//------------------------------//
// Chapter 13: Exodus 
// Story: Light and Shadow 
// by oop 
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	Lightning found her head spinning in confusion. There were a number of possibilities, the device could’ve been some sort of teleporter, or something that caused hallucinations, or who knows what else… It was good that they had dealt with magical artifacts before, or else she would have been far more intimidated.
Iris was still clinging tightly to Shadow, who was trying to comfort her. Lightning found herself torn between pity for Iris’ fear and exasperation toward her inexperience. Unfortunately, she didn’t prove empathetic.
“Would you quit sniveling already?” she said “We need to be doing something while we’re here, wherever here is, preferably getting home as soon as possible.”
“Who put you in charge?” Shadow quipped, still stroking Iris’ mane.
“Apparently the simple fact that you don’t have enough reason to be in charge,” Lightning shot back “Now come on, Ponyville was in this direction from where we started…”
“Meaning it probably isn’t anymore,” Shadow simultaneously finished and interrupted her sentence “We should focus on figuring out where we are now before rushing off.”
Lightning would’ve killed to be able to retaliate to that, but it was all too obvious that, once again, Shadow was right. She stomped for a second then sighed. “Fine,” she said “What’s your plan then?”
“We need to find a landmark, the mountain over there’s good, the river, also good, but we don’t know what this is…” said Shadow “We need to find something that’s familiar…”
“It all sounds so strange…” Iris whimpered “The grass isn’t even the same…”
“Well you’re obviously not going to be any help,” said Lightning angrily “So why don’t you just shut up and let us figure something out?”
“But…but…” Iris’ eyes began to water as she stammered.
“I said shut up!” exclaimed Lightning, ignoring the death glare from Shadow “You got us into this mess because you had to drag us along on that silly little adventure! We wouldn’t have even gone in to the forest if it weren’t for you!”
Iris burst into high pitched sobs, burying her face in Shadow’s wing and letting the tears flow freely. “Lightning!” Shadow exclaimed “That was completely…”
“You too!” Lightning shouted, her anger taking control of her “You just had to go and play the hero didn’t you? Who cares that we were almost killed huh? Let’s just go parading back into the forest to save some pitiful little blind girl!”
Shadow’s eyes were a mixture of surprise and anger, flashing fire red as he stared at her. If it was any pony else he would’ve smacked them into oblivion. But he remembered his chivalry. Dad had taught him to be respectful to women, especially if they’re being insufferable, and Lightning… she’d gone so far as to earn that respect. He wanted to knock her teeth out, but he couldn’t do it.
“Got nothing to say to that, do you?” said Lightning smugly “Now pick up your flank and let’s get going before you do something else that’s incredibly…”
There was a rush of wind as Shadow took off, wings carrying him high into the sky. Lightning stared up in astonishment; he had just flown off carrying Iris with him!
“Where do you think you’re going?” she shouted up at him.
His reply was barely audible “Somewhere you aren’t!”
Lightning watched as Shadow’s form shrank slowly into the distance, eventually his coat blended in with the dark mountains.  She’d been too busy yelling at them both to notice they were even there… Rage that was, quite literally, bigger than the mountains… That would make a great story someday…
“Well fine…” she said, pawing at the ground “Well I don’t need you either!” She turned away from the stream and started running away from it at a full sprint.
Shadow landed not far along the river, he had tried his best to stay along the river, but he couldn’t carry Iris for long. Despite the strain on his wings he managed to let her down gently next to the stream. He did feel a little, no, really guilty that he had taken off completely without warning. Iris had stopped crying, but it was out of shock rather than comfort.
“Hey… are you alright…?” he asked, nudging Iris from the side.
“I…I…” Iris stammered “What…what was that…? I felt… nothing….”
“I should’ve warned you…” said Shadow, his shoulders shrugging involuntarily “When Lightning blew up at us I took off, we were flying, that’s why you couldn’t feel anything.”
Iris stood up a little straighter, excitement crossing her features “R-really…?” she stammered “I wish I would’ve known…I…I’ve always wanted to fly…”
That fact made Shadow feel a little better at having carried her away unexpectedly “I guess now we need to figure out where we are.”
