The Element of Hate

by Shadow Bolt

Can I Get an Honest Opinion?

Chapter 4: Can I Get an Honest Opinion?

As they headed towards Ponyville Twilight started thinking, Okay seems this assignment has gotten off to a rocky start, but just a minor hiccup. I bet it will be smooth sailing from here on out. They finally arrived at Ponyville, She turned to Shadow and said, “Welcome to Ponyville, I’m sure you’re gonna have wonderful time here.”

Shadow wasn’t showing any happiness to Twilights comment and said, “So where are we going now?”

Twilight responded, “First where gonna stop by my place, I’ve got something important to do. Then afterwards I will introduce you to the rest of my friends, okay?”

Shadow replied in a sarcastic tone, “Oh goody I can’t wait to meet your friends, I bet they're swell.” He didn’t like the idea of meeting more of Twilights friends after his experience with Fluttershy.

Twilight ignoring his sarcasm said, “Okay follow me” she started walking towards the library. Twilight greeted the town’s ponies as she passed them by, and they returned the greeting by smiling at her. Twilight feeling confident that her mission was going to be a success kept trotting towards the library without a care in the world. Unfortunately the same could not be said for her companion.

Shadow noticed how the ponies smiled at Twilight and then they looked at him, giving him a hateful look. Just like in every town, they take one look at me and BAM instant hate. Who are they to judge me? They don’t know me, they never wanted to get to know me. Well fine who needs them I don’t need anypony. His hate was burning up again from his mental rant, the aura returned once again, but neither he nor anypony else noticed it. It wasn’t until Twilight spoke to him that his concentration was broken and the aura vanished, “We’re here, this is the Golden Oaks Library, this also my home.”

Shadow looked and noticed that the library is housed in a large, hollowed-out tree.There was a large beehive hanging from a branch, a candlestick emblem on the front door, a sign that pictures an open book located out in front, and two balconies, one with a telescope. Twilight noticed how he was looking at her house and said, “I know it’s amazing, wait right here I just have to do something real quick, and then will be on our way.” She used her magic to open the door and walked in closing it behind her. Shadow now stood there alone, in a town that was slowly starting to hate him.

Twilight walked into the library, she noticed how clean it was and called out to her assistant, “Spike, you in here?”

She heard a reply from upstairs, “Up here Twilight,” As she looked up she saw the purple dragon coming down the stairs with a feather duster in his hand.

“Wow Spike the library looks so clean, I’m so proud of you,” as Twilight was complimenting the dragon’s handy work.

Spike blushing while rubbing the back of his head with his free hand said, “Thanks Twilight, it was nothing.”

“Anything happened while I was gone?”

“Sweetie Belle stopped by earlier,” he said. “Rarity asked her to come over to see if I was busy and wanted to know if I could help her out with a few things at the shop. Apparently Rarity has this big order that she’s got to finish by tonight.”

“Well I guess after you finish cleaning you can go over to Rarity’s, I’m sure she’ll be grateful that she has someone like you to help her out,”

Spike gave Twilight a big hug from hearing this saying “Thank you,” again and again.

Spike quickly ran upstairs to finish cleaning, while he was busy at that Twilight got a quill and paper and started writing her letter to the princess explaining the situation. The letter said:

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am writing to you because I’ve met a peculiar pony named Shadow Bolt. He’s a very lonely pegasus that has no friends. He has this silly notion saying that he doesn’t need friends because he has his hate to keep him company, and that hate is the most powerful thing in Equestria. Of course you and I both know that’s not true, so I’m taking it upon myself to prove him wrong by showing him that the magic of friendship is more powerful than hate. I have the utmost confidence that I will succeed and I will write to you to give you an update of my progress. On a side note, I’ve noticed that every once in a while a red aura appears over his body when he gets angry. I believe it’s a manifestation of his hate and I want to know if you heard anything similar to this.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle.

As Twilight finished her letter Spike came running down the stairs now that he finished cleaning, “Alright Twilight, I’m off to Rarity’s,” as he was about to open the door.

Twilight called out to him, “Spike wait, before you go, could you mail this letter to the princess?”

“Sure thing,” he said as Twilight handed the letter and watched Spike using his magical fire breath to send the letter to Princess Celestia. Afterwards Spike waved to Twilight and left the library.

