It's been two days since Skye started this "punishment" and it today wasn't anymore entertaining than the other two. There wasn't much he could do to help, due to his magic not being the same as the unicorns, and he can't fly, so most of the time, he helped Applejack set the farm up for it to be covered in the snow. Hopefully, the snow is different than it is in Ishgard, he practically hated it when he discovered it just gets 'colder.
Right now, he was inside Twilight's home/library. It had been decided that he'll stay with her, and along with her assistant. Skye reminded himself that Spike wasn't like the dragons from his world, and it was likely that the others of this world weren't as well. He was inside because the pegasi were finally laying the snow out, and winter would start. This meant for the next few days, he would probably be bored out of his mind. He had attempted to read one of Twilight's many books but upon her seeing him read one, she had begun to give him more books. That was the last time he'd do that. He swiveled towards the sound of the main door opening up, and in walked the six ponies that he was charged with being under for the time being.
"Heya Skye!"
Pinkie Pie happily bounced up to him and jumped, Skye deciding to let it play out regretted it as the mare landed on him, making it feel like he had just been crushed.
"Pinkie! You've gotta stop doing that, you're going to hurt somepony soon because of that!" The lavender mare called out as she closed the door behind herself." Rarity followed up immediately after, concern in her voice.
"Are you ok darling? That looked like a nasty fall." Skye quickly dismissed her concern.
"Nothing to be worried about, this just tells me how Shiro would feel when I'd do it. Of course it didn't help him I tried to do it with dragoon abilities active. He chuckled remembering how he had at one point rushed towards Shiro, using a Jump to add air time, only to fail as he got swiped out of the sky by him.
"You've talked an awfully lot about him in the past times we've seen you, who is Shiro anyway?" This came from Rainbow Dash, who had taken on a questioning glance, this was present on everyone else's faces as well. Skye thought for a moment, deciding to tell them.
"Shiro is-" It looked like Spike had woken up from his nap, and almost immediately had become aware of the situation on hand.
"Oh! Sorry everypony, didn't realize that I'd be interrupting something." Spike said, quickly making way for the exit to the library, only for Skye to call to him.
"It's quite alright Spike, though I'd advise that if you're going to go outside, I'd suggest you take a coat, I think the snow just made landfall out there and it's probably cold. You could stay here though, I was just about to tell everyone about one of my friends, Shiro." This seemed to grab his attention, and he decided to sit down next to the others in the room as they crowded around him. As he got settled in, Skye looked to the ceiling for a second, deciding to focus on who Shiro was as a person.
"Shiro's a warrior of light like me, but he's way stronger I'd say. He's not a Miqo'te like I am though, He's an Au Ra. Oh, you don't know what an Au Ra is! They're like dragon-kin, and share many draconic traits such as horns, tails, and they even got the whole glowing eye look at times. Anyway, Shiro's an Au Ra, very intimidating to boot. I'd say if you want a description of him, he's black haired, but along the tip of his hair, it turns white all the way through. His horns are off to the side like this." Skye said, making his hands into the shape that Shiro's horns were. He turned his head to Rainbow laughing.
"What's so funny?" He said, annoyed she was still laughing like a maniac.
"I just- I can't imagine someone like that, it sounds like something out of a old mare's tale." She stuttered out before going back into a laughing fit. Skye wasn't going to let it get to him so he continued on, putting up with the annoying laughter.
"It may sound funny to you but if you knew what the Au Ra had to deal with you wouldn't be saying that." He flatly stated, this got her to shut up. It was then that Spike spoke, interested in beings like him.
"What did the Au Ra have to deal with? You make it sound ominous." Skye looked at him, unsure whether or not to tell them or not. It wasn't a great story, and he didn't want to scar them, so he declined.
"It's not a story for young ones like yourselves, and it sure ain't gonna make you feel any better hearing it, so I'm not going to talk about it, just know that the Au Ra were constantly prosecuted and killed for looking like dragons. The dragons from my world have a not-so-good reputation of destroying everything. Either way, back to the story. Shiro was awesome, he was more like a warrior of light than any of us that were there. Even after he became a Dark Knight he still did the right thing constantly, and didn't feed into his darkness like others would."
"What's a dark knight? It sounds cool but sounds dangerous too" Spike asked. Rarity also decided to insert her two cents in as well.
"I'm afraid of have to agree with dear Spike here, they sound very dangerous." Skye looked at them for a moment, his focus on them, but his mind creating an image of two soldiers who had attempted to harm him after his initial becoming of a dark knight. He quickly pulled himself out of the memory.
"While it can be dangerous, it's fine as long as you don't go to far into the abyss of darkness. See, everyone has darkness in their hearts, whether they're the most kind person in the world, or the darkest being to ever grace the world. Like I said, it's healthy for you at least until it grows to become infatuation. That's when it's dangerous." Skye finished.
Applejack had been quiet for the most part but this had gotten her attention, so she voiced a concern.
"Have you ever used it? That darkness ya' keep talkin about?" Skye eyed her for a moment, sighing then speaking.
"I have, but never again after. I used it in a small dosage to increase the power behind an attack, since then, I've never used it again. It scared me to use it in the first place, so I never became a dark knight" Skye said, feeding them a half-truth. Applejack looked like he could see that he wasn't telling the complete truth but didn't call him out on it. Those lies were more to temper himself, and feed into them. He hadn't used it just once... he had practically thrown himself into his own darkness, and since coming here to this world, it's presence had gotten much worse, throwing his personality had gotten much more unhinged, his violence much more focused on beating the enemy to a pulp. His darkness was infecting his other abilities, and there wasn't anything he could do. Well, there was focusing it into an outlet, but he told himself he'd never pick a greatsword up again.
[Elsewhere]
Shiro was tired. It had been five months since the dragoon Skye, had disappeared. He was frustrated with the lack of evidence, it seemed like the miqo'te had disappeared off the face of the earth. Shiro had long since put down his sword, in favor of dawning something new, considering what had all transpired in the last few months since Skye's disappearance, there had been anomalies popping up in Eorzea, beings that usually were there weren't any longer, while adventurers had gone missing, only to pop back up claiming they had gone to a colorful place that they would see in a children's book. Of course he didn't believe it, but it could explain why Skye hadn't been heard from. Shiro shook his head, collecting his thoughts, before promptly doubling over, the familiar nausea of the echo taking hold. In his vision, he saw a white haired Miqo'te wielding a giant sword against six other beings. He looked like Skye, but he couldn't make out any details. The other six beings were bizarre though, all of them were way too colorful, and some of them possessed things such as horns on their head in the case of two, and wings on the back. He focus shifted as the miqo'te snarled, and he heard the voice, but only barely, it was like someone had allowed him to view a memory, but had nearly cut all the sound out.
"You lied to me! You and your princesses!"
The vision ended there. Shiro began to ponder the vision, deciding it must be a trick of the mind.