Iris’ ears flickered “Mountain stream…” she said slowly “I can tell by the smell, really musky coming from the water. The birds have really small wings, fluttering fast, meaning there has to be somewhere to perch, maybe trees at the mountain’s base…” she blushed slightly “Of course… you would know better than me…”
“No…” said Shadow, looking around for birds “That was incredible! I guess seeing is really overrated huh?”
“I don’t know…” said Iris “I’ve never seen…”
“Oh…” said Shadow, the awkwardness of the situation instantly returning, “What do you think we should do? We’re pretty lost…”
“Well… I think we go towards the mountain…” said Iris “Trees are good to find…”
“I’ll follow you then,” said Shadow, looking towards the peaks. They didn’t seem all that far away, about the distance Canterlot had been from the halfway point between there and Ponyville. Maybe if they were lucky it would be Canterlot, mom would be there, she could help them. Of course that would involve a lot of explaining, primarily why he had left Canterlot…
“Hold on!” said Iris, seemingly focused on something “There’s a hoof beat… no… lots of them! They’re all in rhythm… like a march…”
Shadow turned wildly around, completely unable to see this supposed mass of ponies “Where?” he said, not sure whether to panic or call her crazy.
“About…five kilometers…” said Iris, lying down to put her ear to the ground “If we were to go around the mountain we would meet them on the side…”
“Do we want to meet them…?” Shadow asked.
“It may be our only hope…” said iris.
“Wait…” said Shadow, turning back the way they had come “What about Lightning?”
“Oh yes…” said Iris, sounding almost depressed “We should go back and find her…”
“I don’t know…”  said Shadow, not seeing even the faintest trace of red among the green fields “She knows where we are…probably… and she’s a lot faster on foot than we are. If we were to go looking further I bet we’d just get more separated.” He turned back toward the mountain “If we start toward the ponies you heard over there I think she’ll probably catch up to us.”
“Mhmm…” said Iris “But…Shadow… I don’t know for sure if it was ponies… All I know is that it had hooves…”
“So if we run into a herd of buffalo we’ll ask them for directions,” said Shadow “Come on, let’s get a move on. Try to keep to the river, we’ll worry about food later…”
“Um… is that a problem…?” asked Iris “I mean… I smell plenty of grass… even a few flowers…”
A weight seemed to drop into Shadow’s stomach. It had been an innocuous comment, but now it seemed really selfish. Especially when he thought about the several times he actually had to eat dandelions and other more common flowers. He must’ve sounded so spoiled…
His thought was punctuated by a dull rumbling sound from beneath him. Iris giggled “Maybe we should stop.”
“Yeah…” said Shadow, blushing a little “Let’s find something to eat.”
Iris immediately bent down and took a mouthful of grass, chewing softly. Shadow blinked in surprise. He knew that a lot of weeds, while not appetizing, were edible. He never thought to just eat plain grass. Great, now he really felt spoiled…
“Shadow?” asked iris “Aren’t you going to graze?”
“How did you know I wasn’t?” asked Shadow without thinking.
“Didn’t hear you chewing,” said Iris in a singsong, very nearly smug voice “Seeing isn’t everything silly.”
“Oh…” he said, feeling stupid. He looked down at his hooves, glad to find a little patch of clover right beneath him. He took a grateful bite, the weeds not much in flavor, but certainly good sustenance.
Iris stood again and turned her face toward the sun “It really is a nice day…” she said “The sun feels so warm today.” The sun did glint wonderfully in her misty eyes, making them seem to glow. Shadow had looked up from the ground at the perfect moment to catch sight of her. He found himself almost dazed by the sight.
“Are you done?” asked Iris sweetly, holding out a hoof to help Shadow back to his.
“Um…yeah,” said Shadow, all thought of hunger forgotten as Iris helped him up. They turned again toward the mountain “You think we should go straight toward the sound or toward the mountain?”
“I can’t feel the mountain…” said Iris “So if you think we should go that way I’ll have to hold on to your tail again… you didn’t seem to like that…”
“That would be fine, but I think we should go toward civilization,” said Shadow “We’re much more likely to get help there. I’ll be they know where we are at least.”