“Now that that’s out of the way it’s time to figure out what my next step is,” talking to herself again. “Rarity is still busy so I can’t take Shadow to meet her yet, I’m guessing Pinkie is busy as well, and I still haven’t seen Rainbow Dash. Twilight kept thinking of what to do next and decided who Shadow should meet next. “Perhaps Applejack isn’t too busy that she can spare some time to talk to Shadow.” Her mind made up, she walked to the door deciding that she will take Shadow Bolt to Sweet Apple Acres so he can meet Applejack. She opened the door with her magic walked outside and closed it, as she walked out she noticed that Shadow was sitting down, fast asleep.

Shadow noticed that Twilight was taking a long time that he decided to take a nap for two reasons. Reason 1: I’m still very tired since I haven’t had any sleep since I move to the Everfree Forest. Reason 2: By going to sleep I don’t have to stand there watching ponies giving hateful stares at me. He was enjoying his sleep until he heard a voice that could only have come from Twilight Sparkle, since he couldn’t stand her bossy snooty voice.

“Shadow Bolt, are you asleep?” he heard the voice say as he kept his eyes closed not wanting to wake up. If I’m asleep how am I supposed to answer you, he thought as he was trying to go back to sleep.

Twilight tried waking him up again, “Shadow would you please wake up?”

His mental reply was, No, leave me alone.

Twilight tried one more time her face was really close to Shadow’s so that her voice would be louder without having to shout at him, “Shadow please wake up.”

He heard how louder her voice was getting and decided that if he didn’t wake up then she would keep trying. With that he immediately opened his eyes.

Twilight got a little startled when Shadow opened his eyes quite fast, she noticed that even when he wakes up he looked angry. “Sorry for taking so long, but now I’m taking you to meet another of my friends,” she said.

Shadow responded, “Very well, lead the way” and soon they were off to Sweet Apple Acres.

As they were walking Twilight decided to pass the time by engaging in a conversation with Shadow Bolt so she could learn more about him “It’s a beautiful sunny day isn’t it?

My beautiful day is a dark cloudy day with rain.”

Twilight tried again, “So it must be fun being able to fly and all is it?”

He responded, “It’s alright, it gets me from A to B, especially when I’m moving from town to town.

“Do you always fly to move around?”

“Well, I’m not exactly welcomed on trains. They take one look at me and stop me from getting on.”

Twilight decided to change the subject, “You must be pretty fast at flying huh?”

“I liked to think so, I want to be the fastest in Equestria.”

Twilight seeing that now they were off to a good start said, “You know I know a friend and she’s says she’s the fastest in Equestria.”

“Really now?” he said with a curious look on his face. Twilight continued

“Oh yes, I’ve seen her fly myself and I got to say she is really fast. Maybe you know her; she used to live in Cloudsdale.”

As soon as she mentioned Cloudsdale, Shadow got angry and once again the red aura came back. Since they were walking so close to each other Twilight could feel the hate coming from the aura. She tried to figure out why he got angry when she realized that they had arrived at Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight quickly said, “We’re here, welcome to Sweet Apple Acres.”

Shadow was busy looking at all the apple trees there were that he forgot why he got angry and then the red aura vanished once again. They kept walking until Twilight spotted an orange earth pony wearing a cowboy hat, she called out to the pony, “Hey A.J. over here,” she waved her hoof to get the pony’s attention. Sure enough the earth pony heard her and started walking towards them. The closer the pony got the more Shadow Bolt was able to get a good look at the pony. The pony was female, her mane and tail were blonde and both had them styled in a ponytail. She has green eyes and freckles on her face, her cutie mark were three red apples.

Twilight introduced him to her friend, “A.J. this is Shadow Bolt, he just moved here and I’m showing him to all my friends so he can see what the power of our friendship is like.”

The earth pony gave a good look at him and then introduced herself, “Well howdy partner, da names Applejack, happy to make yer acquaintance.”

Shadow responded, “uh… happy to meet you too. I take it since your friends with Twilight, you’re also an Element of Harmony.”

Applejack replied, “Why yes suree bob, ah represent The Element of Honesty."

Shadow noticed Applejacks accent and said, “You wouldn’t happened to be from Appleloosa would you?”

“No ah’m not, ya from Appleloosa?” she asked

“Well before I moved here I spent some time in Appleloosa and I noticed that you have the same accent as the ones who lived there,” he replied.

“Did ya happen to know ma cousin Braeburn while you were over there?”

“I didn’t know anypony there since none of them wanted to talk to me.”

