//------------------------------// // 6. The Disguise // Story: Flurry Heart's Destiny // by Sabrewolf9 //------------------------------// Shadow was quickly packing the few items he had. He was so excited about moving to the Crystal Empire he couldn't hide it from his father. "I didn't know you would be so excited about this," His father said curiously. "Any reason why?" "Oh, you know, it's a new place to see," Shadow said nervously, hoping he bought it. "I suppose that could be exciting," Sombra said while packing some supplies into a basket "Especially for somepony young like you." "Yeah, exactly," his son said in relief, glad that his father thought of a different reason as to why he was excited. "Is everything packed?" Sombra asked while pointing at his saddlebag. "Yes," He said checking everything one last time. "Then let's get going," he said, returning back to his usual stern tone. "I don't want to waste any time." "Neither do I," Shadow said dreamily as he followed his father outside the cave. Cadence looked around her kingdom from a balcony in the castle, thinking about the upcoming Crystal Fair. She had a lot to do in preparing and organizing it. She was already busy with some other preparations but she still needed to go around and check to make sure everything is where it should be. Then she thought about her daughter, Flurry Heart could do it. She has been wanting more responsibilities as a princess. This will be a great opportunity for her. "Flurry!" She called from the balcony. "Just a second," Flurry answered back. "Okay I'm here. What do you need?" "Actually I was wondering if you wanted to help me with some of the preparations for the Crystal Fair?" "Really?!" She asked, very excited. "Yes, I'm very busy and so is your father and there's just so much to do. So do think you could help?" Cadence with a smile. "Yes yes yes yes!" She said very enthusiastically. "What do you need me to do?" "I need you to go around the area where the fair is going to be held and check and make sure that everything is where it should be." Her mom said pointing towards the fair. "Do you think you can do that?" "Yes!" Flurry said one last time before running off towards the fair. "Wait!" Cadence called out to her. She had forgotten the list. A few seconds after she left she came back to her mom. "By the way where's the checklist?" She asked nervously knowing that she was about to be told off for running away. "Maybe you should wait until I'm done talking, before you run off like that." Cadence said with a stern look even though she was smiling. "The checklist is over here." "Okay thank you," she said grabbing the checklist with her mouth. "And I'm sorry." "That's okay, now have fun and thank you for being such a big help." "Okay bye," she said waving and her mom waved back, "bye." "Okay let's see here," she said looking at the list as she read. "Make sure the tents are lined up on each side of the castle." She looked around at the tents and how they were lined up. "Check," she said noticing that they were lined up correctly and continued to keep checking to make sure everything was set up the way it should be. Shadow followed his father through the secret entrance that only he knew about, through the Crystal Empire. When they finally reached the entrance of the Crystal Empire, Shadow Hunter's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. "Wow..." he said looking around the Crystal Empire. "This place is beautiful!" "Not when I'm done with it," Sombra said bitterly and Shadow's heart dropped. He didn't want to see such a beautiful place in the hooves of his father. "What do you mean?" He asked hesitantly. "Nevermind, it's not important," Sombra said looking around. "What's important is that we find a place to stay without being noticed." "Where are we going to stay?" His son asked curiously, knowing it couldn't be any place public. "I'm not sure," his father said while putting on a disguise with this magic. "We'll find someplace soon." "We could split up," Shadow suggested with hopeful eyes. He wanted to see Flurry Heart again without his father getting in the way. "It wouldn't take as long." "I suppose you're right," his father said looking left and right. "We would cover more ground that way." "Okay, great!" He said, anxious to leave. "Meet me back here in hour to tell me if you found anything. Okay?" "Yeah, okay," Shadow said, not really paying attention that much and only semi listening to his father. He had been scanning the Crystal Empire for Flurry Heart, but still didn't see her. "Shadow Hunter, are you listening?" Sombra asked, raising his voice slightly. This snapped him out of his thoughts as he replied, "huh? Oh, yes I'm listening. "I said meet me back here in an hour, understand?" "Yes, I understand." "Good I'll see you in an hour." His father said trotting away, but Shadow wasn't listening. He was already on his way looking for Flurry Heart. He was worried he wouldn't find her in under an hour. He didn't know how big the Crystal Empire was and didn't know where she lives inside of it. He couldn't make out her voice from the other ponies because there were so many of them. In fact there were so many outside, he wondered if there was an event going on. "That would just make things worse," he groaned, still looking around. "Where is she?" Just after he had said that, he was sure he heard her voice. It was very soft so he figured she was far away. He moved closer to the sound until he