“That sounds good…” said Iris “But that is a lot of ponies Shadow… What if they aren’t nice…?”
Shadow shrugged “It’s our best shot,” he said “I like risks anyway! Don’t you like adventures?”
“No…” said iris, turning downward again “Adventures mean I don’t know where I’m going… I like it much better when things are all the same…”
This was a little puzzling. It actually took Shadow quite a while, during which time they started walking without even really noticing they were doing it. “Well,” he said finally “We’re going on an adventure anyway… we might as well make it work right?”
Iris merely nodded, not communicating any sort of meaning by it. Shadow turned forward again, squinting to try and find this group Iris could hear. It didn’t fail to cross his mind he was following the word of a blind girl across a featureless plain, but if he couldn’t see anything he might as well trust the one more used to using her other senses…right…?
“Oh my gosh!” Iris exclaimed, ears twitching “I can hear a raven! Ravens are the greatest birds ever!” She blushed “Um…do you… see it?”
“I’m not sure what to look for…” said Shadow, scanning the wide blue sky for some sign of it. There was the outline of a bird, black and too far off to get a good look.
“Oh…that’s okay…” said Iris “It’s just…Ravens have such a majestic caw… I always thought they were very wise… I’ve wanted to know what they looked like ever since I was little…”
“If it’s that big black bird I don’t think you would be very impressed…” said Shadow.
“Oh that’s it!” squeaked Iris “Mom always said they were black birds! I wish I could see it…”
“Well…” said Shadow, determined to describe it “They’re the same color as when I have my eyes shut… so um… take nothing and just… give it shape…?”
“Hmm…” said Iris ponderously. She imagined the shape of the raven again, accurately. She had once helped her mother nurse one of them back to health after it had broken a wing. She tried to form the darkness, or so she imagined it, into that shape, but it was impossible to form her entire perception on the one thing it included… unless… She thought of the gray again, her one color. She imagined the spot of nothing on the gray, and then slowly shifted it in her mind…
“I understand!” she exclaimed.
Shadow recoiled slightly, by the time she had envisioned this they had been walking for almost fifteen minutes. “What do you…?” He started to say.
“A raven!” Iris elaborated, her voice taking on a tone of barely contained excitement “I could see a raven! You know, not really, but I can imagine what it looks like!”
“Oh,” said Shadow “That’s really good?”
“I know!” Iris said, not catching on to his confusion in the slightest “Thank you! I never would’ve thought of it if it wasn’t for you…”
“No problem,” said Shadow reflexively “What are friends for, right?”
Iris released an audible gasp “F-friend?” she stammered “I’ve…never had friends before…”
“Well you do now!” said Shadow with a silly grin “Sorry, that was really cliché wasn’t it?”
A weight wrapping around his neck was enough to confirm, “No,” said iris “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me…”
“Um…” Shadow said slowly “I guess you haven’t met very many nice ponies…”
Iris let go of him and stood on four legs again “I guess not…” she said “My mother is really the only one I ever talk to… I don’t leave the tree very often…”
“Unless you’re foraging for herbs,” Shadow pointed out as they started walking again.
“I guess…” said Iris “But I don’t get to go out very often… Oh mom is going to keep me inside for months after this… She’s always very cross when I get in trouble…”
“She really doesn’t let you go outside?” asked Shadow “That sounds like one of those evil storybook stepmothers…”
“I never did like those characters…” said Iris “But please… my mom isn’t evil… If I really wanted to go outside she would let me… It’s just so much safer at home…”
“I guess it’s really scary to be out of your element isn’t it?” asked Shadow “I really can’t imagine it…”
“It’s not so bad…” said Iris “I have you…” She mumbled after a moment.
They continued to trek through the grasses, the sun, which had been kind and warm at the start, felt hot and blistering now. Occasionally Shadow would fly back to the stream, most of the time carrying Iris, so they could get a drink. This awkward diagonal-forward pattern continued for well over an hour before Shadow collapsed of pure boredom. Iris turned around immediately.
