My Little Pony: The Shadow Games

by raven618

2:3 The Castle of the Two Sisters

All of the mares had backed up into each other’s flanks as they screamed. The snarling trees surrounding them and advancing in the darkness. They suddenly heard the sound of, laughing? Away from them, Pinkie Pie had walked right up to a tree and was laughing and giggling at it while making weird faces while it continued to snarl.

“Pinkie, what are you doing? Run!” Twilight implored the Earth Pony.

“Oh girls, don’t you see?” Pinkie said before shaking her hips and…

“Tell me she’s not-“

“She is.”

“Then what is?”

Pinkie then gave out a few laughs and in doing so, the trees did start to look less frightening.

With each encouragement, each of the girls found that, Pinkie was right. Laughing at their fears made them seem less frightening. Evil eyes turned into harmless critters, supposed ghosts turned to clouds, and menacing trees were just trees.

By this point, everyone had forgotten what they were even scared of and were just laying on the ground laughing with each other.
= = =
Still in high spirits, the group continued to travel through the Everfree. The intense darkness returned to the usual level of darkness, and they were making good time. Right up until they hit the river. At least 6 meters across, the river was in a state of flooding, with small waves frothing at each other and the river itself threatening to break its banks and soak the mares.

“How are we gonna cross this?” Pinkie asked. The others began looking around for a smaller section of river or a conveniently place log they could cross. They had only been searching for a few seconds before the sound of crying could be heard.

Further upstream, they found a giant purple scaled tail thrashing in the river. Attached to that tail was a sea serpent. His hair and moustache were orange and styled in a manner that suggested hair-gel. And indeed, he did seem to be the source of the crying. “Oh what a world! What a WORLD!” He wailed slamming his claws into the surf.

“Excuse me, sir.” Twilight addressed the creature, the fact that he could speak and Fluttershy’s display with the manticore leading her to try diplomacy. “Why are you crying?”

The serpent turned to the ponies, apparently not at all bothered that six pony mares were suddenly talking to him in the middle of the darkest and most foreboding forest in the known world.

“Well, I don’t know.” He said. Now that he had calmed down a bit, they could see he was at least seven meters tall, and that was just what was out of the water. “I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when this tacky little could of purple smoke just whooshed past me, and tore half of my beloved moustache, clean off!” he pointed to the spot where the right side of his moustache should be, but where instead was a hairy stump. “And now, I look simply horrid!” He then fell backwards into the river and continued crying and churning the river. The splash from his landing utterly soaked the ponies.

“Oh, gimme a break.” Rainbow muttered.

“That’s what all the fuss is about?” Applejack asked.

Rarity suddenly was upon the two with angry eyes. “Why of course it is! How can you be so insensitive?” She turned her nose up at the two, strutted over to the serpent and began petting him. “Why just look at him. Such lovely luminescent scales.”

“Sniff, I know.”

“Your expertly coiffed mane.”

He stopped crying and began grooming himself. “Oh! I know. I know.”

“Your fabulous manicure.”

“It’s so true.” he was practically gushing now.

“All ruined without your beautiful moustache.”

“It’s true, I’m hideous!”

Rarity narrowed her eyes, “I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected.” Rarity then shocked everyone by biting the sea serpent and pulling off one of his scales.

“Ow! What did you do that for?” he inquired.

Rarity held the scale in her teeth and reeled her head back, the scale shimmering in the moonlight like a polished sword.

“Rarity! What are you-?” Everyone’s mouths hit the dirt as Rarity swung the scale like an ax with a metal *shing* sound. The sea serpent flailed his arms as he fainted. On the ground was Rarity’s severed tail hair. She spat out the scale and levitated the tail to the stump of the serpent’s moustache. Using a bit of magic, her tail attached itself, balancing out the intact side.

“Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho! My moustache! How wonderful!” he cheered.

“You look smashing.” Rarity complimented.

“Oh, Rarity! Your beautiful tail.” Twilight said. Now Rarity only had a short plume of purple locks to her posterior.

“Oh, it’s fine my dear, cocktails are in this season.” Rarity assured her companions, “Besides, it’ll grow back.”

“So would the mustache.” Rainbow commented, wondering if this encounter was entirely necessary. Twilight truly didn’t care, as she found Rarity’s generous sacrifice quiet charming and caring. Her attention was then drawn to the river which was no longer flooding.

“We can cross now.” She was about to start wading when a large scaly body placed itself in front of her.

“Oh please! Allow me.” The ponies walked across the serpent’s body and crossed the river without getting their hooves wet(ter).
= = =
As they continued on, they found that the trees were growing further apart, and looked far tamer and more natural than when they first entered. Then, all at once, they saw it. “There it is!” Twilight declared. “The ruin that holds the Elements of Harmony. We made it.” Atop a misty hill in front of them, sat a crumbling set of stone walls and wooden doors. Certainly not the castle some of the girls were expecting, but never-the-less Twilight was right, they had made it through the Everfree. Twilight was so excited she began galloping off on her own.

