“Shadow!” Lightning’s voice floated through his sleep weary head “I know you’re in there. If you don’t let me in I’m climbing through a window!”
Shadow was sitting, more lying really, on a blanket he and Vinyl had rolled out on the floor. He had hardly been awake for five minutes and Lightning was already trying to break down the door. Of course there wasn’t much he could do about it, they had magically locked it and Vinyl was still, somehow, asleep. The biggest problem that he was too tired to yell at Lightning to just go ahead and use the window.
A crash from the back of the house confirmed he was correct in sparing the trouble. “Sheesh,” said Lightning “Could you get up off your flank already? It’s winter wrap up day! We can’t be late!”
“Sure we can…” Vinyl grumbled from the bookshelf/bed “See if I care…”
“Come on Vinyl…” said Shadow hoarsely, forcing himself to his hooves “We have to get up and so do you.” He was familiar enough with the morning routine by now to dodge the pillow that was flung his direction.
“Fine, for Celestia’s sake, I’m awake!” Vinyl shouted, flopping onto the floor flank first “What were we doing to do today?”
“I told you, it’s winter wrap up!” said Lightning exasperatedly “We need to get the area around the house snow-free!”
“I thought we weren’t old enough to have to do winter wrap up…” said Vinyl.
“We aren’t,” said Lightning casually “But they don’t clean up winter this close to the forest because it’s supposed to melt on its own.”
“Yeah, and I don’t want to wait that long to have a front yard again,” said Shadow “Cheer up Vinyl; unlike regular winter wrap up you can actually use your magic to help here!”
“Are you sure you want her doing that?” asked Lightning “That would make our jobs redundant don’t you think?”
“Yeah, it will,” said Vinyl “So why don’t you two go on without me? I’m gonna snag a little more shuteye.”
Lightning rolled her eyes “Let’s go,” she said “I bet she’ll follow us the moment she realizes we left without her. Get the door please Vinyl?”
Vinyl grunted and unlocked the door. Lightning gave a smirk and walked outside into the shallow snow. Shadow gave a backwards glance at Vinyl, and then followed her out.
“I’m not exactly sure where to start…” said Lightning, looking from the slushy snow to the dark clouds, then to the snow-covered forest trees. “I didn’t think it would be this bad…”
“It’s winter,” said Shadow with a shrug “Maybe I can just tumble an asteroid down here. It would melt this snow and burst the clouds!”
“Have you actually tried that since Canterlot?” asked Lightning “I think you might end up doing more harm than good…”
Shadow involuntarily brought a hoof up to the jagged black line in his mane. The burns on his wings and coat had healed leaving only a bit of light scarring, but the stripe seemed to be permanent. “I did once…” he confessed “Just to, you know, see if I could still do it…”
“And…?” Lightning asked.
Shadow shivered “Let’s just say I was lucky it’s cold…” he said.
“Let’s not…” said Lightning “Come on Shadow, what happened?”
“Well…” said Shadow “It was in the middle of the night, and I had gotten up because I had a bad dream. Vinyl was still asleep, so I got up to get a drink when I saw a flash of light from out the window. I jumped out to see what it was…but I already kind of knew…”
“Did you chase it?” Lightning asked.
“I tried…” said Shadow “It went way faster than me though. I think I have to get to them before they leave the black sky if I want to catch them. But after I tried to follow it for awhile I got an angle on it so I could finally get closer… And then it just… exploded! Not like a little explosion either, I mean like a magic bomb going off in the sky. The trees near it caught fire, and the clouds burst. If it hadn’t been snowing I think the whole forest would’ve burned down…”
“And Vinyl slept through all this…?” Lightning asked.
“That was my first thought,” said Shadow with a shrug “I don’t really think she wants to be here… She doesn’t, you know, fit with us.”
“I kind of noticed that too…” said Lightning “But a meteor did all that?” You have to learn to stop these things Shadow!”
“I know…” he said dejectedly “But I don’t know when we’re going to have one fall so I can’t really get to them on time…” He sighed, kicking up some of the snow which splattered against itself as it fell back down “It makes me feel like it isn’t really my destiny…”
“You can’t really deny that,” said Lightning with a smile “That cutie mark hasn’t faded yet.”
“I know…” he said, looking up at the clouds “The only reason I have it at all is because I got lucky… so many things had to fall perfectly into place…”
“You sound like a canterlite,” said Lightning with a giggle “Just because your mom lives there doesn’t mean you have to talk like a prissy unicorn.”
Shadow couldn’t help but crack a smile at this “You’re right,” he said “Now where should we start this project?”
“What? You aren’t going to go get a meteor?” asked Lightning, sounding disappointed “We would be done so fast…”
“I don’t know…” said Shadow “It just doesn’t seem safe… I could hit the house, or you! I don’t think it’s worth the risk…”
“That’s not the Shadow I know!” said Lightning, slugging his shoulder “You’re going to get out of practice if you keep this up! Come on! Go, fight, win!”
“But…” Shadow stammered.
“No buts!” said Lightning “Go star-chaser!”