“Are you okay?” she asked quickly.
“Bored…” Shadow moaned “How much further is it?”
“I…I don’t know,” said Iris “The marching sound seems much closer, but I still don’t know where the mountain is to compare…”
Shadow looked up from the grass, surprised to find his vision dominated by the dark stone. They were close enough to see where the river began, pouring out of a dark hole in the stone as a waterfall. While the sight was pretty, the idea of a destination was what brought Shadow back to his hooves.
“I think we should try to make it the rest of the way without going back to the river,” he said confidently “Those ponies will have food and water I’m sure…” he smiled and looked in the direction Iris had been leading them, silhouettes could finally be seen.
“Okay…” said Iris, moving into a quick trot to keep up with Shadow, who was having trouble not running.
It was hardly a minute before the distant ponies came into clearer perspective, seeing as they were apparently moving toward each other. It turned out that it was ponies, unicorns in fact, moving in a procession. They were laden with saddlebags, and some were carrying children on their backs. These ponies had clearly been through some terrible hardship.
Shadow slowed a bit as he got closer, his initial excitement had been squelched. It looked like they may be in even more danger from whatever these ponies were fleeing from. He felt a little flutter of hope again as a tall white figure came to the front of the procession, multicolored mane flowing behind her.
“I believe we’ve come far enough to stop…” said Celestia, crownless and defeated looking as any of the others “The dragons will not follow us this far…”
“We’ve found land!” One of the unicorns with a scruffy beard exclaimed “We can take the land under the mountain and at last re-forge our lives!”
A rancorous cheer erupted from the crowd, but was quickly silenced by the white alicorn raising a hoof. “We don’t know who may have already claimed this land,” said Celestia “We may camp here for a time, but we need to know more of the geography before considering a permanent settlement.”
An audible groan followed this “Have we not journeyed far enough?” called a female voice “Have we not ventured an adequate distance to warrant a safe haven when one presents itself?”
“We do not know that this is, indeed, a haven,” Celestia tried to calm them “Whatever land we find our respite in will be the result of charities by others.” Her voice dropped till it was barely audible “Our race is on the brink of destruction, I do not wish to end it by provoking others.”
None of the gathered crowd had anything to say to that. They gradually dispersed, dropping supplies and pitching tarp shelters. They weren’t tents per se, as many of them were little more than cloth strung between branches stuck in the ground. It was clear now even more than before that the ponies were badly impoverished.
Celestia sighed and turned her gaze to the mountain. This would either be remembered as a time of incredible sorrow or as the time when the unicorn race ended once and for all. In all her immortal life she had never faced such hardships as she had these past months.
It had hardly been a century since Discord was vanquished and pony kind was freed, things should’ve been going well from that point forward. And they did, for a time, ponies prospered faster than any race before them, advanced in mind and specialized in body. They were the master race, the pinnacle of evolution, masters of their own fate at long last.
But then there had been that awful business with the crystal empire… her first failure as a monarch. She had vowed never to let such a thing happen again, but her sister, jealous of her overbearing regime had turned traitorous. In a battle that had nearly claimed her life she had banished her one true family to the lunar sphere. If nothing else, that had crushed her spirit. She had abandoned the castle of the royal pony sisters and gone back to the unicorn lands.
To her devastation, the dragons had gotten there first. Most of the population had been massacred and those remaining were left to flee for their lives. If she hadn’t been there it could’ve been the end of unicorns forever. With the pegasi scattered to the winds and the earth ponies having grown nomadic the unicorns were her last mortal allies, if they were gone…
“Who goes there?” the voice of one of the unicorns suddenly shattered her reverie. She turned to see two tall stallions leering down at something she couldn’t see.
“Celestia!” came a high pitched voice; that of a young colt she suspected “Tell these guys to get away from us!” This was followed by a squeak which she didn’t think was from the first voice.
“How dare you address the princess by anything but ma’am?” one of the stallions challenged “I would have your head if it weren’t so close to the ground!” The stallion who had spoken suddenly recoiled, clutching his face in pain while the other backed quickly away.
