intense glow. Then, without warning, the light gave off the brightest flash – so bright that it even burned through their tightly shut eyelids to make them flinch. Luna lost her focus from the flash and the following explosion of power from the flash made the combined containment spells falter. Celestia and Luna were flung back from the rush of power. They slid into the walls behind them, hard enough to stun them, but not too hard that they were knocked out. Luna groaned from her sore body. She had used up a sizable portion of her magic and the recoil had begun to pound away at her entire body. She lifted her head up from the floor and blinked a few times to clear her vision. Then, upon hearing her sister gasp through the dead silence of the room, Luna whipped her hear to look. Luna’s eyes went wide. Her vision had locked onto a form that she had never seen before. Hunched over on the floor, in the very spot that the crystal had just occupied moments ago, was a creature. The being had four long legs. The two in the front looked like they bent back in the opposite direction, toward the knees of its back legs, and were slimmer. The back legs ended in odd looking, black, stretched hooves… while the front two legs ended in flat pads with five long protrusion spread out on the floor. Its mane was a very dark brown, almost black, and kind of short by pony standards, but stopped just above broad shoulders. Luna then noticed that the creature had strange thick skin on its body. The back legs were a deep blue, up to its hips. The torso changed to a deep black with odd symbols on the chest. The front legs and head of the being seemed to have a much smoother skin, with a fine coat of very tiny hairs, and were a very pale peach color. Before Luna could consider the odd color pattern or textures of the creature’s skin, she spotted the most shocking part of it; it had a face. Luna inhaled deeply as she looked upon the being’s face. It had two eyes and, though one was hidden by part of its mane, she could see the golden brown color. Below the eyes was a strangely pointed nose that rested above its mouth. She absently noted the weird flat ears on the sides of the head, but the one thing she took in the most was the fact that the creature had an expression of utter shock on its face. Celestia had reached the same conclusion as her little sister. Somehow, they had stopped a great explosion from the crystal, but now a life form that nopony had ever seen before had replaced it. Celestia slowly rose to her hooves and warily watched the thing as she stood. She did not know what the crystal had done, but the fear that the creature in front of them might be an unwanted gift from Nightmare Moon firmly tugged at her mind. Just what had she and her sister unleashed? ~~***~~ Mathew stared across the room. His heartbeat had hit new records in his chest as his mind clawed at the last shreds of his sanity. What the hell just happened? He thought as he tried to piece together the last thirty seconds. One moment he was taking in the glow of the setting sun on the underside of the few clouds in the sky… the next moment he had been yanked through some prismatic tunnel only to fall forward onto a hard dark floor. For a moment he swore he was just in a dream. That faded into reality when he noticed how much the cold smooth floor had stung and made his knees throb from his graceless landing. His attention was suddenly drawn to a rustling sound and a few soft knocking noises to his right. Mathew turned his head slightly to look toward the source of the sounds. His breath caught in his throat. A horse, of some kind, with a bright white coat, a long spiraled horn, and wings… wearing a gold tiara and an ornate gold neckpiece of some kind, was getting up. Mathew had heard of unicorns and the mythical Pegasus from random works of fiction and old movies, but he had never heard of a horse with both wings and a horn before. He found it weird… but not as weird as the fact that it had royal attire on it… aaand not as weird as the fact that it’s face held an actual expression AND had a mane and tail made of a flowing rainbow of four colors and… was that a tattoo of a sun on its butt? Mathew was positive that the horse was suspicious of him. It eyed him like it was ready to defend itself, should he move to attack it. Not like he would in the first place, what with him being confused to the point of punching himself to wake up from something that he knew was all too real but almost completely unacceptable for sanity sake. He watched the horse carefully. After a few glances, he noticed that it was looking to something behind him. Mathew was hesitant, but he slowly turned his head and stole a quick glance to his left. He took a double take. Lying on the floor on the other side of the room was another horse with wings and a horn. It was much like the white one, but it was a dark blue color (almost like the deep blue of night during the twilight hour) and wore black royal decorations. The mane and tail on it was strangely beautiful… like a perfect glimpse of a starry night