Shadow immediately took off, as much to get away from Lightning’s shouting than anything else. He had to struggle a little to push through the thick clouds, but in the end he managed to move through, blinking in the bright sunlight on the other side. He smiled, standing on the cloudy perch, savoring the warmth of the sun on his wings. It was good to enjoy the heat now. Any second now it would be uncomfortably warm…
Lightning bounced excitedly as the gray clouds lit up with an orange glow. She hadn’t gotten a good look at Shadow’s last meteor hunt so this was going to be interpreted as a great show. There was a loud whistling, evidently the meteor, as the light grew brighter, the clouds starting to part overhead.
The ball of fire descended faster than a thunderbolt, the whistling sound culminating in a fantastic explosion as it touched down. It was not a huge explosion, but it was still marvelous. Sunlight beamed down through the hole made in the clouds, illuminating the blackened ground where the meteor had landed perfectly. The snow for yards around the smoking crater had evaporated, covering the whole area in a light fog.
Shadow landed almost a minute behind, apparently having let go and flown back up. He’d been less clumsy about the job this time; only the tips of his wings and his hooves had been singed. He smiled up at the sunlight and silently mouthed the word “two”.
“That was awesome!” Lightning shouted, rushing through the steadily dissipating mist to glomp Shadow “That was so, freaking, awesome!”
“It was a really little one…” said Shadow, blushing wildly “And I pretty much just threw it when I got close to the clouds. I spent the rest of the time trying to stop falling…”
“Doesn’t matter,” said Lightning “That was still totally awesome.” She suddenly jumped up “I just thought of something!”
“What’s that?” Shadow asked, standing as well.
Lightning darted over to the crater that had been made and pawed inquisitively at it. She dashed over to the edge of the dried ring and grabbed a hoof full of snow then tossed it onto the meteorite. It hissed slightly, but not all the snow melted. She smiled, and then forced her hooves down hard on the rock. There was a crack like thunder as the rock split open.
Shadow flinched, painfully reminded again of the strength of earth ponies, and looked in wonder at the rock again. It had split perfectly down the middle. Well, not perfectly, it was of course somewhat jagged, but it seemed to run right along the tiny craters on the surface. It was what was inside, however, that seemed wonderful.
A solid white chunk of crystal glimmered in the sunlight, many facets seeming to sparkle with ethereal light of its own. Lightning bounced up and down in excitement “Crystals!” she squeaked excitedly “How much do you think it’s worth? Do you think that’s diamond? Oh my gosh this is so exciting!”
“I don’t know…” said Shadow skeptically “I don’t think you could’ve broken a diamond. Maybe it’s quartz? Zirconium?”
“How do you know about all those rocks?” asked Lightning, sounding impressed.
“I study,” said Shadow simply, not willing to admit he was naming random words he had heard in geology class “Wait a minute… I know what it could be!”
“Is it quartz?” asked Lightning “Do you think Rarity will buy it?”
Shadow carefully stepped closer to the meteor, leaned forward, and licked the crystal. “Ew!” Lightning exclaimed “I hope you’ve had your shots!”
“Yep!” said Shadow, wings fluttering “I knew it! Come on Lightning! Taste it!”
“No way!” said Lightning backing up out of the crater “That’s gross!”
Shadow laughed “No it isn’t!” he said “It’s salt!”
Lightning blinked “Salt…?” she said curiously “Like the kind you have on chips?”
“That’s it!” said Shadow “It’s really tasty! But I bet it’s only worth like two bits for the whole thing…”
“Well I guess we won’t sell it.” Said Lightning moving forward again and taking a lick herself “You’re right! It’s good! Let’s take it back to the house and share it with Vinyl!”
“I just don’t know how we can get it out of the crater,” said Shadow “I suppose we could…”
He was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a high pitched scream. Both of them turned quickly toward the forest where the scream seemed to be emanating from.
“What was that?” asked Lightning, sounding frightened.
“Some pony is in there!” Shadow exclaimed, taking off quickly “Come on, we have to help them!”
“But…but…” Lightning stammered “That’s the forest… D-don’t you remember what happened last time…?”
Shadow fell back down to earth, staring toward the trees “I know…” he said, uncharacteristically quiet “And that’s why we need to go help whoever it is… because they might not be able to escape like we did…”
Lightning was stunned for a moment. She had always thought of herself as the brave and adventurous one, but that snake had taken the place of her greatest, well…second greatest, fear. And yet rather than be intimidated by it. Shadow was inspired by it. She realized for the first time that Shadow might be better than her. She gritted her teeth, like heck was she gonna let that happen.
“Hey wait up!” Lightning called, tumbling out of the crater and running after Shadow. The fear was still there, no less powerful, but her determination to be the best was far greater.
Together they shot full tilt toward the trees. Shadow was not happy to realize that Lightning was actually just a little bit faster than he was, but that didn’t matter right now. The long drawn-out scream had been replaced by the softer sound of sobs. Shadow didn’t hesitate to follow the tiny noise around the trees in hot pursuit of its source.
“Do you see any pony?” asked Lightning, who had slowed as they crossed the tree line, intimidated by the darkness.
