//------------------------------// // Reaction // Story: Story of the Shadowmane // by Navras97 //------------------------------// *2 days later* this whole world is something that really amazes me. Everything is just so… peaceful. As I walk through the plaza during the evening without a cloak, I’m given many different reactions. Ponies would look at me with confused, fearful, or astonished expressions. I walk up to a grocery clerk and ask for the basic fruits and vegetables, she says everything is on her. I give the question of why, and she says that new visitors, especially alicorns, get it for free. It would be rude to not accept the offer so I take it and leave. I don’t need the food for eating, but for just tasting and possibly experimentation. What’s so good about living in Ponyville is that no one is telling me what to do. No curfew, no schooling, I'm my own stallion, not some stuff-shirt nobles' future heir to the throne. When the mayor of the town noticed the new citizen in her fair town, she greeted me quite fairly with a tinge of fear in her eyes, intimidated from my appearance nonetheless. “You must be the new pony that every pony has been talking about. Nice to uh… meet you…!” she says nervously extending her slightly trembing hoof to shake. I shake it and she looks back at me, and quickly glances at my appearance from the head down. I can practically read her mind when she looks at my dark body. Tall horn, black mane slicked back, red eyes, sophisticated muzzle, curvy ears, red regal swirl pattern on jaw, forehead, neck, and legs, bat wings, blank flank, royal shoes, and long tail with 3 red stripes. “What’s your name sir?” the mayor asked with a nervous smile on her face. Sometimes these ponies fear of me gets annoying. “I’m Shadowmane”, I reply courteously, “I just moved next to Fluttershy on the edge of town and was hoping if there are any jobs available that I can fill in. What is your name ma’am?” “M-my name…?” she responds, sweating bullets. She gives herself a quick shake and regains her courage. “I am Mayor Mare, the mayor of Ponyville, and it’s very nice to have you here. Oh, and of course we’re always looking for spots to be filled in our fair town.” She takes out a small book form her mane and scrolls through the pages. After a small moment, she looks back up, “well there is one job in Ponyville that most ponies try to avoid and that is city guard. We always need some extra hands in guarding festivals and other events… if you’re up for it”. She stares at my blank flank and scrolls her eyes back to mine, “you don’t seem to have a cutie mark yet so it’s very unlikely that you’ll get the job. I mean no offense but you look pretty threatening yourself but looks aren’t everything. Do you have any skills in combat?” she asks, waiting on a reply. I sharply nod and she takes off the pencil on her ear and starts writing. “So do you want to take up the job, it pays quite well.” I sharply nod again, only with a smile on my face. “Are you sure you don’t need any royal guard training, they’re really good at their jobs.” I open my mouth and ready to say no thanks before two pegasi in golden armor land in front of us and salute. “Mayor Mare, we’ve just finished recon and there are no threats to Ponyville at… this… moment…” The guard with blue eyes stops in his line and looks at me, my mouth still open exposing my razor sharp fangs. He and the other guard look into my blood red eyes and their eyes widen. Suddenly they leap into the air and the grey furred one yell out, “HOSTILE!” the ponies around us quickly run into their homes from the sound of that word, not trying to look for a hostile. Before Mayor Mare could tell them to stop they charge at me. My indistinct instantly kick in without a thought and prepare to defend myself. I fan out my bat wings and dodge to the left and zoom up to the sky at an alarmingly fast rate. To them it looked like I disappeared until one of them looked up into the sky and zoomed towards me, the other following. They both split up and try to get me on my 3 and 9 o’ clock. Their speed and choice of maneuver are too weak for my reflexes to more than enough dodge them. I zoom up in the sky and they pursue me, hoping to subdue for no apparent reason except for looking dangerous. Unfortunately they decided to blindly assault a high vampire so it’s their loss. Besides, it’s been too long since I got to really stretch my wings. I turn around and look at the guards chasing me. Right before they think they’ve got me I dodge to the right. I can tell from their confused expression that I move too fast and lost where I was. I give a small whistle and a wave with my hoof