was just on the other side of the Crystal berry bush that she was standing in front of. "There she is," he whispered to himself, but Flurry also heard him, even though she didn't know who it was. "Huh?" She said looking up from her checklist. She had been done for a while and decided to look around for fun. "Is someone there?" Shadow Hunter had a slight moment of panic as he thought, what am I going to say to her? I can't tell her why I'm here, but I want her to know that I am here. He was conflicted so he remained silent. "Uh.. hello, is someone there?" She repeated, but he still didn't say anything, not knowing what he was going to say to her. Flurry started to think it could be somepony sneaking around and decided to make a move. Using her back legs she jumped above the bush and tackled Shadow to the ground. He looked up in surprise, not expecting that to happen. When Flurry saw who it was she gasped. "Shadow Hunter!?" "Hey Flurry," he said casually as if this sort of thing happened to him all the time. "You know we gotta stop meeting like this." Flurry giggled at this and then realized she was still on top of him. Blushing, she got off of him and helped him to his hooves. "Thanks," he said laughing at bit. "Oh, you're welcome and sorry about tackling you," she said slightly embarrassed. "What're you doing here?" "Well remember how I said my father and I would probably be moving to the Crystal Empire soon?" "Yeah," she answered curiously. "Well, it was sooner then I thought." "Wait, so you mean that..." Flurry said in disbelief and Shadow finished for her. "Yeah, I'm staying at the Crystal Empire," he said smiling. "Oh my gosh! That's awesome!" She said giving him a big hug and they both blushed. "Well I should probably get back to my dad," Shadow said sadly, not wanting to leave yet. "He'll be wondering where I am." As he turned around to leave Flurry called after him. "Shadow wait!" "Yes," he answered, happy that she didn't want him to leave either. "Where will you be staying?" "We don't know yet," he shrugged. "We're still looking for a place." "Well, maybe you could stay at the castle," she said with hopefulness in her voice. "We have plenty of room and-" "Wait, you live in a castle?!" He asked in shock. "Ohhhh...," she laughed nervously. "He-He, did I forget to mention that I am kinda a princess?" She asked even though she knew the answer. "Kind of, yeah," he said with slight sarcasm. "Y-you're a p-princess?" "For the most part, yes. I guess the reason I didn't tell you is because I thought you would have known. The wings and the horn, I thought they were a dead giveaway." Shadow mentally kicked himself, how could I not know she's a princess. She's an alicorn for crying out loud! Things just got a lot more complicated for him. The one pony he wanted to get closer to just happen to be a princess. Great. He thought. Just great. If she were to find out who is father was, she would never want to be friends with him again. "It's okay. You're right, I should have known. You are an Alicorn after all." "Don't worry, it's fine. So like I was saying, you could stay at the castle and..." She was cut off by Shadow once again. "Definitely not," he knew they were trying to stay in hiding. They definitely couldn't stay in the castle. "I appreciate your offer, but it'd be best if we just found somewhere ourselves." "Oh, okay," she said sadly and Shadow hated to see her like this, but he didn't know why. He figured it was because she was his only friend. "But hey," he said trying to cheer her up. "We will be able to see each other all the time, now that I live here." "I suppose you're right." She said smiling again. He seems to know just what to say to cheer her up. "Will you be going to the school here." "I'm afraid not, let's just say I'm homeschooled." "Really? I used to be homeschooled." "You were?" He said with curiosity. "Why did you stop?" "When I was eight my mom wanted me to go to school so I could make friends with other ponies." "That must have been nice," he said sadly and then a thought occurred to him, one he couldn't believe he didn't think of before. "How old are you now?" "Oh, uh," she said, not expecting this question. " I'm eleven, but I'll be turning twelve this November." "That's coming up soon." He said with an excited smile. "I turned thirteen in August." "You're thirteen!" She asked a little surprised. "Yeah, is something wrong?" "No, I just didn't expect you to be thirteen." He was a little small for his age, probably because he didn't get much exercise and outside time. He was always studying inside that cave. "Oh, okay well I definitely need to go now. I will see you later." "Okay, bye." "Bye," he said giving her one last hug. When Flurry got back to the castle her mom greeted her with a warm smile. "Flurry you're back, you were gone longer then I thought. I assume that means you had a good time." "Yeah I did," she said enthusiastically. "I had a great time." And she wasn't just referring to the Crystal Fair preparation. "That's great! I'm so glad you were able to help me." "Me too," she said as she headed back to her bedroom. "But I'm kind of tired from the preparation. So I'm going to rest in my bedroom." "Okay, but don't forget to do your homework," her mother called as she was halfway upstairs. "I will," Flurry said with a slight whine. She really didn't want to do her homework with all the other things going on in her mind at the time. When she got to her room and made sure