“Twilight! Wait for us!” Applejack called, she and the others joining the run.

“We’re almost there. WOAH!” Twilight was so excited she completely missed the misty ravine and the fallen rope bridge. She just barely managed to stop herself from running off the edge before Rainbow grabbed her tail and pulled her back.

“Now what?” Pinkie asked.

“Duh.” Rainbow said, wiggling her feathers in her face before taking off. She dove into the mist and grabbed the severed end of the bridge. She then carried it to the other side and began to tie it off on the stone pillars which had stood the test of time.

“Rainbow.” Sung a voice from nowhere.

“Who’s there?”

“Rainbow.” Sung again, seemingly from everywhere.

“I ain’t scared of you.” She said, kicking her hooves at the growing fog. “Show yourself!”

By now the voice was calling her from an actual spot. “We’ve been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the best flier in Equestria.”

“Who?”

“Why you, of course.”

“Really?” she asked excitedly. “I mean, uh yeah, me.” She knew she was fast, and would sometimes boast that she was the fastest, but for someone else (who wasn’t her parents) to finally say it. “Hey, uh, you wouldn’t mind telling the Wonderbolts that, would ya? Cause, like, I’ve been trying to get into that group for like, EVER.”

“No, Rainbow Dash, we want you to join us.” Out of the mist came three Pegasi wearing furtight suits in black and purple. Jagged gold lightning bolts adorned their necks and shoulders. Over their eyes, they wore pointed yellow goggles. On their flanks over their cutie marks was a print of a skull with white wings. “Shadowbolts.” The middle pony, the only mare was the one who had been speaking. “We’re the greatest aerial team in the Everfree Forest. And soon we will be the greatest in ALL Equestria. But first, we need a captain.”

The implications of that statement made Rainbow’s eyes sparkle.

“The most magnificent,” The Shadowbolt said, flying around Rainbow.

“Yep.”

“Swiftest,”

“Yes.”

“Bravest flier in all the land.”

“Yes, it’s all true.”

“We need, you.” This last word was whispered in Rainbow’s ear.

“Whoohoo! Sign me up!” Rainbow cheered. “Just let me tie this bridge real quick, and then we have a deal.”

“NO!” The Shadowbolt was suddenly right up in her face and looking very sinister. “It’s THEM or US!” The sheer venom dripping from her words were making Rainbow cower.

“Rainbow!” Across the ravine, she could barely see the other girls through the fog, still waiting for her. “What’s taking so long?”

Twilight couldn’t see much from where she was, but she could see Rainbow and three strange pony-like figures standing on nothing.

“Oh no.”

The Shadowbolt looked towards the girls and her goggles flashed a sinister light. The fog and mist suddenly rose and blocked off all contact with the other side of the bridge.

“Rainbow! Don’t list-“ Her words were cut off as the clouds filled the gap.

Rainbow grew quiet, her thoughts juggling her two options.

“Well?” they asked.

“you.” An awful smile grew on their faces. “Thank you, for the offer I mean.” Rainbow then went straight back to securing the bridge. “But I’m afraid I have to say no.” She then flew across the restored bridge and landed with a small little pose.

“Rainbow, what happened over there?” Fluttershy, of all ponies, asked.

“Don’t worry about it, I’d never leave my friends hanging.”

“But you were talking to ghosts.”

“Ghosts?” She looked back across the bridge. The Shadowbolts were still there, but now she could see that the fog was moving through them, and although they appeared to be sitting, their hooves weren’t touching the ground.

Applejack crossed the bridge and waved her hoof through them like they weren’t even there. “What are they?”

“The Misguiding Mist.” Twilight explained, “It’s a very old magic that shows you your deepest desire or something close to it, then leads you down the wrong path or makes you abandon all you hold dear.” She looked at Rainbow, “I’ve never heard of anyone but the best sorcerers being able to break out of their influence on their own.”

“Oh. Well that’s cool.” Rainbow said. “Come on, lets keep going.”

“Wait!” Twilight turned back to the ‘Shadowbolts.’ “The Misguiding Mists can’t just appear out of nowhere. Somepony cast it, recently.”

“You don’t think…?” Rarity asked.

“Nightmare Moon.” Twilight answered. “Let’s move carefully.”

They slowly made their way inside the ruins. The inside seemed much more intact than the outsides. Stone pillars rose out of the ground to hold up a nonexistent ceiling. The windows had long lost their glass, but the frames themselves were still intact.