“Not yet…” said Shadow, alighting on a tree branch and swiveling his ears in order to get a better idea of where the sound was coming from. He could almost swear he heard it somewhere before…
“The snow’s making it hard to hear,” said Lightning who was indeed pushing through the slushy, but still thick blanket of snow hiding the leaf mold “We need to go back… find a grownup…”
“I’m not giving up…” said Shadow determinedly flitting from tree to tree to try and listen in better “Does that voice sound familiar to you?”
“No…” said Lightning, sounding frightened now “Shadow… what if it’s a monster that impersonates the sounds of people in trouble? It might be a trap!”
This thought momentarily held Shadow in place. The whimpering was clearer than ever now, muffled sobs, why would they be muffled though? Could Lightning be right?
“Mommy…” coherent words finally burst through the cloud of crying “Mommy… help me…”
He knew that voice, he knew he knew that voice, and he wasn’t prepared to risk the idea of leaving someone he knew to the dangers of the Everfree forest.
“Stay there Light,” he said, flying toward the sound, still a little wary of shape shifting creatures. His ears twitched as he turned again, trying to follow the sound, but it seemed to keep shifting. It still sounded muffled, as if very far away, but the way it reached his ears he might’ve been right on top of them…
“Do you want me to go back for help?” Lightning called forward, having rooted herself to the spot when Shadow had shouted at her.
“Just stay…” said Shadow, confused more than ever now “If something bad happens you can run back…” His eyes turned toward, travelling over the snow…snow…snow!
A small drift near one of the tall pines caught his attention, this explained it! They were trapped in the snow! A shivering stripe of black could be seen in the drift and he dove for it. No wonder he hadn’t seen them before! This pony’s black and white coat blended into the snow.
Unable to think of a faster way to dislodge the poor soul, he grabbed hold of the tail poking out and yanked it hard. A loud squeak came from the pile as he tumbled backwards, the black and white shape popping out of the snow and falling on top of him. Red eyes met misty purple ones, a look of recognition meeting sightless eyes.
“It’s you!” Shadow exclaimed “Zecora’s daughter!”
“Prince Shadow!” the zebra filly squeaked, backing off of him quickly and almost falling right back into the snow “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” said Shadow, standing and holding out a hoof to help her up “What are you doing all the way out here?”
The zebra filly blushed very dark and stood, seeming not to notice his helping hoof. “I-I-I-I…” she stammered for a moment “I was looking for herbs…winter season…almost over… plants… cold…” she ended this sentence with a squeak, trying to hide behind her own tail.
“I do remember you!” said Lightning, trotting quickly over “You and Shadow were talking while Zecora was doing my coat, what was your name?”
Shadow suddenly felt incredibly awkward, having never caught her name himself. The filly mumbled something in such a soft tone he couldn’t hear it.
“Um…repeat that?” asked Lightning.
Again, the filly mumbled far too quietly to hear, hiding her face in her tail and squeaking.
“I think you’re scaring her Lightning…” said Shadow “Can we know your name? Please?” he said in a comforting tone.
The filly blushed wildly again, her nose and mouth showing as she lifted her tail up in an attempt to hide more of her face. “I’m…I’m… Iris…” she said softly “Iris…Stripes…”
“Sorry for scaring you Iris,” said Shadow, motioning for Lightning to shut up “How did you get stuck in the snow?”
“Yeah!” said Lightning, completely ignoring Shadow “I think it’s kind of suspicious that you would be out here in the Everfree forest!”
Iris squeaked and latched on to Shadow, making him blush “I was just getting some herbs…” she said quietly “Winter is almost over… I wanted to get some of the last snow blossoms… There was a very loud sound… I lost my direction…then I fell…” she suddenly realized her instinctive movement and went an even deeper red, though she didn’t let go.
“I’d say that makes sense,” said Shadow, still highly flustered “I guess it wasn’t that big of a deal after all.”
“Oh!” said Iris “But it is a big deal… I would still be trapped in the snow if it weren’t for you…” she nuzzled quickly against Shadow, still blushing hard, but seemingly determined about something “Th-th-thank you!” she leaned up and kissed his cheek before squeaking again and backing up.
Shadow’s eyes promptly rolled back in his skull and he fell backward into the snow, out cold.
“Wow…” said Lightning exasperatedly “You had better help him because I’m just gonna leave him here.”
“Oh…okay…” said Iris “I’ll… I’ll do that…”
Lightning raised an eyebrow “You know I was kidding right?” she asked “Come on; let’s get this moron somewhere safe.”
“Oh! My home isn’t far…” said Iris, first quickly, then quietly “Maybe we should take him there…”
“I’ll carry him thanks,” said Lightning, hauling Shadow onto her back like a rag doll.
Iris smiled widely “Oh…thank you!” she said “I’m not surprised that Prince Shadow would have such kind friends.”
“Is this girl for real?” Lightning thought, glad she couldn’t see her skeptical expression. She also wondered just how Shadow had known Iris was blind. At a glance she looked completely normal, at least as normal as zebras ever did.
Maybe that was why she felt so suspicious of Iris; she was a zebra after all. Saber had always told her to be suspicious of buffalos and other non-pony folks. Zecora was an exception of course; she was the only potion master in Ponyville after all. She had helped her once when she had walked into a patch of poison joke. It was wrong to be prejudiced against Iris maybe, even more so because she was Zecora’s daughter, but it was hard to just ignore a fear she had since she was very young.
