//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Kamen Rider: Equestrian Shade // by The Dark Brony //------------------------------// After the events of the first day marking Alex’s arrival in Equestria and his new life, the days past with very little trouble. A week had passed with Gamma’s attacking the palace since that day and the majority of ponies that had been injured from their attack had either healed enough to return to active duty, admittingly against the wishes of their superiors, while others were slowly waking up from comas that had been induced from the injuries that had been inflicted on them. Alex had found that over the course of the week he had slowly managed to get a hang of his ability to be invisible to most ponies even if he only remained visible for short periods of time before fading again, which he had found out scared the guards to no end each time. Luna had seemingly become more at ease with Alex’s presence but he could tell something was wrong with her, she seemed downtrodden almost looking disheartened as she sat in the empty throne room aware of my presence. “Alex… you know we don’t require your assistance, you have your own life… well in a way,” Luna said calmly. “That may be the case princess… but you seem down is something the matter?” “It’s nothing you can help us with we’re afraid,” Luna replied. “Luna, what’s eating you up?” “It’s… nothing that concerns you, don’t worry,” Luna replied with an obviously faked smile causing Alex to look at her with one of his eyebrows raised before Luna replied, “is it that obvious?” “Yes it is, I’ve noticed the change in your attitude in just the single week that I have been here… So tell me what’s getting to you?” Luna just sighed before she muttered something under her breath which Alex couldn’t hear before he added “Luna, nobody’s here but us, and you know I won’t betray your trust… besides you’re the only pony that is aware of what I am.” Luna just looked towards Alex before smiling as she said, “That’s true we know more about you than anyone else, and you’re right that you wouldn’t ruin that trust we have between eachother.” She then sighed before she said clearly “I’m jealous of my sister.” “...Seriously why be jealous of her? Luna she can’t do half the things you can, if anything this should be the other way around, don’t forget you can see me at all times and you’re able to see the real threat to everyone while she doesn’t even realise they are in danger. Honestly if you look at it you are doing so much more for the people here than her.” Luna’s eye widened at this revelation before she replied by admitting to Alex, “We never thought about it that way.” “Also need I point out that without you everything would be in disarray, your the level headed one between you and your sister, she’d wipe a continent off the map for a single person’s mistake, you’re the one that keeps her in line most of the time.” “We guess your right with that one,” Luna admitted as she began to chuckle before she suddenly went solemn again. “These’s something else aswell isn’t there?” “It’s just… Why does nopony but you and us look at our beautiful night?” “My honest opinion on that is that for most your sisters daylight is too harsh for people to sleep, while your night isn’t, in theory they are to scared to sleep during the day but feel safe to do so at night.” He then went on to add, “If you think about it, the theory matches your personalities, your sister is brash, hazardous, dangerous and in many circumstances scary; while you on the other hand you are forward thinking, calm, caring, kind and most of all to most who are scared and alone… motherly.” Luna just looked at Alex considering just what he had told her before he said “You really think all of those things about us?” “I do… did you know when I was just managing to hold my physical form for only seconds at a time, I appeared in front of your sister… she tried to set me on fire when I appeared… I think she called me a Phantom? Or something along those lines… which to be fair is true in some ways.” Luna just chuckled at Alex’s statement before she said “we swear she’s a hypocrite sometimes, first she says we’re crazy for seeing nobody when you were on the ground a week ago, then screaming out that you're a Phantom when you appear in front of her.” “Do I need to point out the fact that back then only you could see me?” “We know that,” Luna admitted with a now genuine smile. “Still our sister did think us crazy for a while though.” “I can imagine,” Alex agreed before adding “Luna, remember if you start having any problems, just ask… I'm always free to help… oh and if you need me later I’ll most likely be on the hill like normal.” “We seriously should name the top of the hill something that relates to you, I swear you never go anywhere else,” Luna admitted. “Can you blame me? It’s the best place around here to see the stars and the amazing night sky you make,” Alex said with a smile. Luna then looked to Alex as he turned to leave before she said “Alex,” causing him to turn around as she added, “I’m glad we met you last week.” “As am I Luna, as am I,” Alex agreed with a smile as he walked outside. A few minutes later Alex reached the hill that he had been too on the first night in Equestria and coincidently each following night