//------------------------------// // The Shadow Devourer // Story: Spike of the Talismans // by Wildcard25 //------------------------------// That night after realizing they played right into Shendu's claw, Spike and the girls minus the comatose Pinkie headed out into Ponyville to find the shadowkhan that stole her shadow. They trotted and flew all around town hoping to find some lead to its whereabouts. Spike suddenly stopped and called out, “Girls, over here!” Twilight and the others hurried over to where Spike was and they saw Lyra and Bonbon lying unconscious underneath one of the lit lamps. “They don't have shadows.” Rarity noticed. “Our little big Shadowkhan was just here.” Rainbow said. Fluttershy looked behind her and her eyes widened, “And it's not alone!” They all turned around to see a swarm of Mini Khan in their minuscule state, “Stay out of the light!” Twilight ordered, as they got out of range from the lamps light. The Mini Khan swarmed around the group like insects, “Get them off! Get them off!” Rarity panicked while trying to swat them away. Spike was picking several off him, “These things are like leeches!” A swarm of the Mini Khan came together and picked Applejack up, “Hey, what're you?” they tossed Applejack against the lamp post putting her in its glow with her shadow visible. “Applejack, get out of there!" Twilight called. Applejack saw the little Shadowkhan were about to suck her shadow dry, until Spike started blasting at them with his combustion driving them away. “Phew, thanks, sugarcube.” Applejack said in relief. “No problem.” Twilight and Rainbow used their fish mediums to blast chi magic at the Mini Khan destroying them, “That takes care of them.” Twilight said. “Yeah, but we still need to find the one that had Pinkie's shadow, and theirs.” Twilight motioned to the comatose Lyra and Bonbon, whom Spike and Applejack picked up and sat on a nearby bench. “And if we can't get them back by sunrise then all of Ponyville is in trouble.” Rarity added. “Then we search all over town.” Applejack said, as they all agreed and went off looking. As Fluttershy looked around in worry, she suddenly saw three more ponies laying on the ground lifeless under another lamp post, “Oh, dear,” she hurried over and checked on them, “This is getting very bad.” Suddenly a growling sound was heard making her tense up, “Uh, is somepony there?” she asked nervously before looking in an alley and saw the Shadowkhan that escaped was even bigger than before. As it bared his teeth at Fluttershy the pegasus screamed alerting her friends. When they arrived they saw Fluttershy and the Shadowkhan they were looking for. Much like Fluttershy they were also surprised at the creature's recent growth spurt. “Somepony's been getting a late night snack.” Applejack said. “And I thought Tirek was a consumer.” Spike said in shock. The Shadowkhan roared at them, as Twilight called, “Spread out and stay out of the light!” they split up, as the Shadowkhan went after them. As Rainbow flew around something black suddenly started dropping on her. When she looked on her flank she saw it was more Mini Khan, and more were dropping on her from one of the building's roofs, “Guys, our little buddies are back!” Rainbow called, while shaking the Mini Khan off. Twilight flew around the big shadow eater blasting it with her magic, but kept dodging. As it got closer to Twilight it tried to chomp at her, only for Twilight to teleport away from it. She reappeared close to Rainbow who had Spike help her take care of the miniature ones, “Spike, can't you turn that big lug into a harmless animal like you did those Sumo Khan?” “If I did that then we won't be able to get the ponies shadows back.” Spike voiced the flaw. “Spike's right, our only hope is to destroy the big one.” Twilight agreed. “Well, that's proven easier said than done!” Rarity called from below, while using her magic to blast at the Mini Khan that kept coming after her and Applejack. The big shadow eater stopped in place and started sniffing around before leaving, “Where's it going?” Fluttershy asked. “Probably looking for its next meal.” Spike suspected, as they took off after it. When they caught up to it, they saw standing close to another lamppost was a couple more ponies staying out late. “All of you get out of here!” Twilight called out to them. The ponies heard Twilight's shout, looked and saw the big shadow eater coming right for them. They screamed in panic and tried to make a run for it. Unfortunately the smaller shadow eaters swarmed together and kept them in the light and began feasting on their shadows making them grow bigger reaching about the girls heights. “We're too late!” Spike gasped, before frowning. As the girls were keeping the biggest one at bay, Spike flew at the medium sized ones before unleashing his combustion on them. It was hot enough