Lightning suddenly realized she was following a blind girl through the forest, “You do know where you’re going right?”
“Of…of course…” said Iris “I don’t see like you do… but I do know the way… the trees they… they show me the way…”
As the forest grew darker Lightning found herself beginning to shiver “Well I hope those trees are good guides…” she said shakily. She felt much less self-confident about this forest now she didn’t have Shadow. Of course she wasn’t quite sure whether her missing bravado was the result of competition or comfort so she had no way of artificially re-creating it.
“It’s okay Lightning,” said Iris reassuringly “I know the way home very well, I’ve memorized most of the forest anyway. Don’t worry! You’ll never find a better guide”
“I’m not scared,” said Lightning defensively, flaring up a little at the accusation “It’s not like I haven’t been here before!”
“Oh…” said iris, her comfortable tone evaporating “I’m sorry…it’s just…I thought I smelled fear…”
Okay, that just wasn’t fair. Lightning was practically fuming by the time the hollow tree came in to view. How was it a blind filly was so much smarter than her?
“Um…we’re here…” said Iris; as if it wasn’t obvious “My mother will probably still be out collecting herbs… we should just go inside…”
“Thank goodness,” said Lightning “This moron is starting to get heavy…”
Iris sniffed carefully for a moment before opening the door for them. “Lightning…” she said softly “Can I ask you a question…?”
“You just did…” Lightning grumbled, pushing through into the tree.
The first impression Lightning got of the house was that it seemed kind of tacky. It was similar to Shadows, not only because it was clearly the same type of wood, but also because Zecora had a variety of shelves that could easily parallel the cabinets in Shadow’s house. These were not filled with junk food though, these were jam-packed with potions and ingredients for them. A large black cauldron sat in the center of the room, the dug out fire pit underneath remaining un-lit. There were old wooden masks leaning against the few bare walls and what looked like live mushrooms were dangling from the ceiling, bathing the room in an iridescent glow.
A single dark hallway led off this main room to two small, perfectly round, doorways. Iris quickly trotted down this way, seemingly much more comfortable in a setting she was totally familiar with.
“This is my room…” she said, pushing open the door on the left “It isn’t much, but we can stay here until he wakes up…”
“Sounds alright,” said Lightning “Do you have anything to eat? I’m starving…”
“It’s all in the big room…” said Iris timidly “I…I’ll take Shadow now… Just don’t eat anything if you don’t know what it is…”
Lightning shrugged, unceremoniously dropping the somehow still unconscious Shadow on the ground “He’s all yours.” She said.
It was only a little while longer that Shadow blinked wearily back to life. He felt like he was lying on some sort of cushion made out of leaves and moss. It was a little strange at first but not unpleasant. The next thing he was aware of came when he opened his eyes, the fact that he was in total darkness. This wouldn’t be so bad, he had after all been in situations like this before, but he could hear something breathing on his immediate right. Occasionally he felt a hoof slide along his fur, as if he were being examined in the dark.
“He’s so peaceful…” he heard Iris say in the blackness, her smile plainly audible “So much energy and muscle… and he can still sleep so soundly…” this was immediately followed by the sound of a sneeze “He smells like smoke though… I wonder if he was in a fire recently…”
Shadow was somehow not inclined to move. Under normal circumstances being prodded by someone in the dark would seem unnatural, but for some reason it wasn’t like that. He knew Iris… sort of… and her touch felt more comforting than frightening. He was almost tempted to drift back to sleep.
The sound of Iris’ giggle was heard “Gray…” she said in a giddy voice that was still somehow just as shy “He’s a gray pony…I can actually imagine what that…looks like...” she squeaked excitedly “Gray…it’s a color! I know a color!” she suddenly gasped and backed away “I’m sorry! I didn’t realize you were awake!”
Quite honestly, Shadow hadn’t noticed that himself. He sat up, glad for a moment it was too dark to see his blush, but realized quickly that it didn’t matter anyway. “It’s…okay…” he said, unsure of anything else to say “Where am I…?”
“M-m-my h-h-house…” Iris stammered, apparently very intimidated for some reason.
“Oh, that’s good…” said Shadow, anxious to reassure “How long was I out…? Is it night time already?”
“N-no,” said Iris, voice still shaky “It’s d-day time… M-my room is just underground…”
“Why don’t you have any lights?” asked Shadow, stomach suddenly plummeting as he realized this was a tactless question “Sorry…I mean… It’s nice!”
“Oh…thank you…” said Iris, calming down slightly as she realized Shadow was just as nervous as she was “Do you want to go back to the light?”
“Um…yeah…” said Shadow, slipping out of the bed and landing firmly on the ground, his balance apparently not suffering from the blackout “Why does my head hurt…? I didn’t get hit when I got knocked out…”
Iris turned beet red in the darkness, remembering exactly what had caused the blackout “I think that’s because Lightning dropped you in the hallway…” she said sheepishly “I’m so sorry…”
“It isn’t your fault!” said Shadow reassuringly, not quite so embarrassed “Where is Lightning anyway?”
