//------------------------------//
// 19 - A Duel Of Storm And Shadow pt 2 
// Story: Legends Of Ponyville 
// by mechafone 
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"That's right, Spike!" Twilight cried, raining more praise on her own protege, clopping her hooves together happily. The little dragon, now nearly five years old, was excelling at sending scrolls. His first successful scroll sending had been just over a week ago, when one of the Fighters had disappeared. As loath as she was to write that letter to Spark Storm, it had to be done. He deserved to know that his friend had gone missing. No word had returned, of course. Twilight had been half expecting an answer, preferably delivered by a certain green pegasus. Of course, no answer had come.

Spike grinned toothily up at his surrogate sister, before striking a proud pose with his claws on his hips. No sooner had he given her the proud stance, though, he felt a gurgling in his gut. "Oh no, it's coming back...!" he groaned before releasing a firey belch, along with a scroll that launched itself into Twilight's face, who promptly shrieked and fell backwards onto the floor while waggling her hooves at the scroll to get it away from her.

"Oh eww, Spike, you're supposed to aim those away from ponies!" she cried indignantly before falling on her back. The scroll fell stubbornly into her forelegs, seemingly determined to be held.

"Heh, uh...sorry, Twilight," Spike offered before reaching down to help Twilight to her hooves. She glared at Spike, though it was a playful one. The two of them had been at this for days, sending messages back and forth to Princess Celestia, who had offered to help Spike with his scroll training.

"It's all right, Spike. You're learning, you're getting better. I'm so proud of you," she replied, giving the little dragon a hug. He replied in kind, happy to be getting so much praise today. Twilight cleared her throat after a moment, prompting the dragon to hop back and sit before the older pony patiently. Twilight nodded her approval before grasping the scroll in her magic, unrolling it to read the contents.

"Dear Twilight Sparkle and Spike, well done! This marks the twentieth successful attempt at magical scroll-sending. Today's session is over. Take a break, dear Twilight, and enjoy the rest of your day, the both of you. Your princess, Celestia."

Twilight smiled happily before refolding the scroll tightly and setting it aside. "Well, Spike, how about that? You're amazing! Well, I don't know about you, but I could really go for a nice study session - Spike, are you listening to me?" Spike indeed was not. He wasn't even sitting before her anymore. Looking around for the little dragon, she spotted by the window of their room, having opened it and letting some cool October air inside.

"Spike, I was talking to you," she told him in a gently scolding voice. "You should listen to your elders when they...SPIKE!"

The dragon finally jumped with a start when the unicorn yelled his name. He turned around and frowned at her, rubbing at his ear fins. "Geez, Twilight, you don't have to yell. I - " he paused, and again turned to look out the window. Something out in the valley had grabbed his attention, and it wasn't letting go. Twilight frowned down at him before following his gaze out the window, over the valley, past the trees, to the teeny, tiny speck of a town miles and miles away.



Princess Celestia hummed to herself quietly as she sipped at her afternoon tea while perusing the many, many government documents that she had to look over, sign, or tear up for many hours of her day. Tea was one of the few things that gave her some solace. That, and teaching Twilight in her studies. The window behind her was open, letting in a cool, refreshing breeze.

As the princess lifted another of countless, endless documents in a magical grasp, she paused. Something felt different. Something felt wrong. Dropping the document carelessly to the floor, the alicorn stepped over to her window. There was something in the air that warranted her attention. Stepping onto the windowsill and spreading her wings, she took gracefully to the air and began to climb, taking a smooth turn around the corner of the castle, the wind whipping through her colorful mane.

She could feel it much better while flying. It tickled her feathers. It bristled her fur. And it brought a sense of unease to her heart. As she looked down over the valley, in the town where she knew a certain pegasus was still very angry with her, something was stirring. Something was building, charging the air with electrons. Somepony was creating a storm. Celestia stared down towards Ponyville, her breath catching in her throat. Her lips parted, and from them she uttered the words she had heard many times but never spoken: "Storm-Bringer. It's too soon..."



Spark Storm groaned as the weight of the two storm-orbs weighed heavily on his wings. While they didn't physically touch his body, the orbs on either side of him took immense muscle control to keep them from falling to the ground, and he didn't to find out what happened if they fell in the middle of town.

"Shadow Heart!" Shimmering Oasis shouted, making the unicorn jump, so focused was he on the unfolding events. He turned to look at the princess with anxious eyes. "Finish this now, before he has a chance to use those!"