Applejack seemed confused from his response that she didn’t know what to say next. Twilight turned Applejack around and told her about Shadow Bolt and his situation quietly so he wouldn’t hear her. After she was finished explaining they both turned around and Applejack said, “Ah’m mighty sorry for what’s happened to ya. Ah know it’s not right to treat another pony like that, Ah know there are still many good honest ponyfolk out there.”

“It doesn’t matter, not like we can change anything. Anyway Appleloosa wasn’t that bad except for the heat and the constant stampeding of buffalo's. I decided to move away to somewhere less humid and then I heard of the Everfree Forest and soon I made my way over here.”

“Well at least yer honest wit yer feelings, as ah always say honesty leads to happiness.” she said

“You really think that?” he asked not believing her statement

“Why sure Ah think that, they don’t call me The Element of Honesty for nuthin,” she said in a confident voice.

“Okay let’s put it to the test then shall we?” he said. “I’m going to ask you one question and since you’re The Element of Honesty I expect an honest answer from you. Is that all right with you?”

“Why sure it is partner, go ahead and fire yer question away,” said Applejack believing that she can answer truthfully without problems.

“Okay here comes the question,” he took a deep breath and asked, “What did you think of me when you first saw me?”

Applejack started sweating, she knew the answer but she didn’t want to tell him. She wanted to lie to him but she knew that it wasn’t right to lie, and he asked her to answer honestly. She wouldn’t be The Element of Honesty if she told him a lie no matter how hurtful the truth would be.

She struggled for a few moments before she answered his question. She took a deep breath and said, “Ya look like yer trouble mister. The way ya look makes me want to avoid eye contact with ya and ah don’t even want to speak to ya either, ah’m wondering what Twilight is even doing with a guy like ya?” She looked down ashamed of what she had just said.

Twilight was shocked over what Applejack said, she spoke the truth and it seems like it confirmed Shadow’s statement from earlier, “It seems ponies take one look at me and they instantly hate or scared of me.”

Twilight said to Applejack, “I’m surprised at you Applejack, I thought we learned our lesson about not judging a book by its cover when we found out that Zecora wasn’t some evil enchantress.”

“Ah’m sorry Twilight, but he asked for my honest opinion and Ah had to answer him truthfully,” she said still looking down.

Twilight, thinking that Shadow would be furious from Applejacks answer. She turned to him expecting him to be angry and see the red aura come back, but when she looked at him he wasn’t angry nor was the red aura there.

He smirked and said to Applejack, “Thank you for your honest opinion. I would be furious from this answer, but I already knew this. I just needed somepony to confirm it and what do you know I was right.”

Applejack looked at him still ashamed and said, “Yer welcome….. I guess?”

He turned to Twilight and said, “See it just goes to show you that friendship is weak. If you don’t have friends then you won’t be disappointed when someone says something like your honest friend just did.

Before Twilight could reply Applejack said, “Now hold on their partner, our friendship is not weak. Ah’m grateful to have friends just like Twilight here and our friendship gives us all strength. If ah didn’t have friends like Twilight I wouldn’t have the strength to do my work here on the farm.” She demonstrates by walking up to an apple tree, she turned around lifting her hind legs and gave the tree a good bucking. The tree shook and all the apples flew to the ground, Applejack held her hoof up as an apple was falling and landed on her hoof, then she took a bite out of it. “Ya see what ah mean,” she said.

Shadow Bolt not impressed said, “That’s nothing, allow me to demonstrate the strength one gets from hate. He walks up to a tree and got into applebucking position. He stood there deep in thought. The red aura returned as he was concentrating. He raised his hind legs and gave the tree a good buck. The tree broke from the impact and collided with another tree which caused it to break which also crashed into another tree and so on and so on. By the time the trees stopped falling like dominoes, five trees had fallen. Applejack was so much in shock with her mouth hanging opened, that she didn’t even feel the apple that landed on her head.

Twilight tried her best to snap Applejack out of it but it seemed that only time would snap her out of it. Twilight knowing that there was nothing she could do she decided that it was time to leave. She said to Shadow Bolt, “Okay, since Applejack is unavailable, let’s move on to our next destination.” She started walking back towards Ponyville.

Shadow said, “Okay,” and started walking behind her, the aura already gone.

He walked next to Twilight and said, “Well that was strange.”

“You knocked down five apple trees with one kick, of course that’s strange,” she said still shocked from the experience.

Shadow said, “I wasn’t talking about the trees when I said that.”

Twilight then asked, “Then what did you mean when you said that was strange?”

He replied, “It’s strange because I was holding back.”