“She’s upstairs…” said Iris quietly “She was hungry…she’s getting something to eat…”
“Well I need to have a little talk with her…” he said, cheeks puffing out in frustration “Drop me will she…? Oh we shall see…”
“But she did carry you all the way here…” said Iris shakily “It must have been very tiring…”
“I know,” said Shadow “And I may have to thank her for that, but not before she gets chewed out real good…” he looked blankly around in the pitch black room “Where is the door…?”
“Oh!” Iris squeaked “It’s right here…” there was a moment before the door swung open right next to Shadow, a blue glow emanating from somewhere above.
As they walked up the sloping hallway into the mixed brightness of blue bioluminescence and the tiniest bit of yellow, branch filtered sun rays. Shadow had to squint against the light for a moment, for a split second jealous of Iris’ blindness, but that was quickly passed as craziness. When he finally blinked the light out of his eyes he noticed Iris holding back a laugh. Looking toward the shelves, he found out why.
Lightning had toppled over the wrong flower bucket and was surrounded by blue tulip-shaped blossoms. Her mane had puffed up into an utterly ridiculous shape, growing outward statically, as if she had been struck by…
“Don’t you dare laugh!” said Lightning, murder in her voice “And for the love of Celestia please tell me you have some way to reverse this.”
“Of…of course!” said Iris “I’ll heat some water…Shadow… could you please pick up the poison joke? If you use the leather rag the poison won’t hurt you…”
Shadow nodded, unable to hold back a snicker as he picked up the rag and started gathering up the poison joke. “You will die by my hoof…” said Lightning, a bit of electricity sparking in her mane.
“Sorry…” said Shadow “But really… you look hilarious! I’m making it my top priority to never get into that stuff as long as I live.”
The electricity crackled more fiercely in Lightning’s mane as she gave Shadow a death glare. There was a sound of running water, and he turned quickly to see Iris struggling with a water pump on the wall, a series of wooden canals sending the water around the room to drip steadily into the cauldron in the center.
“Let me get that,” said Shadow, walking over and helping her to pump the water “You’ll never get it full at that rate!”
“Oh!” said iris, blushing yet again “It really is okay, you don’t have to do this! I really can get it!”
A steady splashing sound coming from the cauldron made her argument seem all the more futile “Look, I’ve got this,” said Shadow reassuringly “If you know the plants and stuff you’re supposed to grab you should go get those.”
“Of course!” said Iris, stepping quickly away from the pump. She seemed almost dazed, spinning a circle in place before making her way over to one of the shelves.
“The cure for poison joke is quite a simple fix,” Iris recited to herself as she rummaged around “Start a bath, then add rose petals, sunflower, and mint!” She came out of the cabinet, chewing on some familiar looking plants. She spit the pulp out into the half-full cauldron and smiled “It’s the first potion I learned to make…”
Shadow moved away from the pump, looking incredulously at what looked like unchanged water “Are you sure you did it right?” he asked.
“Of…of course!” said Iris, shy, but forcing weak determination into her voice. “It’s just a special bubble bath… It’s very simple…”
Shadow shrugged “So essentially all Lightning has to do now is…” A huge splash interrupted him as Lightning catapulted herself into the cauldron sending a wave of water over the floor.
“Ah…” said Lightning contentedly “That was so itchy…”
Iris squeaked and backed away quickly as Shadow shook the water off his coat “Dang it Lightning!” he exclaimed “A little warning would’ve been nice!”
There was a sound like a television unplugging as Lightning’s mane fell back to normal “Well sorry,” she said, seeming to fidget in the shallow water “This is really cold though, think it’s safe to get out?”
“It should have had immediate effect…” Iris stammered weakly, clearly having been terrified by the splash “You…can get out now…”
“Awesome! Whoops!” said Lightning, trying to leap out of the cauldron but ended up toppling it with a crash, spilling whatever water was left on to the floor. Iris screamed, and curled up in a little black and white ball, tail covering her face.
“Sorry…” said Shadow “Be more careful Lightning, now we have to clean up this mess.”
Lightning was carefully trying to set the cauldron back on its balance, a glare obvious on her face “It’s not my fault,” she said huffily “I just couldn’t think of any other way to get out.”
Shadow walked over to the porcupine-like Iris and put a hoof comfortingly on her side. She almost immediately jumped up and buried her face under his wing, making scared squeaking sounds.
“It really was an accident,” said Shadow reassuringly “We’re cleaning it up.”
“Lightning is scary…” said Iris “I…I don’t want to be rude… but can you ask her to please… not be so… loud…?” She had at first planned to ask her to go away but that would really be rude.
“Hey Light,” said Shadow “Could you try not to be so loud?”
“Celestia I’m trying…” Lightning mumbled.
“She says she’s gonna try,” said Shadow reassuringly, despite the fact that Iris had probably heard her better than he had.
“Okay…” said Iris, still nuzzling herself into the crook of Shadow’s wing “Tell her she doesn’t have to clean up the water…the tree will drink it…”
“Iris says…” Shadow started.
“I’m not deaf!” Lightning exclaimed to which Iris squeaked out and tried to press closer to Shadow than was physically possible.
“Lightning, come on,” said Shadow “You’re just being mean, what’s wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong?” Lightning exclaimed, voice laced with rage “What’s wrong? You’ve known this girl for all of a few hours and you’re taking her side!”