Shadow Heart immediately began charging a new attack, but it wasn't fast enough. Spark Storm raised his wings, and the sudden movement in turned moved the spherical storms higher into the air. As they moved, thick, strong chords of electricity danced inbetween the orbs. Gravity did its part as the ground directly beneath them was showered with a torrent of constantly flowing electricity, ripping up the road the three combatants all stood on.

Shadow Heart backed away from the curtain of what now seemed to be liquid electricity spilling towards him like running water. He needed to take a chance now, or face the alicorn's anger. He had not seen her angry before, and he didn't want to. The unicorn charged up his horn as quickly as he could, then released a thick bolt of electricity at the pegasus before him.

Spark Storm barely even thought as the incoming bolt was caught between two bolts of his own from the twin orbs. The two thick threads of energy maintained their grasp on the wayward bolt for a moment, then sent it back, nearly three times bigger. It caught the unicorn in the horn and threw him off his hooves. The counter-attack was so fast and so sudden that Shimmering Oasis didn't have time to dodge the projectile unicorn or put up a barrier. Unicorn met alicorn, sending both crashing over outdoor dining tables and chairs, flipping their bodies end over end until both ponies crashed into the wall of the bistro behind them.

"Ok, whoa," Spark muttered to himself. He knew these orbs would come in handy the moment they formed, but to down both the powerful unicorn and Shimmering Oasis? In one blow? He couldn't help but feel a little excited, but he felt a little bad, as well. He hadn't meant to hit either of them that hard, especially not the unicorn. Something had to be done to get through to him, if he was indeed under a spell, something that was more than likely considering who he seemed to look up to.

As Spark Storm approached, something that was very difficult to do considering the weight of the orbs, Shimmering Oasis suddenly emerged from the mess of tables and chairs. Her silver adornments had fallen from her mane and three of her hooves, and a small line of blood trickled from the right side of her mouth. She looked livid. "I have had enough," she growled as she reached down and pulled Shadow Heart from under a chair. She shoved him down to the ground and held him down, even as he lay there unconscious.

"What are you doing?! Leave him alone!" Spark shouted as the princess leaned down and touched her horn to Shadow Heart's. Almost instantly the colt awoke, a look of panic on his face.

"...What? What did you do?!" Shadow Heart demanded as he got to his hooves and stumbled away from the princess. His horn began to give off an ominous black glow. The unicorn groaned and shook his head, as if he could shake off the terrible feeling growing in his head. He trembled and finally fell to all four knees. Spark looked in horror as his entire body took on the same black glow. A moment later, it happened.

Almost all at once, Shadow Heart's body became a simple black shape. Spark Storm backed away as he immediately felt a pull, as if Shadow Heart's body had created it's own immense gravitational pull. It appeared that was exactly what had happened, as thin strings of electricity began to flow from Spark's orbs and into the darkness that had become Shadow Heart, disappearing into his body as if it were a deep, dark void.

Spark Storm began to notice other things being pulled towards the unicorn. Broken table pieces, crumbled bits of road, Dinky...Spark Storm had to look twice to make sure he was seeing what he was seeing. Dinky was in the road, which meant that Ditzy was...where was Ditzy?! Spark Storm began to panic. Not only was Dinky separated from her mother, but she was several meters behind Shadow Heart, asleep on the ground, and slipping closer and closer towards the transformed unicorn.

Spark groaned as he resisted the pull of the dark void as he took step after step towards little Dinky, his muscles straining under the immense weight of the orbs hovering at his sides. He wasn't going to make it at this rate. "Ugh...Stop! You've got to stop, innocent ponies are going to die if you don't!" he shouted at the unicorn.

Shadow Heart, who hadn't moved this entire time, seemed to turn his head in Spark Storm's direction. At least he thought he did, there were no features on his body anymore, simply a black form. The unicorn opened his mouth, and out came the most hollow, metallic sound he had ever heard. "I can't! I can't turn it off, she won't let me!"

Without wasting a second, Spark Storm whipped out a wing, commanding the spheres to strike Shimmering Oasis, who hadn't stopped grinning since this whole thing began. A bolt as big around as a young tree shot towards her, only to be sucked into the void that was Shadow Heart. This resulted in the alicorn breaking out into brief, mad laughter. "This is it, Spark Storm!" she cried, her horn surrounded in the same black mist-like magic as Shadow Heart's body. "You will govern my future no longer!"

