//------------------------------// // Stranger in the Shadows // Story: Legends Never Die: Friendship is Magic // by bookhorse125 //------------------------------// Sunny didn’t have a plan. She also didn’t care that she didn’t have a plan. She popped out of the secret tunnel underneath the Tree of Harmony with dust and dirt in her mane and down her throat so that every breath felt like it was sending hot needles into her chest. But she barely felt it. She was so distraught that all she could focus on was putting one hoof in front of the other, not even sure where she was going. All she knew was that she had to get her friends back, one way or another. The sun was scorching hot on the back of Sunny’s neck, and sweat trickled down her face and into her eyes, making them sting. Sunny blinked the pain away and shook her head, setting her eyes on the goal in front of her, which, at this moment, was the sloping hills that led away from Zephyr Heights toward Maretime Bay. Sunny wasn’t going back to Maretime Bay, though; she had no reason to. There was nothing there that could help her friends, anyway, so she changed her course once the dense trees of the edge of Bridlewood faded away, heading in a direction that she had only ever traveled in the air aboard the Marestream. But before she could get too far off course from the way to Maretime Bay, she spotted a pony trotting down the road toward the outskirts of Bridlewood, where, unbeknownst to most ponies, were the remains of Ponyville in what used to be called the Everfree Forest. Huh, Sunny thought, fully prepared to continue on her way and not let anything distract her from her quest. Wait. I recognize that pony… “Sprout?” she called out. The stranger didn’t answer, probably because they were too far away to hear, but Sunny was sure she knew who it was. She stole one last glance in the direction she had been traveling before she turned and dashed toward the stallion, who was staring at his hooves as he walked, muttering to himself. “...so stupid, I mean, why can’t he just go back, why do I have to pretend like this? How long is this going to-” “Sprout?” Sunny said again, coming up behind him. Sprout yelped and jumped, whirling around to face Sunny, and she caught a strange shimmer in his eyes before they reverted to their original green, full of panic. “Oh! Uh, hi, Sunny, I, uh, wasn’t expecting to see… you… out here… at this particular time…” Sprout cleared his throat. “Ahem. Anyway, aren’t you supposed to be at that Unity Festival thing in Zephyr Heights?” “Follow up to that,” Sunny said, tilting her head suspiciously at him as Sprout’s hooves nervously twitched, “why aren’t you at the Unity Festival? Everypony went.” “Uh, no reason,” Sprout said quickly - too quickly. “I was actually just heading there right now-” “And why are you going this way?” Sunny asked. “This way is almost impossible to travel through the mountains - unless you know of some way around them?” Sunny took a step toward Sprout, watching him sweat nervously and back away from her. “Like some kind of secret passage, or…” Sprout’s eyes flicked to the side, where the Tree of Harmony was standing tall in the distance. It was quick, so quick that Sunny almost missed it. Almost. “Um… no,” he stuttered. “Actually, now that you’ve told me about how bad this path is, I think I’ll just turn around and pick a different one, and I’ll see you later, Sunny!” he called over his shoulder as he started to walk away. Sunny turned, the pieces in her mind falling into place. “Sprout.” He flinched, then turned around to face her with an undeniably guilty look on his face. “Yeah?” She sighed. “Hi, Midge.” There was a brief moment where a look of denial flashed across his face, but one look at Sunny’s expression was enough. He sighed and hung his head in defeat, and was suddenly surrounded by a column of light, and when it cleared, Sprout was gone. In his place was a creature that looked like a crossover between a pony and a bug. The creature had orange gossamer wings folded on its back and a short horn protruding from its forehead, curved unlike a unicorn’s. Its golden-yellow skin shimmered in the sunlight, and its eyes were a solid, almost unnerving gold color. Sunny hadn’t seen creatures like this in months. In fact, it had been months since she had seen this particular creature. The last she had seen of him, Midge had left for the Everfree Forest after their fight with the Legion of Doom. “How’d you know it was me?” the changeling said. “Sprout doesn’t know about the secret passage under the Tree of Harmony,” Sunny explained, gesturing to the oversized tree over the crests of the next few hills. “And no way is he brave enough to try walking to Zephyr Heights by himself.” Even as she said it, something felt wrong about her description, but she knew Sprout, and knew what a terrified coward he was. “Besides, you’re a really bad liar, Midge.” Midge gave her a strange look, like she had said something that surprised him, and he was waiting for her to realize it and correct herself. When she didn’t, he said abruptly, “Uh, yes. Absolutely. But…” “But what?” There was this look in his eyes - like he really, really wanted to tell her something - but eventually decided against it. “But nothing.” Sunny tilted her head at him. Misty could probably figure out what he had been about to say - or at least why he had stopped himself - but Misty wasn’t here right now. And that’s a good thing, Sunny told herself. She shouldn’t be here. She should be helping my friends - because they’re the ones who’ll save Equestria. “So… is the whole Sprout disguise thing just to get you to the Everfree Forest or Zephyr Heights without arousing suspicion, or…” Sunny had glanced up at the mountain in the distance as she mentioned the