“I’m not taking anyone’s side!” said Shadow, completely lost with this exchange “I just want you to calm down!”
Lightning was about to respond, but then she realized that Shadow was right. Iris was terrified by her, and she had done nothing to deserve that. A wave of guilt passed over her, stomach suddenly feeling empty.
“I’m sorry…” she mumbled.
Iris looked out from behind Shadow warily as Lightning continued “I shouldn’t be so rude to you, it’s my fault… I’m sorry…”
“It’s…it’s okay!” said Iris, with as much confidence as she could muster “Everyone makes mistakes…right?”
“Yeah!” said Lightning, finally realizing just how silly she was being “Friends?”
Iris turned to Shadow, a clear question of permission on her features. Shadow shrugged, so Iris tentatively stepped over to Lightning, sat on her back legs, and held out her hooves for a hug.
“No…” said Lightning “I’m not doing this…”
“Oh…” said Iris, clearly disappointed “Okay…”
“Come on!” said Shadow “What, are you scared you’re gonna catch the cooties?”
Never one to back down from a challenge, real or sarcastic, Lightning groaned and accepted Iris’ hug. She giggled appreciatively as Lightning rolled her eyes, trying not to let her heart be warmed by the moment. It was a futile effort though, Iris proving to be simply too cute.
“Hey!” said Shadow, an idea surfacing in his mind “If you aren’t busy today you should come over to my house! We’re going to have a ponymon tournament today; you can borrow my game-colt!”
“Somehow I didn’t think she would do that well…” said Lightning “It’s a screen…”
“Oh, I would love to!” said Iris, despite the fact she didn’t have any idea what ponymon was or the obvious reason she couldn’t play it “But I really can’t today… There are still more winter blooms and snow drops to collect at the tower… I’m sorry…”
“That’s okay!” said Shadow “I think we should probably go with you though, don’t want you falling into the snow again. And you can get three times as many flowers that way!”
“R-really?” Iris stammered, her blush returning even stronger “I couldn’t ask you to do that… I’m sure you’re very busy…”
“Actually, I was having trouble thinking of what we were gonna do when we get home,” said Lightning with a shrug “If Shadow thinks it’ll be fun I’ll go along with it. You think we should get Vinyl?”
“She’s probably still asleep,” said Shadow “She’d probably be more angry at us for waking her up than she would be if we don’t invite her on an adventure.”
“You really don’t have to…” said Iris “Really…you don’t owe me anything…”
“Nope, we don’t,” said Shadow, the ridiculous smile still playing around his lips “But I do love the idea of this old tower place. We can really explore the forest so long as we have a guide!”
“I don’t know…” said Lightning, the fear of their last walk through the Everfree freshening in her mind “Do you really think it’s safe? And anyway Iris never agreed to let us come.”
“It’s…really no trouble…” said Iris “If you really want to… I’d like the help…”
“See?” said Shadow smugly “Come on, you’re not going to let me be braver than you are you?”
Lightning’s determination roared back to life “Like mud I will!” she said “I mean it’s just a bunch of trees right?”
“Exactly!” said Shadow “And our intrepid forest guide won’t let us get lost will you?”
“Of…of course not!” said Iris, standing a little straighter and trying to show the same enthusiasm “I…I know the way like the back of my hoof…”
“Well then,” said Iris, going over to the shelves and taking down a few brown sacks that had blended into the wood very well “We can use these to carry them back… but I don’t think there will be that many…”
“Good thinking,” said Shadow, picking up a sack and throwing it over his shoulders “Let’s go then!”
Iris smiled and nodded, pushing open the door again “It’s pretty much straight east, then it’s a right turn at the mossy pine tree.” She said “The old tower used to be a look out for the castle of the royal pony sisters before Canterlot was built.” She sounded much more confident now, finally in her element.
They started down the snow-hidden path that Iris had specified. Lightning was quickly growing impatient with the slow pace as Iris occasionally had to sniff at the air or carefully prod the ground to make sure they were on the correct path. After figuring she had found the path well enough, she took to walking ahead. Shadow, a bit to her surprise, opted to stay on pace with her.
Iris found herself growing embarrassed again; Shadow was close to her, following her guide. He trusted her, the gray pony trusted her. She felt a little giddy at this idea. But of course she wouldn’t want to impinge upon the other girl. Were they dating? That thought gave her a hollow feeling in her stomach.
“Um…Shadow…” said Iris, then trailed off.
“What is it?” asked Shadow.
“Uh…” said Iris, blushing even brighter “Are you and Lightning… um… are you… um…”
“Are we what?” asked Shadow.
“Are you…” Iris started, pausing for a long time. “Special…some ponies…?” she finished quietly.
Shadow didn’t respond immediately. He knew the answer easily but it was hard to voice it. “Well…” he said “We thought about it once, but it would’ve just been awkward. We made a deal to be brother and sister, so more than friends, but nothing at all like special some ponies. Does that make sense to you?”