Spark Storm had no idea what she meant by this, but if he didn't do something fast, Dinky would be lost to the void, along with whatever else wasn't pinned to the ground. He had to lighten his load, the storm orbs were useless to him. He had to turn them off, or throw them, or something...Spark let out a loud groan of effort as he tried getting closer to the little unicorn slowly dragging towards the dark unicorn. Suddenly, she lifted off the ground and tumbled end over end towards Shadow Heart.

No! Spark Storm gave a great heave of his shoulders and wings, and immediately he felt the orbs leave him. Paying no attention to what had happened to them, Spark worked his wings as he shot forward. Closer and closer, and finally he grabbed Dinky into his forelegs and shot past Shadow Heart and the small bistro, away from danger, for now.

"That's it. Good job, Sparky," a quiet Southern voice whispered to himself from across the street, hidden in another building as he watched the scene through the scope of his pistol. "So magic gets eaten by that thing? Let's see you stop this." And with a magical squeeze, the chamber of his newly outfitted weapon let off a blast that was meant to bring down manticores. The blast, aimed just under Shimmering Oasis' hooves, was pulled towards Shadow Heart, but the projectile was moving too fast to be completely consumed.

Shimmering Oasis found herself propelled through the air. Even her wings were of little use to her at this speed, and at having been caught by surprise. She landed face-first into a brick building opposite the bistro, knocking her clean out and leaving a bloody mess where her head lay.

Spark Storm turned around to stare in shock at what had just happened. The bistro dining area was destroyed, Shimmering Oasis had left his field of vision, and Shadow Heart was stirring. Not the black void, but the actual unicorn, in all his orange and red glory. The dark, matter-swallowing void was gone.

This was all well and good, but what in Tartarus happened? Spark looked down in his forelegs as little Dinky began to awaken. She looked up at Spark Storm, a look of confusion on her face. Her nose and mouth began to scrunch up. Spark knew that look well. "Shh shh, don't cry, sweetie, you're ok," Spark whispered, a hoof brushing her the little filly's mane comfortingly.

Dinky sniffled quietly, but calmed down after a moment. She then smiled and reached up for him with a plaintive "Daddy!"

Spark Storm felt his insides burn at the title. Spark Storm felt his eyes fill with emotional tears, but a sound from the destroyed bistro area brought the pegasus back to focus. He frowned as he reached up and settled Dinky onto his back and hid her within his wings. He didn't think he'd need to attack Shadow Heart any more, but if he did he'd need his wings. Still, he couldn't just leave Dinky alone.

As he approached the unicorn, who stumbled about for a moment before finding his balance, Spark let out a small whistle. Shadow Heart immediately turned to Spark, eyes wide with fear. The unicorn quickly calmed down as he noticed the little periwinkle unicorn poking her head out of Spark's mane. The two teenagers stared at each other intensely before Spark spoke up quietly.

"Before our fight started, you asked me if you could join the Fighters. I said 'yes'. What did you hear?"

Shadow Heart stared at Spark Storm in shock. His eyes started to fill with tears as he lowered his head and grit his teeth, his thin frame shaking lightly. "...She lied to me. I don't know how she did it, but she lied to me. She lied to me this whole time!"

Spark pitied the younger unicorn. How much of this could have been avoided? How could it have? Shimmering Oasis...Spark frowned as something else came to mind. If she was here, what did that say about Fire Lotus? He didn't have time to think that one through as another pony came into his line of sight. Spark stared at Gunslinger as he approached. A well of hope began to spring up in the pegasi's chest.

"Gunslinger? Please tell me you brought the other Fighters!" Gunslinger paused in his approach, a look of embarrassment coming over the blue unicorn's face, as well as a hint of a blush.

"Uh...w-well, no, actually. Ah've been hangin' around town hopin' I could get a word in with Lemon Pop. Ah'm afraid it's just us, Spark."

Spark Storm sighed and brought a hoof to his forehead. "That's fine, Gunslinger. I mean, if it weren't for you, who knows what..." Spark trailed off as he turned to look at Shadow Heart, who had taken to sitting on the pile of rubble, head lowered. He looked miserable, and the fight had completely gone out of him.

Gunslinger looked up and down the street, then straight up into the sky and let out a low whistle. "Dunno what you were gonna do with them orbs, Spark, but Ah think if ya had more time ya might've just won this yerself."