behind them to give them an idea where I was. They get furious and charge me again, only to fall for the trick again. This kind of thing goes on for about 3 minutes, every now and then they would try to scatter but they can't seem to hit me. I would think guards were more prepared for situations of combat… that is their job after all. I don’t see any swords or weaponry on them, are their even taxes in Equestria…? Well… probably not considering how poorly trained the guards are and how everything is clean enough to eat off of. Perhaps mother and auntie thought that they truly achieved peace. Those both should know better to never grow soft, even in times like these. Meanwhile with Sergeant Moron and Lieutenant Knucklehead, they both try the two sides flanking maneuver again. I can think of a hundred reasons why that technique doesn’t work and a hundred more why it won’t work on someone like me. I fly up again and the two guards crash into each other, rubbing their bruised heads. I can hear Mayor Mare calling for me to stop but I can’t… I’m having too much fun toying with these royal amateurs. I decided to give them a little scare, and use my multi-clone technique. I charge up my horn and spawn 5 white clouds of smoke bursting from thin air, revealing 5 Pegasus clones of me. The clones in a way are just like me, except they only have my wings and wing skill and disappear with one hit. We all surround them from all directions, trapping them in our sphere. The guards tremble at the sight of 6 six “monsters” and we close them in. They are either too chicken butt or too surprised to see their problem multiplied by 5 to do anything but whimper in fear. My clones give wide fanged grins and start slowly hissing. I very slowly fly over the terrified guards and stare at them until they look at me, their irises shrink and shiver as mine widen. I slowly put my mouth near them at biting range, and calmly and ever so softly say… “Boo…” Soon the ever so powerful guards and all their stature crumble as they let out an ear piercing and a filly-like scream. My clones and I keep up the act but wanting to cover our ears until both of the guards pass out and plummet to the ground. 4 of my clones disappear with a burst of white smoke. I and the remaining clone zoom down to catch the guards by their forelegs. We settle the passed out guards on the floor next to us. My final clone disappears with a nod and I’m left looking at an astonished Mayor Mare. Her eyes were wide and her jaw was hitting the ground. “I’m sorry, force of habit…” I tell her. She doesn’t respond and is still speechless. I ignore her for a second and look at the unconscious guards behind me. Maybe I overdid it a bit, I didn’t even strike back and they’re out for the count. I face-hoof, and materialize a wooden bucket of cold water. I splash it over the guards to wake them up. They scramble for air and look back up to my eyes. Right before they have the chance to scream again I cover both of their mouths with my hooves. “Listen” I tell the wide eyed ponies, “I did that to teach you a lesson to never attack some pony that looks dangerous but turns out not to be and also doesn't want conflict at all. I gave you two the scare because pre-judging people could have dire consequences. Now I came to the mayor and asked if I join you guys and I am more than capable enough to take on city guard without any formal training as you just experienced. Plus I never even laid a hoof on you two so just wait until I actually start fighting. Now I personally want to guard a night shift so you guys don’t need to waste precious sleeping hours. I’m capable of guarding the whole town by myself during the night and please take my word on it. There is no need for armor for me since my appearance enough will give people frights. Now I’m about to let go of your mouths and please say yes to my request without screaming and running away. I only want to make a living here, and this is the only chance I have to a normal life.” As I said my request, the guards look less afraid and calmer. I let go of their mouths and they get up, drenched in ice water. “All right then,” said the blue-eyed guard. “You seem more than… capable enough to guard during the night, Princess Luna can’t have eyes everywhere at the same time. I am Captain Ironsword and this is 1st Class Private Bolthawk. I am the squad leader of the squad that guards Ponyville Squad while most of the Royal Guard Company lies in Canterlot, major towns such as Manehattan are filled with a Royal Guard Platoons. We only have 10 guards here including us to guard all of Ponyville. Someone of your skill set is invaluable to us, especially