“Oh!” said Iris, not sure if she should be more or less embarrassed at this “I guess that’s nice…”
“But I am considering asking out Vinyl…” Shadow commented “She’s having trouble fitting in right now, and I think I could help her.” He sounded a little hesitant as he said this. In truth he had been talking to Lightning about it for weeks now, but for some reason he hadn’t talked to Vinyl about it yet. Once or twice he had been sure he had the courage, but something, not fear, was holding him back.
“Oh…” said iris, her little ray of hope extinguished as quickly as it had come “That’s… that’s nice of you… I guess the prince… should be with some pony famous…”
“Ew no…” said Shadow “She got into a bit of an accident and lost a lot of her fame. Famous ponies have too much drama.” But so does Vinyl… he finished the sentence silently.
“I…I see…” said iris, hope fluttering again, though not nearly as strong as it had been last time. She blushed even darker, wondering if he would be angry with her for being so physical. Maybe this “Vinyl” would be mad at her… She took a step off to the side, trying to make sure she wasn’t being rude.
To her surprise, however, Shadow stayed with her movement. He was really just assuming she was changing the path, but possibilities started going off like fireworks in Iris’ mind. She ended up nearly walking right past the mossy tree.
“Oh! Lightning!” She called forward to the earth pony, who actually had trundled right past it “We’re supposed to turn here!”
Lightning looked back to them, proceeded to bring a hoof to her face, then walk back to join them. “Some guide we’ve got here,” she said “We’re going to end up getting eaten by the snake if this keeps up…”
“Well if you hadn’t gone rushing ahead this wouldn’t have been a problem.” Said Shadow “You’re supposed to stay with the guide, not assume you know how to get through the forest.”
“Whatever…” said Lightning, following them along the new path.
“Um… Shadow…” said iris “Why…why are you burned?”
“It’s a long story…” said Shadow, wondering how she could’ve noticed the black stripe “Basically… I caught a shooting star.”
Iris gasped “A star?” she squeaked “I’ve always wanted to touch a star! What did you do with it?”
“He left it by the house,” said Lightning huffily “He doesn’t like shiny things like that.”
“It was salt!” said Shadow “Why in the world would I want a huge chunk of salt? Besides, it was far from shiny when I got it down here.”
“Stars are made of salt…?” Iris asked.
“Apparently,” said Lightning with a shrug.
Iris’ eyes widened, her entire concept of the distant, to her invisible, sky failing as the descriptions of the distant twinkling lights were redefined as granules of salt. Shadow really was amazing…
“Is that the tower?” Lightning asked, pointing to a stone spire, no taller than the trees around it. It looked like a lookout tower that was for sure, but maybe not a very good one.
“I think so…” said Iris “It’s very tall and made of stone…”
“That’s definitely it,” said Shadow, looking around the base of the spire “I don’t see any flowers though, just more slush.”
Iris, however, had already procured a mouthful from somewhere and put them in her herb bag “There are so many of them though…” she said, sounding bewildered “Can’t you smell them?” She bent down bit into the snow again, pulling flowers seemingly from nowhere.
“How did you…?” Lightning stammered.
“Oh!” said Shadow, catching on “I get it! They blend in to the snow so we can’t see them! But Iris can tell exactly where they are!” He put his nose to the snow, trying to find them. Within moments he plucked a small pale blue blossom out of the snow.
“You have to smell for them?” asked Lightning incredulously, feeling silly just for thinking of it.
“Um… that’s usually what I do…” said iris with a weak smile “You can do whatever you want though…”
There was a snapping sound as Shadow tumbled over, yanking up a whole snowdrop by the roots. Iris let out a little giggle and Lightning couldn’t stop her smile.
“I’m going to see if I can get into the tower.” Said Lightning “I might be able to get a better view from up there…or…something…”
“Sounds good,” Shadow mumbled around the stalk of the snowdrop.
“Oh…you shouldn’t bother…” said iris “The door has been blocked by rocks for as long as I can remember… there’s really no way in…”
There was a cacophonous bang as the door was bucked off its hinges, spilling a cascade of stones over the snowy ground. “What were you saying?” asked Lightning smugly, walking inside with her head held high.
Iris, who had reflexively latched on to Shadow at the loud noise, squeaked slightly. “You’re going to have to get used to that eventually…” said Shadow “She makes noises like that all the time.”
“She’s so scary though…” Iris whimpered, still not letting go of him “Why is she so violent…?”
“She isn’t really…” said Shadow “Just… really enthusiastic.”
Lightning, thankfully totally oblivious to this conversation, took a good look around the inside of the tower. It looked like Shadow’s description of the ageless chamber, round, with a few small windows inlaid in the black stone, too small to serve any purpose other than lighting. A few broken lanterns were attached to the walls, destroyed by rust and time. There was a very narrow staircase on the wall, leading upward to a higher level that she couldn’t see. A few barrels were under the stairs, smelling of apple cider and something acrid…
Seeing no more interesting course of action, Lightning carefully began to ascend the steps. She had to be careful here, the steps were old and broken, and they seemed like they had been built narrow to begin with. There was a very tense moment as one of the stairs actually broke off the wall and fell with a crash to the floor below. Lightning found herself shivering; her hoof had been hovering over that step when it fell.