that flowed from it. He also noticed it had, what appeared to be, a splotch of black that cradled a crescent moon shape tattoo on its own rump. The darker horse stared at Mathew with a similar look of shock on its face, which would have been a little funny to him if he had not been close to losing his mind. His eyes shot open further a moment later as his understanding of reality met the brick of surprise that came from the darker horse. It turned to look at the white one… and spoke. “Sister… what is going on?” Luna asked in utter disbelief. Celestia shook her head, holding her gaze on the strange creature. “I do not know, Luna. Never have I set eyes upon such a strange being – it’s a complete mystery to me.” she said. As the two sisters talked, they noticed the creature’s head turn to them slightly. It had become more surprised when they had spoken and it even seemed to visibly jump at their words. Meanwhile, Mathew lost his grip on reality and commenced his unforeseen plan to freak out on the inside. Holy shit! They TALK!? That’s impossible! This can’t be real! There’s no way a horse can talk! Well… okay, so they have horns, wings, and blowy manes that defy physics, but still! Talking animals is where I draw the line! I need to find a way out of here – I need… Mathew’s thoughts were halted as he heard a particular part of the conversation between Celestia and Luna. “… Think the spell might have brought it here?” Luna asked. Celestia shook her head faintly. “There’s no way to be sure. The crystal is nowhere to be found. The gem vanished and this being now rests in the exact spot it once was. The reaction from the crystal was incredibly powerful… but all traces of its magic have vanished.” Luna was about to inquire further on the matter, but she paused as she noticed the thing had focused intently onto their words. She could tell that something they had said had caught its interest. A few seconds passed until she looked to her sister. “Sister… I think it understands our language. It’s paying attention to what we were just saying.” Celestia’s eyes widened for a moment before she narrowed her gaze upon the human. She took a tentative step closer toward it. Just as she had wanted, it looked at her and gave her a questioning look – the faint hint that it was thinking about moving gently shining in its striking brown eyes. She tilted her head toward the thing and gave it an inquisitive look. “Do you understand what we’re saying?” she asked. A moment later, Celestia took another step toward it. Mathew had gained a small level of control over his confused brain. The mention of magic had given him a little building block of rational thought. If they had knowledge of magic, then there was something to be used to gain a better idea of why he had wound up there. Though his understanding of magic was limited to quick draw movements and optical illusion, he still accepted real magic as a reasonable thing – since it could generally be used as a temporary filler for how horses could talk. The moment the white horse took another step toward him, Mathew let instinct take over and he stood up and took two steps away. His action startled both sisters. He stood up nearly as tall as Celestia and his movement showed he was quicker than they had expected. Tense silence lingered in the air while Mathew eyed the white horse. He was not yet ready to just start talking to the mythical magical equine. Deep down he still pleaded with any celestial being from on high to wake him from his madness. Luna noticed the being’s reaction to Celestia. She pushed herself up to a sitting position and she did her best to give it a reassuring smile to try and calm it. “Please, do not be frightened by us. We wish no harm upon you, but… we too, have just experienced something new and strange. Perhaps we can help one another to figure out the reason for all that has just transpired? Please speak with us if you understand our words.” Mathew relaxed, ever so slightly, and turned his attention toward Luna. The expression she held was strange to him… but it did show a certain amount of genuine feeling. He sighed through his nose quietly and straitened his posture before he replied to her. “I do understand you… and I speak the same language you do.” he said pointedly. Celestia let out a tiny gasp of shock, but allowed herself a mild reprieve from her caution as she looked to her sister. It seemed that, for some reason, Luna had a better grasp of how to gently coax the thing into conversing. She gave Luna an encouraging nod and hinted for her to continue talking with it. Even without seeing Celestia, Luna knew that the ball was in her court. The being understood them and had shown willingness to talk with them. She was relieved, to say the least. After a brief few thoughts, Luna decided that she would begin with the basics; an introduction. “It is good to see that thou understands us, allow me to introduce myself, I am Princess Luna. My older sister, there, is Princess Celestia. Prithee, might you grace us with thine own name?” she asked calmly. Mathew was a little baffled