after as he just lay down looking up to the sky as he said “Funny it’s almost like Luna’s the only one who cares how the sky looks?” Alex then looked up at the clouds above him as he muttered “It’s almost like Celestia is only thinking for herself and not for what others see… is she really that blind?” “We know you’re here Phantom!” Celestia’s voice shouted out over the gardens. “Not this again,” Alex groaned in annoyance as Celestia flew over him as he remained invisible as she landed nearby walking towards him. “I know you’re hiding here, I’ll tear this place apart to find you if I have to,” Celestia said as she walked closer sounding serious in her intentions. Alex then made the decision to reveal himself to her even though he knew the risk in doing so as he said “I'm right here… and I have no idea why you keep calling me a Phantom.” Celestia, however, seemed to ignore him as she fired a blast from her horn at him which he sidestepped before hearing her shout “We will not listen to any of your lies! You are just trying to get close to one of my ponies to harm them like all the others!” “What the hell are you on about!” Alex shouted back. “I have no intention of harming anyone, I'm just satisfied living the rest of my…” another shot went past his head before he added “What the hell is your problem? Incase you haven’t noticed I haven’t hurt anyone!” “Stop lying you murdered multiple ponies last week!” Celestia shouted in anger. “Wait… you think I was the one who attacked last week?” Alex asked in annoyance, “before you make an assumption like that you need to get your facts straight maybe ask Luna about what transpired.” “What would she know about it?” Celestia asked. “She was right behind me trying to save people while I was protecting her after she brought me back with her a week ago.” “Wait… brought you back? You mean you were that thing she said she could see?” Celestia said in a mix of shock and realisation as she realised her mistake. “Yes, I am the creature she found in the snow a week ago… I’m also the one you keep calling one of these Phantom things… whatever they are.” Celestia seemed to calm down if not only slightly before she said “It seems we have made a grievous mistake, in our intentions towards you… but we must ask, what transpired outside the walls last week?” “There was an attack by a faction of creatures called the Gamma, of which most creatures are unable to see… but somehow your sister could see them.” “And by some miraculous stroke of luck you aswell,” Celestia added back her voice harsh and almost angry in tone. “Yes… but I'm not one of them.” “Then what are you?” Alex went silent for a second before said calmly “A ghost… I was killed on the day your sister found me.” “A ghost? You expect us to believe that?” “Princess... How do you think I seemed to appear out of nowhere last time you saw me?” Alex asked. “Using magic obviously.” “Nope… I have no magic whatsoever.” “No magic? Then how were you invisible?” “Princess… I’m dead… I’m literally a ghost.” Alex admitted as he disappeared and reappeared almost instantly in the same spot which in turn shocked her. “We… What… how!” She replied nervously as she reached her hand out as it passed through my arm as she yanked her arm back as her eyes were open wide in shock “You’re serious! You are actually dead!” “I hate to tell you I told you so… but I told you so.” “We wish that we had known of your circumstances sooner… maybe we could have helped you.” “You wouldn’t have been able to, this happened to me before you’re sister found me, it was prior to anyone here knowing of my existence.” “Still… we wish there was something we could do to apologise to your for our actions towards you.” “There’s very little you could do,” Alex admitted. “Still…” Celestia said before suddenly stopping as she quickly pushed Alex aside catching him by surprise at her sudden actions before he looked behind him to see what looked like a mythological creature to be more accurate a minotaur it’s skin was predominantly blue which was below a set of white and gold armour that had what could be assumed to be blood splattered over the chestplate, he was also holding a large axe which he was holding in his hands which Alex saw was stuck in the ground next to him and just in front of Celestia. “Neither of you are what we desire,” the creature said in an angry deep voice before turning around as Alex stood back up Celestia shaking her head at him as if warning him to not proceed with his current cause of action. “Then what do you desire?” Alex said reaching for his Eyecon in his jacket. “Her,” the creature said as it stepped sideways to reveal Luna being held up by another creature that looked like it was made completely of stone, it was grey in colour but had golden lines running haphazardly through its body. Celestia just stood there looking scared and for good reason while Alex’s hands were clenched in anger as he ordered through gritted teeth, “release her now.” The Minotaur then just looked at him before he began laughing as he said “Why should we release her, she’ll bring forth the birth of a new Phantom for our master.” As soon as the Minotaur in front of him told him there intentions for Luna Alex’s fist closed around his Eyecon as he pulled it out from below his jacket as she said forcefully, “Not