It took almost ten minutes before Lightning managed to climb her way up to the top of the tower. There was a large elevated platform in the center, probably designed to hold a large signal fire in case the lookout spotted something. A few shelves were around the walls, looking like they might’ve held books or scrolls, but if it had they had rotted into dust long ago.
All of this, of course, could be expected to be found in a guard’s tower. The thing that stood out though, was the small emerald colored chest on one of the shelves. It was tucked in to a corner, made it seem inconspicuous, but the curiosity of Lightning was enough to find it within a few minutes. The lock, as with many locks she had dealt with before, was knocked clean off with a well timed blow, revealing the rather interesting contents…
“So what are these flowers used for again?” asked Shadow, smiling at his slowly filling brown sack.
“Burns…” said Iris timidly “I suppose you would need them wouldn’t you…?”
“I get the feeling I will…” said Shadow with a shudder “I can see why they’re called snow drops anyway; it’s amazing how similar the colors are…”
“Actually that isn’t why they’re called snowdrops… well… not really…” said Iris “They were named after the pony who invented snowflakes… they say the flowers look just like her cutie mark…”
“How do you know that…?” asked Shadow.
“My mom told me the story…” said Iris “She said that Snowdrop was a pegasus who didn’t have any place… I think she always told me the story to make me feel better… we’re both blind…”
“Oh…” said Shadow, desperate to change the topic of conversation, but nothing else came to mind.
“Hey Shadow!” Lightning called down “Come up here! I found something really interesting!”
Shadow looked up; spotting Lightning’s face in one of the upper windows “I think she’s got something.” He said to Iris, who had already filled her flower sack “Let’s go up there and see what she’s got!”
“I don’t know…” said Iris “The tower is really old and unstable…”
“Just be careful on the stairs!” shouted an oblivious Lightning “They’re really old and unstable!”
“Ah…” said Shadow, weighing the risks for a moment “Well It’s worth a shot anyway right? It may be a good adventure!”
“I don’t like adventures…” Iris mumbled inaudibly. She followed Shadow hesitantly into the tower, clamping down on his tail to tell where she was going.
“Ouch!” Shadow exclaimed, turning to look at her “I don’t care if you do that, but please be careful…”
“Okay…” said Iris.
There were a few crashing sounds as Lightning listened for Iris and Shadow’s approach. It sounded like whole chunks of the staircase had collapsed as they came up. Lightning guessed that they might be the last ponies to be able to climb those stairs. Iris appeared first, having ridden on Shadow’s back as they climbed the last few steps.
“I warned you about those stairs bro!” said Lightning with a laugh.
“Shut up…” said Shadow “We tried okay? Now what did you find up here?”
“Oh yeah!” said Lightning, procuring a small golden cylinder “This was in a little treasure chest on the shelf. I think someone was trying to hide it here.”
Shadow stared ponderously at the cylinder. There were three number slots with arrows above and below them to change the digits. There was a big red button on one side and a green button on the other.
“What do you think this does?” asked Lightning, changing a few of the numbers around.
“Nothing good…” said Iris “We should leave it alone…It could be dangerous…”
“I doubt it,” said Lightning, spinning the numbers around till they were all nines “I mean seriously, if it’s so dangerous I’m pretty sure something would’ve happened by now.”
“Maybe it’s just broken,” Shadow suggested “I mean everything else in here is really old, this probably got rusty or something.”
“I don’t think so…” said Lightning “It was in a sealed chest, I don’t think rust or anything could get into it…”
“We should put it away…” Iris squeaked “I really don’t think it’s safe…”
“Try pressing one of the big buttons,” said Shadow “I bet that’ll make it do something!”
“Please…no…” said Iris.
“Good idea!” said Lightning, pressing down on the red button. The tiny device suddenly came to life, the sound of cogs and wheels turning inside it as the numbers started to spin backwards.
“Maybe it’s supposed to be a countdown timer,” said Shadow “Like a really expensive one that someone wanted to hide.”
“Why would someone want to hide a timer?” asked Lightning.
“Put it away…” Iris squeaked, pulling herself into a little ball of fur again.
There was a loud, satisfying click as the numbers rolled back to zero. Suddenly the light in the tower began to flash, sending them from light to darkness several times a second. What was going on now? The only light in the tower was coming from outside…
Iris screamed as Lightning and Shadow shut their eyes against the wild flashing and the roaring wind that rushed into the windows. A loud whooshing sound surrounded the tower, giving them the impression of being spun very fast. Shadow dared open his eyes for just a moment, seeing only a rush of wild color.
“I told you!” Iris squeaked, latching on to Shadow, a beacon of solidity in the suddenly shifting world “It was dangerous! Now we’re in danger!”
A loud bang erupted from beneath them and the world finally started to slow down. Lightning and Shadow blinked back to reality, Iris still shaking like a leaf against him. It was bright, very bright; Summer brightness, not the light of the last day of a long dark winter, unfiltered brightness, meaning that there were no trees.
No trees? That was bad… A small stream gurgled nearby, surrounded by sparse grasses and some summer blossoms. They were in a field, a grassland somewhere, somewhere where it was still summer.
“What was that…?” asked Lightning.
Shadow turned, seeing a large dust cloud roiling off in the distance “I don’t know…” he said “but I don’t think we’re in Ponyville anymore…”