by the way Princess Luna spoke, it had been a while since he had heard such olden terms, but he knew what she had said. “My name is Mathew Reese.” he said. For the time being, Mathew’s goal was to let Luna lead and he did not want to jump head first into the many questions he had, yet. He could get answers eventually, but the situation was still too uncertain for him to feel comfortable barraging the two… princesses… with his questions. Maybe after Celestia stopped giving him that hidden death stare would he venture into gaining answers. Luna’s smile spread a bit more and she gave a nod in appreciation for Mathew’s reply. She then took on a more regal demeanor before she continued conversing with him. “It is a pleasure to meet thou, Mathew Reese. We are sure that thou hath many a question to ask, but please bare with us for the time being. There is much to discuss, but first and foremost… we must learn more about thou. For starters, doth thou remember how thine came here – anything at all?” Luna asked. Mathew brought a hand up to his chin and his eyes narrowed as he recalled the strange event. “Well,” he began, “I had finished my shift at work, which was around four in the afternoon, and I drove around to relax near one of my favorite leisure spots. I spent the next few hours taking a nap while the cool breezes carried the smell of the sweet flowers through the air – it’s very calming during this time of year. I woke up to watch the sunset and then… I was suddenly yanked into something.” Luna’s ears perked up in interest. “Yanked? In what way?” she inquired. Celestia, too, was eager to know. The two sisters had only the slightest ideas of what might have brought the creature to their world. Anything they could learn from it would aid in putting the puzzle together, or clear the fog of uncertainty, at least. Mathew nodded to Luna. “Yes, it was like my mind… or maybe even my soul, had been jolted and rapidly pulled. I can’t say which direction, but at some point I regained an idea of self-awareness. When I started to process where I was, I noticed that I was falling, face first, through some kind of tunnel. All around me I watched as every color imaginable just swished past me… even through me, at times. Then I found myself hitting the floor, here. I was so confused… I still am, but I have no doubt that this is real. Now I’m just uneasy with… well… sorry if I offend you, but I’ve never seen any animal that could talk, like you, in all my life. In fact… I’m kind of at a loss as to what you are…” Mathew trailed off at the end. His expression gave off telltale signs that he truly did not want to offend or anger the two princesses, but he felt the need to know just what he was dealing with. Luna sympathized with him. She, too, wanted to know what Mathew was. It was a chance to start clearing the waters between the two beings. “I see… well, my sister and I are Alicorns. We are the combined magics of three pony races; Earth Pony, Pegasus and Unicorn. Our strength and magic ability is far greater than any of the other three pony races and we are immortal. My sister and I also act our parts as royal princesses and perform our duties to raise and set the moon and sun. Now… might we ask what form of being thou art? We have never seen anything such as you – even given our centuries of wisdom.” Luna said, her regal expression slipping to one of curiosity. Mathew was definitely taken back by Luna’s explanation. Having found out what they were was one thing; finding out that they were immortal was just incredible. He cleared his throat and blew out a sigh of astonishment before he answered her. “Well, I’m a human. We’re… evolved from primates, like monkeys and such, and… we have no magic, and our lifespan is about an average of eighty years. Some of us have managed to live past a hundred, but it’s not a common thing.” Luna nodded, taking in every detail, though there were only a few. She knew of monkeys, which started her mind on a short run of comparing the ‘human’ to the small furry things. There were some similarities to be seen, but it was clear that the humans had changed drastically in their evolution. Then something clicked in her head. A thought sparked and she felt the need to address it at that moment. “Mathew Reese… have thou, per chance, heard of our lands, Equestria?” she asked. Mathew cocked a brow and frowned slightly while he shook his head. “I’ve never heard of that. Is that the name of the place I’m in?” Luna nodded. “Indeed. ‘Tis the land that my sister and I have ruled over and protected for many centuries.” she said, and Luna thought, Celestia longer so than I, of course. She hid her minor twinge of heartache. Mathew shook his head again. “Yeah, I’ve never heard of such a place. I guess that means I’m not in my world. Where I’m from, we have a handful of major powers, USA, Russia, Japan, Korea… but Equestria was never on any map I saw.” he said. Luna nodded again. So they now had proof that they had somehow summoned Mathew. The next step was to find out how they had done so. She began to ponder on what to say