Spark Storm arched a brow as he followed Gunslinger's gaze. His jaw dropped as he stared at the dark clouds that hadn't been there when this fight had started. The orbs, the storm spheres. Had they done this? Had he created those clouds? He remembered throwing the orbs off of him to save Dinky, he didn't recall what happened to them, he hadn't cared at the time.

Gunslinger frowned and looked up and down the street, taking note that more and more ponies began to stir from their magically forced sleep. "Uh, Spark, Ah don't mean to be rushin' ya, but it might be a good idea to skedaddle right about now. All them ponies are gonna wanna know what happened, and this is the kinda thing we Fighters try to keep under wraps. So let's grab yer mind-scrambler alicorn over there and make ourselves scarce before - "

Spark Storm, Gunslinger and even Shadow Heart, hearing mention of the alicorn, turned to see where the princess had fallen, a bare spot was all that was left, aside from a small puddle of blood. "Oh, damn it," Spark growled, his fur bristling and his wings stiffening. This caused little Dinky to get uncomfortable and pop out to sit on Spark's back. "Sorry, Dinky," Spark said consolingly as the little unicorn hugged his neck.

"Daddy," she said again, adding an affectionate nuzzle that made Spark blush once more at the title.

Gunslinger stared accusingly at the pegasus before Spark could return the gaze no longer, a pang of guilt rising in his chest. The unicorn mercifully broke the glare as he stepped closer to Shadow Heart. A consoling hoof resting on the younger unicorn's shoulder, he asked, "Hey there, kid. Guess the darkness won over this time, huh?"

Shadow Heart looked up with tears in his eyes. After hearing Gunslinger's voice and name, he had been filled with shame. When he'd met the Fighter a year ago, he had promise that he would try to keep his darkness in check, to keep from stepping over the line into the abyss. He had failed. He had failed Gunslinger, and he had failed himself.

Gunslinger smiled and gave Shadow Heart a good pat on the back. "Come on, Shadow. We gotta git outta here 'fore we're all discovered and ponies start askin' questions, specially with this mess here," he said, indicating the remains of the bistro dining area they all stood on.

Shadow Heart said nothing, but held that look of shame in his eyes as he stood and followed Gunslinger down the street towards the outskirts of the town. Spark remained, taking one last look before his eyes lit up. Spotting Ditzy in the direction his comrades were running, he ran to her as she sat, looking exponentially more dizzy than usual.

"Ditzy!" he called as he sat down with her. Hearing Spark's voice, she fell against him, her head on his chest.

"Wha...what happened? Why am I so tired? Wh..." she looked up suddenly in panic. "Where's Dinky?!" Spark Storm smiled down at her as Dinky popped up over his mane and reached for her mother happily. "Oh...thank Celestia..." Ditzy reached up and plucked Dinky from her resting place and cradled her lovingly. "Oh, Spark, what happened? Why was I on the ground, why was everypony on the ground, and wh...what happened to the bistro?!"

Spark frowned. Didn't she remember Shimmering Oasis showing up in the middle of the street, or Shadow Heart? "You mean you don't remember? The big golden alicorn showing up with a little unicorn?"

Ditzy shook her head, a concerned frown on her face. "No, I'm pretty sure I'd remember that. What's going on, Spark Storm?"

"I don't have time to explain. Look, I've got to go. One of our friends have been kidnapped, I have to go help."

Ditzy raised a hoof to place it gently on Spark's chest. She understood, but something else was troubling her. Spark seemed to have trouble looking her in the eyes. There was silence between them until Dinky reached up for Spark Storm, once more calling to him, "Daddy!"

Ditzy gasped as she held up Dinky in her forelegs, a happy smile on her face. When she looked beyond her daughter to see the reaction on Spark's eyes, she knew then what was wrong: Spark didn't look happy, he looked ashamed. He could barely look at her until he finally turned and started to walk away.

"Sp...Spark, don't you want to be Dinky's father?"

Spark Storm's eyes threatened to spill over with emotional tears as he stopped. There was so much to think about, so much to do. Russet Hearts needed rescuing. Shimmering Oasis was working with the Changelings, and she was out there somewhere. His friends were out there trying to help, and here he was, on the brink of a decision that would change his entire life. Sapphire Snow. He took in a small, shuddering breath and shook his head. "Ditzy, I-I can't, I can't make that decision now, I'm sorry..." He put on a stony expression that he hoped would reflect on his heart as he took off at a run, determined to catch up to the others.