A pegasus, now that was no surprise. Only they could be so bold… “Can I help you?” she asked, ice tainting her voice.
“She’s…scary…” Iris stammered.
“We got a little lost…” said Shadow, rubbing the back of his neck “I think we found one of your magic artifact things. We’re not in trouble are we?”
It took Celestia a moment to puzzle together what this colt was saying. He was speaking the same language, but his accent was very strange. “What artifact wouldst thou be speaking of?” she asked.
“Golden cylinder,” Shadow described “Big red and green buttons on the sides, numbers on the front. I think it gave us a bad teleportation.”
Celestia started blankly at the two foals, not sure if they were talking about a stone tablet or a piece of clothing “I’ve heard not of such a thing…” she said “What is your name young pegasus?”
Shadow returned the blank look “Auntie, it’s me! Shadow!” he said, a feeling of dread looming over him now “Remember? You had the whole dumb ceremony and Discord attacked?”
There were so many horrifying things in that statement Celestia felt faint. “You’re… Luna’s…son…?” she stammered out, unable to think of anything else.
“Yes…” said Shadow, sounding hurt “How could you not…what?” He exclaimed suddenly as he was lifted up in Celestia’s nimbus of yellow magic. He was turned over several times in the air, yelling violent protest as Iris scrunched down, too afraid to do anything.
The most shocking thing about all this was that it seemed this foal was telling the truth. It wasn’t the first time she had sensed latent alicorn blood, and she certainly didn’t have any children. His wings were large for his size, further emphasizing the alicorn gene. The cutie mark, already there despite his young age… She dropped him back to the ground.
“Why are you here…?” she said icily.
“Ow…” said Shadow “I told you, we don’t know where we are, we came to get help!”
“What on Equestria makes you think I would help you?” Celestia spat “Knowing what your mother did you still dare even to come before me?”
“I…I thought… that was over!” Shadow stammered, starting to back away but trying not to show it “Nightmare Moon was defeated… Mom came home… that was all way before I was even born…” He was so lost by this conversation that he found himself reciting the story.
“My sister is to serve her full thousand year sentence,” said Celestia “I could do nothing about that even if I wanted to.”
“B-b-b-but it’s over!” iris squeaked, determined, however scary it was, to not offend the princess “The story book said that was already over… I-it’s been a t-thousand y-years…” she trailed off under Celestia’s glare.
A thought suddenly occurred to Celestia, she lifted a frightened Shadow once again. Iris stared up at them, torn between the instinct to run or to help Shadow.
“Time travelers…” she said in shock “No… impossible… we’ve never developed magic that powerful…”
“Well you must have…” Shadow grumbled, certain now Celestia was going to kill them and deciding to make the best of it “Or else we wouldn’t be here would we?”
“Clearly…” said Celestia “I suppose the future has certain things we don’t…you said Luna had returned… how long ago was that for you?”
“Twenty years…?” Shadow guessed.
“Twenty years…” Celestia repeated slowly “That’s almost perfectly one thousand years…”
“Almost?” Shadow asked.
“Nine hundred and ninety-nine years forward exactly,” said Celestia, looking Shadow in the eye “My god… the things you must know…”
“Damnit Lightning…” Shadow cursed, remembering Lightning spinning the three number entries as high as it would go.
Celestia released Shadow again, this time letting him fall on his face. “You are to stay with us,” she said sternly “Find a place to sleep.”
“But it’s the middle of the day!” Shadow protested.
“Go!” Celestia emphasized.
Shadow didn’t dare question her again, he and Lightning slipped away quickly. Celestia kept a careful eye on them, not letting them blend into the crowd as they scavenged around the supplies for food and water. This could still be a threat, she didn’t yet know what sort of evil might inhabit these plains and she wasn’t keen on letting an ambush be the way they found out.
“Princess,” said one of her unicorns, approaching her and bowing low “We’ve finished setting up the camp with all the necessary provisions. We have scouts on the mountains and plains as we speak.”
Celestia listened, but looked up quickly to try and keep watching Shadow. Her eyes narrowed again as she realized she’d lost them. “Very good,” she forced herself to say “What have you found?”