she was alone as she squealed like a little school filly (which she was). "I can't believe Shadow Hunter is going to be staying in the Crystal Empire! This is so exciting!" Then a thought occurred to her, why am I so excited about this. I guess it's because he's my friend, I mean I would be this excited if it were Screwball or Midnight, right? It's not like he's anything more than a friend. Then why do I think about him differently? Shadow arrived at there meeting place to find his father was already there. He hoped he hadn't been waiting long so he wouldn't get scolded for it. "I found a good place for us to stay," Sombra said bluntly. "It's a giant crystal rock, that I used my magic to cut a hole in." "That sounds good," Shadow said with little emotion. He was too focused on other things. "Did you find anything?" His father asked, even though he wasn't going to change his mind on what he found. "Oh, yeah... I did find something." He wasn't talking about a place. "But I'm sure what you found is much for better." Yeah right, a voice said in the back of his head. "Yes, it probably is." Shadow Hunter resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his father's comment. "But before I show you the place, there's something I need to tell you." "What is it," he said, unsure of what was coming. "I will tell you on the way," his father said as he began walking towards their new home. "We have much to discuss." As Shadow followed him, Sombra began telling him his plan. "I need you to get information from the castle." As he said this Shadow jumped a bit, knowing his plan had to do with being in the castle where Flurry Heart was, but before he could ask how this plan would work, his father continued. "I need you to find out about their defenses, there plans for capturing me, and gain their trust." Shadow was not expecting this. He had never gained any pony's trust before. He didn't even know if he had Flurry's trust. "Do you understand?" His father asked slowly, making sure he heard him. "Yes..." Shadow said hesitantly. "But why?" "Because this is our first step in taking back what's rightfully mine." Sombra said bitterly. "And I'm giving you a chance to prove yourself." Shadow Hunter was shocked at how much trust is father was putting in him. He had never done that before, but then a thought occurred to him. So he asked his father, "but what if someone recognizes me. I look just like you except my eyes." "Don't you think I've already thought of that?" He said coldly. Yes, Shadow did think of that. "Of course I did. I just wanted to be sure." "Good, don't underestimate me, Shadow." Again Shadow fought the urge to roll his eyes at his father's comment. "Trust me, I won't," he replied. "I'm going to use my magic to disguise you," he said starting to light up his horn. "It will be the same spell that the princesses use on their guards." "What do mean?" "Do you really think they all look that similar?" His father said as if anypony could figure this out. "No, they cast a spell on the guards to make them all look the same so that they look more fierce as an army." "Oh." He had never really thought of that before. Sombra ignited his magic and cast the spell on Shadow Hunter. It felt really weird to him as his body began to tingle from everywhere inside and out. His dark grey fur became lavender and his mane and tail became a dark teal, they were also shorter. His body became bigger, like a full-grown stallions and stronger and his tiny fangs he inherited from his father turned into normal teeth, however his eyes remained the same color. They had become more round and oval shaped, but they were still emerald green. He looked at himself, unsure of what to think. He noticed he wasn't crystaly like the other guards and questioned this. As if reading his mind, his father answered him. "I can't make you crystal like the other guards. It's not in my abilities because that's from light magic. Formed from the love and light of the Crystal Empire. A sickening thing," Sombra said as he pretended to gag. "But I can give you their armor so you'll look like you're already a guard." "Oh, okay," Shadow said, still getting used to his new body. "What about my eyes? They're still the same color." "Yes, I know that," Sombra said annoyed that he was still being questioned. "No other guard has green eyes. This way when I see you, I'll know it's you." "That makes sense, but what will I say if they ask me my name?" "You definitely can't tell them your real name, so make one up yourself." Shadow Hunter thought about this. He wanted his new name to be somewhat like his real name but without giving it away. He decided he would use the last part of his name and combine it with something else. Finally he thought of the exact name he wanted. "Hunter Woods," he told his father and he seemed unimpressed. "If that's what you wish," he said handing him his armor. "And remember, you can tell nopony about who you really are." Thinking about this, it cut him like a sword. He wouldn't be able to tell Flurry Heart. Of course, he didn't have to listen to his father, but with something like this he knew he probably should. If his father were to ever find out that he told someone who he really was, for secrecy purposes, he would kill them. Knowing his father, he wouldn't hesitate either. For her own safety, he wouldn't tell Flurry Heart. He was going to be able to see her almost everyday, but she wouldn't know who he was. And he couldn't tell her.