if I can help it,” as his Ghost Driver appeared around his waist from red and black flames that danced around it. The minotaur stopped at this as he asked Alex “What is that your holding?” “Oh trust me… you’re going to get well acquainted with it soon enough.” Alex then inserted the Eyecon he was holding into the Diver before he closed it before the word “eye” was heard as Eyecons hooded jacket flew towards the Minotaur catching it off guard as the jacket struck it a few times causing the minotaur to lose its grip on its axe as the word ‘Bacchirimina’ was repeated multiple times. Seconds later he shouted “Henshin!” just like he had a week ago as the same image appeared on his Driver as the jacket flew behind Alex and attaching to his back his hands out to his sides palms facing the creature in front of him. He then moved his right hand towards his hood pulling it down as black flames erupted from the ground next to his left as the same sword he used previously appeared from the flames. As soon as this happened the sound and crackling flames were heard before a strange voice shouted out “Kaigan: Shade! Let’s Go! Kakugo! Akuma-tekina Shade!” As soon as Alex had finished his transformation into Kamen Rider Shade Celestia looked at him in shock as she stuttered losing her composure “Y...You're a Kamen Rider!” “Oh, you already know about those?” Shade replied in a calm tone as he gripped his sword tightly. “Go!” The minotaur shouted in anger as all the grunts except the one holding Luna charged Shade at once causing him to smirk under his mask as he ran into the oncoming force of enemies swinging his sword at the removing many of his enemies arms in the process. Celestia was just standing in place frozen in a mix of shock and fear at the site of Shade as she muttered “another Kamen Rider there hasn’t been one of those since….” However, she was snapped out of her thoughts as Shade shouted “Celestia, go held your sister!” “Right…” Celestia said recovering from her shocked state as she looked back to Shade being surrounded by enemies as he was being barraged by a multitude of firsts as in some cases being stabbed by spears which caused him to stumble back into the fists of his other opponents. “He won’t last out,” Celestia muttered looking at her hand as she thought I wish he was still here, maybe he could help. “Dammit!” Shade shouted before adding “Just help Luna for god’s sake I can hold them off!” Celestia just clenched her fists before running towards Luna, the creature holding her and the minotaur in front of her. “You really are a fool,” the Minotaur said with a smirk, “Just like your father was,” at this statement, Celestia froze stopping dead in her tracks before the monster said, “along with that mage that tried to save him.” “No… it can’t be,” Celestia said stepping back falling to her knees as she suddenly began shaking, “you were the one who…” “Don’t you dare!” Shade shouted as something hit the minotaur head odd causing him to stumble back as Shade appeared next to Celestia holding the Minotaurs weapon in his hands as the voice she had heard before said calmly “Weapon identified, Accessing Shade link,” as the voice said this black flames licked Shades arms before travelling through the Axe he had acquired as the old colour began to burn away as the colour scheme of the axe changed as the shaft of the axe became a dark black almost looking burnt while the head was replaced with by a blood red metal. “Shade enhancements accepted, new fighting style uploaded for analysis,” the voice then said before the flames completely dissipated from the axe as Shade said, “You will not harm either of them.” “And you think you can…” the Minotaur attempted to say only to be cut off as he suddenly felt something strike one of the two horns on his head as he heard it something hit the ground. “Sorry… did you say something?” Shade asked smirking under his helmet as the Minotaur reached for the tip of his now missing horn. “That just healed from the last guy!” the Minotaur shouted in anger. “Well I’m about to make it worse,” Shade said with a smirk. A second later he felt someone grip the side of his leg as he looked down to see Celestia still trying to stand if shaking holding something out in her hand before she said “Take it… Please.” Shade just nodded as he held his hand out as Celestia placed something into his hand before she pulled her hand away from his own as he saw a small ring in his hand. The ring looked to be hand crafted with a red gem in the centre that seemed to have a silver metal over it giving the gem an appearance of a mask. Shade had no idea why Celestia had decided to give it him, but he placed it on his hand regardless as he nodded to her before turning his attention back to the enemies that he was facing who were beginning to retreat still holding Luna using her as a shield to prevent them from acting against them. “Dammit… I need to do something,” Shade muttered as he looked down to see the ring glowing in a white light before he looked at the hand he had placed it on before he suddenly had a moment of clarity before taking the ring off and placing it in the palm of his hand before tracing a symbol in the shape of an eye in front of the ring before what looked to be a ghost spirit appeared from it. The spirit had taken a