Crap crap crap crap crap! Spark Storm thought as he took a flying, wing-assisted leap from the street to the roof of the bowling alley. Not only was he entirely lost on where to go, he was late and he was pretty sure he just broke Ditzy's heart, and probably Dinky's as well. He was just getting close to the edge of town when he heard somepony calling for him. "Spark Storm! Oh, Spark Storm!"

Spark skidded to a halt when he recognized that voice. Oh no, not now! Spark Storm swiveled around to see Rarity trotting quickly to catch up to him. "Oh Spark Storm, I'm so glad I caught you! Come down here, it's so uncivilized for me to be standing here, yelling at you up on the roof! It's undignified."

Spark Storm bit his tongue to keep from yelling at his old friend. He was in a rush, he didn't have time to talk. Finally he turned to her, an angry expression on his face. "I can't talk, Rarity, I have to go," he said, turning to leave. Rarity, however, wasn't about to let him off so easy. She was easily just as upset and worried as he was. Without another word, she magically loosened the roof tile he was about to step on.

Taken completely by surprise, Spark put his weight on the tile and found himself tumbling off the roof until he was caught in Rarity's magical grasp, then dumped unceremoniously onto his rear. Spark scowled at the unicorn and was about to yell at her when she instead got in his face. "Spark Storm, it was my job to look after Russet Hearts today. Well, imagine my surprise when I went to get the poor dear some soup and I arrived back to see his home ruined!"

Spark Storm tried to move away from Rarity, to try and keep her from getting to the point she was making, but she followed him, her forehead pressed against his aggressively. "Now I imagine that you often leave town in such a hurry as you were all the time, completely normal, to be sure! But on this day, with my dear friend Russet's home completely ravaged and empty, I demand an answer! Spark Storm, what is going on?!"

There was no getting out of it now. Well, she had promised she'd never go adventuring again, hadn't she? She wouldn't be in the way this time. "Russet Hearts has been kidnapped by the Changelings. To get to me. Now this is none of your business, I suggest you go home and wait for us-"

"Oh, I hardly think so," the alabaster unicorn retorted in a voice that was much too calm to suggest she hadn't been expecting this. She eased away from Spark Storm and turned sideways to indicate the travel saddlebags she wore. The pouch facing Spark opened in Rarity's magical grasp, briefly showing him the arrows she'd packed. "With the damage done to poor Russet's home, I knew something terrible had happened. This is one of my close, personal friends, Spark Storm," she told Spark as she turned to him once again. "I am not coming home until I've returned him to where he belongs."

Spark Storm sighed with annoyance, but on the inside he was relieved that he didn't have to head out alone. Still, there was the matter of finding the others. Suddenly, an idea came to him. "Fine, fine, it's fine," he said as he got back to his hooves. "The first issue is finding the others already on this rescue mission. Rarity, can you grab some of that cloud up there?" he said, indicating the slowly dissipating clouds overhead.

"Oh, well...I suppose I can, I've never brought clouds down below, but..." Rarity scrunched up her nose in concentration, her horn flaring. For a moment, nothing happened. Soon enough, though, she managed to snag a good sized portion of cloud and bring it down to eye level. Spark immediately jumped on top, eager to leave until he remembered Rarity wouldn't be able to sit with him. He shrugged inwardly and grinned down at her.

"Y-you want me to ride with you?" the unicorn asked, testily poking at the cloud and frowning as her hoof passed through it. "Spark, I can't even..." she paused looking up at Spark's grin. Rarity glared at him as she tried to hide the blush creeping up over her face.

"Come on, Rare, you're not scared to actually ride the eye candy, are you?" he said, teasingly reminding her of what she'd said before.

Rarity threw her hair back with indignation before she approached him and held a hoof up, demanding his help. "I never said I liked looking at you, Spark Storm, I was talking about Applejack's brother and the royal prince." Spark Storm rolled his eyes as he helped Rarity to climb up on his back, where she settled down against him and wrapped her forelegs around his neck. "The nerve, Spark, the ego! Hmph." The back on this pegasus! Oh my, she thought, surpressing a giggle.

"Yeah yeah, just hang on." Spark flapped his long wings and propelled the two into flight as he pushed and pulled the cloud underneath him into the sky. Spark Storm thought he saw something flashing and sparkling down from the street where he'd come from, but now was the time to concentrate on finding the others. He turned towards the Everfree forest, and slipped into a dive to pick up speed. They were on their way.