“Come on, Twilight.” Applejack encouraged. “Isn’t this what you’ve been waiting for?”

In the center of the ruins was a short pillar topped with a stone sphere. Extending out from that pillar were five arms also ending in stone spheres. Each of the smaller spheres was decorated by the imprint of a differently shaped gemstone.

“The Elements of Harmony. We found them.” Rainbow and Fluttershy both flew over to the stones and began to carry them down to the ground. One was engraved with a typical gemstone shape, another with a diamond like Rarity’s cutie mark, the third had an upside-down triangle, next an elongated hexagon, then an octagon, then there was no more.

“One, two, three, four, there’s only five.” Pinkie confirmed.

“Where’s the sixth?” Rainbow questioned, her voice echoing off the stony ruins.

Twilight pulled the book out of her saddle bags and began flipping through the pages. “The book says, ‘When the five are present a spark will cause the sixth element to be revealed.’” She then returned the book and laid down on the ground before the stone orbs.

“What in the hay is that supposed to mean?” Applejack asked.

“I’m not sure, but I have an idea. Stand back, I don’t know what will happen.” She then ignited her horn and held it before the orbs.

“Come on now ya’ll,” Applejack said, ushering the others back outside, “She needs to concentrate.”

“What? Leaving so soon?” Twilight stopped her spell and looked up, the other five quickly turned around to face the intruder.

Stepping out of the shadows was Nightmare Moon herself. Her pace was slow, like she was simply walking into a bakery.

For Twilight and Pinkie, this was their first time seeing the Mare from the Moon themselves, thus they were frozen in awe and fear. Fluttershy and Rarity were equally petrified. While Applejack was quick to run back to Twilight’s side and Rainbow Dash flew straight towards the black pony. She got within two meters before slamming into a blue bubble made from magic.

“Ah. I remember you.” She said to the pony pancake, “You were there when I returned.” She then pushed the bubble outwards, sending Rainbow back to her friends. “As was the farmer, and the two beauties in the back.” Fluttershy and Rarity both pulled back a little. “But the rest of you,” she turned her attention towards Twilight, “You’re new.”

“Um, hi! I’m Pinkie Pie.”

“Hello.” She didn’t move an inch. “And you, who knows about the Elements of Harmony. What is your name?”

She gulped before standing up. “I am Twilight Sparkle, apprentice to Princess Celestia. I saw the signs of your return, and I promise, I will stop you.”

“Twilight.” She mulled over the word like she was savoring a flavor. “The time between light and dark. The witching hour, as they used to call it.” She smiled a toothy smile. “How poetic.”

“Enough!” Applejack said, stepping in front of Twilight. “Where’s the sixth Element?”

“Oh, my little pony.” Princess Celestia often used that phrase to describe her subjects. Twilight always found it cute and motherly. To hear it from Nightmare Moon was just, disturbing. “The sixth Element can only be found ‘once the spark unites the other five.’” She rolled her eyes, “I still don’t know what she meant by that.”

The giant of a pony began slowly walking forwards. “I really should be congratulating you all. Not many ponies are foolish enough to enter the Everfree Forest, or lucky enough to make it this far.” She stopped. “So, I am going to make a deal with you.” Everyone somehow became more alert. “In the thousand years I’ve been imprisoned, there have been many changes to the world. One of which I am very interested in.” She suddenly pulled something out of the shadows with her magic. It was a deck of cards. A deck of cards with the back decorated with a brown background and a black oval.

“Duel Monsters?” Rainbow asked from the ground.

“Indeed.” Nightmare Moon confirmed. “I will allow you one free shot at awakening the sixth Element and using the Elements against me if you can defeat me in a game of Duel Monsters. If you lose, then I will take the Elements for myself.”

“You're kidding. You're kidding, right?” Twilight asked.

“I assure you, young Twilight,” She lowered her head so she was eye level with the Unicorn, “I am quite serious.”

“I’ll duel you!” Rainbow said, getting up. “And I’ll mop the floor with ya!” She reached for her deck holder, only to find it wasn’t there. “Oops, I left my deck at home.”

Twilight slowly turned to her own saddlebags, before pulling out the duel deck. “I’ll duel you. If you promise to uphold your end of the bargain.”

“I swear it on my crown as a Princess of Equestria.”

Twilight held out her hoof, which was then taken by Nightmare Moon and the two shook to confirm the deal.

“Twilight you can’t do this.” Rainbow complained, “You just started dueling today.”

“Then the advantage is mine. She hasn’t dueled at all.”

“Let us move this match somewhere more appropriate.” Nightmare Moon said, “Take the Elements and follow me.” She then walked back into the shadowy hallway, closely followed by Twilight. The others were quick to each pick up an orb and follow the two to the single most important game of Duel Monsters ever played.