“You were correct…” said the sentry “We are not the first ones here. We’ve had reports of buffalo being seen in the distance on stampedes. I propose we send out a war party to…”
“No war party,” said Celestia sternly “If you must ride out to meet them do so with peace in your hearts. The last thing we need is more conflict. It would be best for us to remain here and allow the natives to come meet us.”
“As you wish…” said the unicorn, pounding his hoof into the ground in frustration. He didn’t voice any protest but it was clear he didn’t agree with this ideal. Celestia felt her heart sink, worried that her ponies were starting to become warlike. Many species were quick to war, but she had always prided her ponies as an exception. This would require some careful monitoring…
“I think I’d rather eat grass…” said Shadow, pondering the grainy, brown, sour smelling substance that the unicorns had called ‘feed’, “You really think this is healthy?”
“No…” said Iris nervously “It smells like soy… really, really spoiled soy… and mushrooms…and...”
“Yeah, I’m just going to graze,” said Shadow, feeling that it would be a long while before he was hungry again anyway “This turns out to be not a lot of help. Do you think she was serious when she said we’ve been time travelling?”
“It makes sense…” said Iris, pushing her own meager feed ration aside “She didn’t know who you were…she was mad at Luna too… I think this is some time right after Nightmare moon…”
Shadow surveyed the blue sky sullenly “We’re not getting any help from mom then…” he said with a sigh “There has to be some way back though, we’ll figure a way out of this, believe it!”
“But didn’t you hear Celestia…?” said Iris “She said there wasn’t any time travel magic in this time…”
“Then we just have to find the cylinder again!” said Shadow animatedly “I mean it has to be around here somewhere, we just have to go back to the place we landed!”
“We have to find Lightning first though… don’t we…?” said iris “Do you think she’ll come to us soon…?”
“I don’t think she is…” Shadow said thoughtfully “She could’ve closed the distance from here to there a lot faster than we did. I think it’s about time we went to find her.”
“N-now?” Iris stammered.
Shadow looked around quickly, making sure that Celestia wasn’t looking “Yeah, why not,” he said with a malevolent smile “Everyone’s still getting set up, if we leave now we won’t get in trouble.”
“But…” Iris said “Celestia said we had to stay in the camp…”
“Oh Celestia will never find out,” said Shadow confidently “I’ve snuck past her enough times already after all, come on, she’ll never know!”
“I’ll never know what now?” came an all too familiar voice from behind them. Iris squeaked as Shadow turned to see the tall figure of the princess barely a foot away.
“Run!” he shouted, bolting forward right into a magical barrier “Ouch! Dang it…”
“W-we’re sorry!” Iris quickly stammered “We really d-don’t want t-to leave the camp. I-it’s just w-we l-lost a f-friend on the p-plains and w-we n-need to go f-find her!”
“I said you are not to leave the camp and I meant it.” Said Celestia sternly “Don’t even think of such actions again, understood?”
“Y-yes! Of course!” Iris quickly responded.
“No way!” said Shadow furiously “Lightning is out there somewhere and I have to go find her! Not you, not any pony is going to stop me!”
There was a flash of yellow light and Shadow let out a yelp. When the light faltered he was collapsed on the ground, twitching violently. Iris screamed and tried to run but the magical barrier stopped her.
“Your hubris must be conquered lest I increase the voltage,” said Celestia angrily “I will not hesitate either. I have much rage toward my sister and I am more than willing to take it out on her son…”
Shadow winced and sat up, one eye still clenched shut against the pain. A dull rumbling sound caught his attention through the haze, it sounded like an oncoming storm. Unfortunately he was too weak from shock to process the sound, and Iris was too afraid.
“Your highness!” a desperate voice called from somewhere close by “The buffalo are approaching from the mountain! They’re practically upon us!”
“Already?” Celestia spoke in shock “Do not launch any hostilities unless provoked. Do not attack them!”
Shadow caught a glimpse of a fuzzy mass of brown as his vision started to fade. For a split second he recognized the color red amongst the brown, a pony’s shape? No…It couldn’t be…
Before he could come to any legitimate conclusion he felt the world grow dark…