since you offered night shift. Peace has been very constant here in Ponyville minus several unusual occurrences. So the guard volunteers are wearing thin and we’ll take all the help we can get. Peace may have been constant for a while, but who knows when something unusual happens again. If you don’t require armor and want to rely on your… looks… then that’s okay with us. If you truly wish to join the city guard repeat after me… ahem” Ironsword begins to recite the Equestrian Royal Guard oath, which I already know from the top of my head for studying it when I was a colt. I straighten my back even straighter and put my right hoof over my horn. “I, state your name and respective city post…” “I, Shadowmane of Ponyville…” “Do hereby accept the duty of Royal Guard…” “Do hereby accept the duty of Royal Guard…” “To always lay my life before-“I cut him off and say the whole oath word for word, “To always lay my life before her majesty Princess Celestia as her instrument, the bearer of her will, the sword of her wrath, the shield of her loving grace, and to defend her subjects from all that oppose the calling of peace, harmony, tranquility, and the pursuit of happiness. And with this vow my life will be to protect and honor her majesty and all the fair people who call for the light of her grace. So help me Princess Celestia, which I will carry your undying will until the day I fall in your name.” I lower my hoof and look at the guards, both wide-eyed. “How did you know that?” asked Bolthawk, “only royal guards know that oath.” “I just do…” I tell them, “and it would be best if you two don’t find out.” I shoot a quick glare at them; they begin to shudder a little. “Well since you beat me, a captain, and in a fight with a 1st class private without lifting a hoof at the same time, that makes you mighty impressive and possibly better than me.” Possibly…? I thought… more like out of your league… “Therefore it is only fair that you be promoted to Staff Sergeant, welcome to the squad, sir.” The two pegasi salute and fly back to their homes without any other introduction. Either they know that I know what I’m doing or they feel over-embarrassed. Mayor Mare finally absorbs what she saw and puts a grin on her face, “Well congratulations Shadowmane, you just skipped the chain of command in less than 2 minutes.” If it was that easy, just wait till I’m Command Sergeant Major, no wait that sounds like a bad idea, mother might take notice of me. Since Staff Sergeant is higher up in the chain of command than Lieutenant all the record processing to Canterlot goes to me. It should be like that; it was no different from back home. I just won’t send any paperwork relating to me to Canterlot. If mother or auntie ever comes to Ponyville I’ll put on a disguise with my shape-shifting powers. It’s been millenniums since shape-shifters like vampires set foot on Equestria so unicorns would never spend magic energy trying to look through disguises. I noticed I paused for a long time and forgot to answer the mayor who was giving me a weird look. “What… oh, right thank you Mayor Mare for this opportunity. Now I’m not looking for a high pay, just medium wage will do it for me. I can provide most of my needs by myself thank you very much.” Mayor Mare nods in agreement, “All right, if you want medium wage, then that’s okay with me. I hope you have the life you’re looking for here in Ponyville!” We shake hoofs and the mayor trots away back to the town hall. It’s nighttime and I’ll start my new job tomorrow if I remember correctly. I open a portal to my bedroom and step through. I close the portal and walk to my blood refinery. I grab a tin cup and fill it with blood substitute. Looking at the light red liquid I gulp it down in one sitting and float it to the kitchen sink. Wiping off the fake blood I walk over to my bedroom. I carefully get into my sarcophagus and magically turn off the lights. I close the casket and begin to ponder on what has happened ever since I woke up. Those guards, did they promote me because they acknowledged my skill, or did they do it out of fear? Will I ever be normal in the sight of these new ponies? Maybe I shouldn’t have left Volkihar, I would’ve been around kinsmen there who treat me equally. I think of the clerk yesterday and her giving me food for free. Did he do it out of honor that an Alicorn so humbly stopped at her shop? Did he do it because I intimidated her? Did he do it to make me go away faster? Whatever the reason is, it wasn’t out of pure kindness. I need to connect to these ponies somehow on a ground to base level. Well, can I connect to them there? I’ll sort it out when I have the energy to think…