pegasus city, but when she turned back to Midge, he was gone. She trailed off, spinning in a circle, looking around for the changeling, calling, “Midge? Midge?” even though she knew it was pointless. He had probably changed form into a bug or something else equally tiny, and she had no hope of finding him. She shook her head and put thoughts of changelings and Sprout and spies out of her mind as she turned back to her original course and continued in the direction of Opaline’s lair. “You don’t know?” Imara demanded hotly. “How can you not know?” “I mean I don’t know who it was,” Midnight explained, “I only saw what they looked like. It wasn’t anyone I recognized-” “Then,” Brooks said, flames flickering around his horn, his voice layering like it did whenever he got close to being a nirik, “tell us what they looked like.” Midnight glanced at Flurry and said, “It wasn’t a pony.” They waited in silence for a bit, but Midnight didn’t say anything more. “Well, that doesn’t narrow it down at all!” Imara snapped. “In case you haven’t noticed, you and Flurry are the only ones aboard this ship who are ponies! It could be any creature from any of our kingdoms-” “Whoever it is isn’t from one of our kingdoms,” Midnight said. He was sweating a bit now, with so many gazes on him, especially when one of those gazes was Imara’s fierce glare. “Just tell us what they looked like!” Brooks roared, flames rising around him, but Ash put her talon on his shoulder and tried to calm him down. “I’m trying!” Midnight protested. “I just… I don’t know how!” “Was it a monster?” Little Braveheart asked, her eyes shimmering with excitement. “A terrifying creature of some kind? How many legs did it have? How many eyes? Was it oozing venom or did it have wings or claws or-” “It looked,” Midnight said carefully, “like a goat.” Silence. “A goat?” Kailani asked, unsure if she had heard correctly. “Or maybe a sheep?” Midnight shrugged helplessly. “Whatever it was - he had cloven hooves, and these big blue horns that curled around his face, and they glowed-” “Yellow?” Flurry finished for him. “With black lightning?” All eyes turned to her. “Yes,” Midnight said, sounding surprised. “How did you-” “And did he have blue fur and a red harness around his neck and red eyes and maybe a rusty old bell?” The Crystal pony nodded. “The bell looked familiar, though. Was it-” “Grogar’s bell.” Flurry felt fear begin to creep through her, making her lose the feeling in her hooves and the tips of her wings. “The one that Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow used to drain our powers back at the swamp. Which means that the creature responsible for this whole attack, and these shadow wolves kidnapping our friends and leaders - it’s Grogar the ram, the oldest and most powerful ancient being in Equestria. Except perhaps Discord,” she added as an afterthought. “Come to think of it, the last time Grogar was thought to have returned was just Discord pretending - maybe that’s the case this time?” “No.” Midnight shook his head. “It’s him. Grogar. I just… I know. When I have these visions, they burn away disguises and let me see things as they really are. That’s how I could tell that the wolves had our friends.” He turned to Flurry. “I’m no expert on ancient magical beings, but I thought Grogar was defeated thousands of years ago by Gusty the Great. He must have broken out of his prison somehow.” Flurry nodded in agreement. “Hugo, get this ship to Equestria as fast as possible. We have to find Sunny and warn her - before it’s too late.” Hugo nodded. “Sure, but, uh… where in Equestria are we going?” “Maretime Bay? That’s where Sunny will probably be,” Kailani suggested. “Maybe we should just follow that rainbow,” Little Braveheart suggested. The buffalo was standing at the front of the zeppelin again, her favorite spot, the wind blowing through her mane and ruffling the feathers on her headband. She pointed a tiny hoof into the distance, where a bright glimmer could just barely be seen. “Huh.” Hugo looked down at his map, then his compass and other charts, then up at the rainbow. “According to my notes, that rainbow is coming directly from Maretime Bay…” “Then follow it,” Flurry instructed him. “We need to warn Sunny - Grogar’s coming. And we have to help her stop him and save our friends.” Hugo nodded and adjusted the wheel slightly, aiming for the rainbow glowing in the sky. After they were well on their way, Flurry found Midnight alone in the hold of the ship, sitting in his hammock and staring at his moon pendant. “What’s wrong?” the alicorn asked him, standing next to him and staring at her own reflection in the sparkling white surface of the crystal. She remembered that the stone had been taken from the Tree of Harmony itself. Midnight sighed, letting his necklace fall again. “It’s just… in my vision, Grogar… he spoke. He was talking to some of the other shadow wolves, and he said, ‘Now we just need the strongest one to lead my army out of the shadows. The one who will provide more power than all the rest. And then… nothing will be able to stop us.’ Then he threw back his head, and he… he laughed.” He looked at her, and Flurry felt the meaning of the words sink in. “You don’t think…” “Yes.” The look in Midnight’s eyes was hundreds of years old, and Flurry remembered that this pony, though he looked and acted no older than a teenager, had been trapped in a space between time for the past century, given only visions of things he could never see happen in real life as his only evidence that the outside world existed. It was a burden that Flurry didn’t think even she would be able to carry, but Midnight held so much on his young shoulders. “I think he’s after Sunny. I think… I think he wants her to lead his army, and then… he’ll be invincible.”