next, but something caught her attention. She focused on Mathew. It was slowly starting to grow more noticeable… his breathing had become more rapid and increasingly labored. Mathew, of course, had noticed it as well. His body was getting warm. His heart had picked up in pace, along with his breathing, and a cold sweat started to spread across his body. He was starting to feel like a fever was quickly attacking him. His vision blurred for a moment and he brought his hand up to grasp his forehead. “Ugh…” Mathew moaned. “I’m sorry… all of the sudden I’m… not feeling very well.” he said and swayed into a slight stumble to the side. He took in a deep breath to try and relieve the clenching feeling in his throat, but that did nothing for him. “I really don’t feel good. What’s the heck is wrong with m-“ Mathew’s mouth froze. His eyes went wide and his hand slipped down to clench beside his throat. A pulse shot through his body and it felt like his lungs were about to collapse and explode at the same time. Celestia’s eyes widened slightly as she stared at Mathew. Ever so faintly, she could feel something coming from him, but it was not the same feeling she got from the crystal. It was definitely a magic that she felt from him, but that should not have been possible if what the human said was true – that his kind could not use magic. A deep feeling of dread started to tug at the bottom of her stomach. Celestia stepped closer and started to prepare for anything, but she stopped short when Luna dashed forward in concern for the human. “Mathew! What is the matter – what’s happening?” Luna asked, worriedly. She watched as Mathew’s eyes looked at her, only to lose focus a moment later. His complexion paled and his hands clenched tighter as each second passed by. Celestia was worried about the human, too, but she worried more for Luna, who seemed oblivious to the building magic within Mathew. Celestia stepped closer and called out to her sister. “Luna! Be careful, there’s a strong magic coming from within him!” Luna glanced at her sister in surprise. She then turned her gaze back to Mathew’s body. At that moment she felt it – the power of a new and unknown magic taking shape inside of his chest. Suddenly, Mathew tensed and he yelped painfully. A pale blue mist started to seep out of his skin. Luna gasped as she saw the mist, then she saw a brief flash and found herself standing beside her sister. A part of her was utterly shocked that her sister would have used a teleportation spell for no reason, then she realized why. Luna’s eyes were drawn back to Mathew’s body as a pulse of magical energy lashed out around him. It was frightening to think that she might have been struck by it. Especially since it was an unknown magic that could have any number of consequences, should it touch anything. Her fear, though… could not match to the pity she felt when she noticed the expression on Mathew’s face. Mathew was in pain. With each beat of his heart, his body felt like it ripped into a hundred pieces and fused back together with the aid of a searing hot welder. His face was twisted in agony and it would be any moment that his tear soaked eyes would be forced to shut. In mere moments, Mathew slammed his eyes shut and grit his teeth while his pain escalated to record heights. Nothing had hurt him that much before – not even the time he had slipped and crashed through the thin ice of the pond outside of his grandparent’s house one winter. Without warning, his body felt a rush of unrelenting force from within. His voice ripped through his throat in a blood-curdling yell and he crashed to the ground, clutching at his chest in a pathetic attempt to find and stop the cause of his agony. He could not take it any longer. With the last of his strength, Mathew called out to any god or deity that would hear his plea. “GOD, PLEASE, HELP ME! PLEASE!!! MAKE IT STO- … please make it sssSSSTOOOOOOOOP! I BEG OF YOU!!!!!” he cried out at the top of his lungs. Sadly, nothing could help him. Even the two Alicorn princesses could only stare in horror. Suddenly, Mathew’s cries came to an abrupt halt. His face went blank and his eyes opened to reveal pools of pure white light. The pale blue mist solidified slightly and Mathew’s body lifted off the ground by a few inches – hovering like some magician’s levitation trick. In a quick flash of light, his body jerked and curled into a fetal position before every trace of magic vanished and he dropped to the floor in an unconscious heap. Celestia and Luna stood like statues. Their eyes were wide and their mouths hung open in shock. For the first time in over a thousand years… they were dumbfounded. They could only assume that the power that had come from Mathew had something to do with the mysterious crystal that they had wanted to seal away. Their fears had come true, only… the victim was a poor human from another world that had to pay for their actions. Just what had they done? How had it happened? Could they fix their mistake? But more than that… could the human ever forgive them for what was about to happen to his life?