similar look to that off his other jackets, however, this one looked a lot longer almost to the point it would touch the ground if he wore it, it was almost completely black apart from what looked to be a red gem like accents on his chest and silver shoulder pads on his shoulders. As this appeared in front of them the Minotaur backed away slowly the monster holding Luna releasing her from its grasp as they saw the ghost in front of them, before it flew into Shade’s Ghost Driver before a new Eyecon appeared from it in his hand. The eyecon had a black back while the front was silver and had an image that resembled the image on the ring from before. Shade then placed the new Eyecon into his Driver as the the word “eye” was heard before the same ghost spirit from before flew out towards the Minotaur as it grabbed it and somehow was able to lift it into the air as it flailed around as the word “Kaigan!” was heard as the spirit dropped the target and attached to Shades back as he heard the voice shout “Wizard!” After that, a new tune was heard “Yubiwa no mahō! Saigo no kibō!” during which a myriad of strange sounds was heard which Shade didn’t recognise. As soon as he looked up he said in confusion, “Wait? Wizard? Who the hell is that?” but quickly dismissed it before he looked up towards his enemies as he brought his left hand up to the side of his head before he said “It’s... Showtime,” before he began walking towards them both. The Minotaur just continued staring at Shade in shock as he shouted “How are you back! We killed you!” “Well then… I guess that makes me a ghost,” Shade said as Luna quickly ran past him towards Celestia quickly grabbing ahold of her before Shade looked back to his remaining enemies who now had lost their only bargaining chip along with the only thing preventing Shade from acting. The Minotaur then charged towards Shade his head lowered as he charged directly towards him with his one remaining horn. Shade just stood on the spot as he waited till his charging enemy got closer before he quickly sidestepped the Minotaur before he swung his leg into the Minotaur’s legs as his own burst into flames. “Okay… that was unexpected.” Shade admitted in surprise as the Minotaur hit the ground his face striking the ground along with his remaining horn keeping him stuck in the ground helplessly as he tried to free himself. “Well, this has been fun… but I feel like I need to finish this one sided battle off… When you get to Hell; tell them Shade sent you.” Shade then pulled the handle on his Driver once as the image that had emblazoned the front of the Eyecon appeared on the front of the driver as the demonic voice shouted out “Dai Kaigan!” as Shade jumped high into the air as a red circle that looked to be full of runes expanded as he rose reaching its largest as he reached the peak of his jump. As soon as this height was reached the voice shouted out once again as it said “Wizard! Omega Drive!” and just before he began to fall back to the ground the runic symbol shrunk rapidly below him surrounding his feet as he fell before he collided with the Minotaur his feet piercing the creatures armours and chest as he landed behind the Minotaur's body as it exploded behind him. As soon as this happened Shade stood back up as he flicked the back of the coat into the oncoming wind only to see that the remaining monster had fled during his final attack. Shade then looked to both Luna and Celestia before he removed the Eyecon that was in his driver as the voice simply said, “time for shuteye,” as the coat disappeared into a mixture of red and black particles as he reverted back to normal. Alex then looked to both Princesses as he walked over to them only to be caught off guard as Luna gripped him in a vice like hug which if he was still alive would have likely fractured multiple bones in his body, but he somehow still felt the pain as if he was alive before a said, “L...Luna… Please let … go.” Luna then realised just how hard she had grabbed Alex before she retraced her hands from the hug with a smile as she looked to Celestia before she said “We told you we saw somepony.” “We see that now Luna,” Celestia replied with a smile before looking to Alex as she said, “we had no idea that a Kamen Rider had returned… we hope you can safely inherit our old friend's power,” before she walked away as Alex saw a smile appear on her face. “Wait! Don’t you want the ring back?!” “We believe it’s in the hands of someone who can truly respect its power and the history behind it,” Celestia admitted back as she disappeared from view. “Don’t worry about our sister… she’ll be fine,” Luna admitted as she hugged Alex once again, “And thank you for saving me.” “Think nothing of it, I promised to protect you and I'm not retracting that offer.” “Thank you, hearing you say that means more than you know, … but do we call you Kamen Rider Shade… or is it Wizard now?” “Who even was this Wizard person?” Luna only smiled back before she said, “we’re sure you’ll learn of your predecessor in due time,” before she turned around and ran off after her sister. Alex then looked at the new Eyecon in his hand as he asked himself just who were you… and who am I supposed to be? before he made his way back up the hill once again lying on the top as the sun began to set in the distance.