to destroy them, and Spike watched as little black wisps flew over to the comatose ponies before entering through their nostrils and suddenly their shadows returned and they woke up. “What happened?” one of them asked, before they looked and saw the big shadow eater fighting Twilight and her friends. “Hurry, go!” Twilight called, as the ponies took off for safety. Spike flew in and joined the girls in fighting the big shadow eater, “If I could defeat those smaller ones, then we can beat this one together.” Spike told them. Rainbow looked behind them and her eyes widened, “Guys, we got a problem!” every pony and Spike looked and saw the sun coming up. “It's morning.” Twilight gasped. The group looked down seeing the sun's glow washed over them exposing their shadows, which the giant shadow eater grinned at. “Take cover!” Spike called, as they hurried to find shade. The Shadow Eater tried to grab them, but they each found shade somewhere making the creature unable to snack on their shadows. “We can't just stay in the shade forever.” Applejack reminded them. “Especially now.” Fluttershy added, as ponies started stepping outside. The colossal Shadowkhan looked at all the ponies and sunk into the shadows on the ground and traveled along the road with the tip of its head sticking out making it look like a shark swimming. “After it!” Rainbow called as they hurried to catch the Shadowkhan. As the ponies walked around the streets of town, they suddenly saw a dorsal fin shaped objects coming right for them. The ponies screamed in fright and tried to run for safety, only for the big Shadowkhan to emerge from the ground and assimilated many ponies shadows in one gulp. Because of that the already big shadow eater grew even bigger making him tower over the buildings in Ponyville. Spike and the girls skidded to a halt seeing their problem just got even bigger, “Ok, now this is worse.” Spike said. “Mediums ready!” Twilight ordered, as they whipped out their fish mediums and started blasting at the enormous shadow devourer. The giant shadow eater roared in pain from the chi blast hits, it wasn't enough to make it go poof. Applejack spoke to the others, “It's no use, we're pretty much tickling that thing.” “It would take a tremendous amount of power to defeat it.” Twilight realized. Spike hearing that while recalling how he was able to defeat the few Mini Khan that devoured those ponies shadows last night, and suddenly got an idea. “Girls, I know what to do!” “What?” Twilight and Rainbow asked. “Just keep stalling it, and I'll do the rest.” he instructed, as the girls continued to attack the colossal Shadowkhan keeping it in place. Spike concentrated, as the dragon talisman symbol glowed in his right eye, and the ox talisman in his left eye. Suddenly Spike was engulfed in flames and flew right at the giant shadow eater. “Spike!” Twilight called, as he was heading right for their enemy. The giant Shadowkhan saw Spike coming right at him and opened its jaws. Spike flew right into the mouth and the shadow devourer closed its mouth. “Spikey-Wikey!” Rarity cried. “Is he?” Fluttershy asked in worry. The giant shadow consumer licked its lips feeling satisfied, until it looked down at its belly in concern as it was started to bubble. Suddenly something fiery shot right out of its stomach. The girls saw it was Spike who was unharmed. They then saw the giant Shadowkhan had a hole in its stomach and suddenly went poof releasing all the shadows it ate. Spike touched down and powered down his flaming form, “Spike, that was awesome!” Rainbow cheered, as the girls surrounded him. “I didn't know you could do that.” Applejack said. “I wasn't sure if it was going to work or not.” Spike confessed. “Well, I'm glad it did.” Twilight said in relief, as they watched shadows return to the ponies they belong to allowing them to wake up. Spike looked up seeing some of the shadows flying off, “Think one of those belongs to Pinkie Pie?” “Only one way to find out.” Twilight replied, as they all headed back to the castle. When they arrived they ran into the library, “Pinkie!” the asked before stopping to see Pinkie was wide awake enjoying the cookies she was eating last night. “Hi, guys. What's up?” she asked casually. “Pinkie, are you ok?” Rarity asked in concern. “Never better, why?” “That Shadowkhan devoured your shadow and you fell into a coma.” Applejack told her. “Huh, I did feel strange. But I'm ok now.” “That's because we took care of the problem.” Spike explained. “Well, that's good,” Pinkie smiled, “So it's a bright new day, and we're all wide awake. What do you wanna do?” Spike and the girls only response was to drop on the floor and fall asleep. They had been up all night dealing with the shadow gobbling Shadowkhan they never got any sleep. Pinkie looked at them before turning to the fourth wall. “Not what I was expecting.”