Shadow, Pinkie, and Spike were enveloped in the bright light, as it quickly faded Shadow found himself alone in a bright but familiar place.
Shadow looked around to see if he could spot Pinkie or Spike.
"Not again, just as things were going so well," he said.
Shadow looked around again but all he could see was the bright white space surrounding him.
"Do you know why I have brought you here again," said the disembodied but familiar voice.
"No, I don't know, Nightshade," Shadow began, "What does it have to do with me taking Pinkie and Spike with me?"
"You are still laying on the basement floor bleeding, but you only collapsed because I brought you here to speak with you so you don't have to worry about being in any danger from your wounds, as for showing you taking your friends with you, that was to show you what won't happen if you do not use your true strength against the evil before you, the one called Pinkamena was brought forth from her prison inside Pinkie Pie's mind by Strife, she is more dangerous than you think she is, you told her not to take you lightly but here you are taking her lightly," Nightshade said.
Shadow thought about this new information for a few moments.
"Wait you mean getting stabbed in the chest isn't something to worry about? And I thought we defeated Strife when he was reborn as Shadow Stryker and ended his threat," he asked.
"No, Shadow Stryker, it seems, was merely a pawn of Strife," Nightshade said, "And no that wound isn't something to worry about, being an immortal Alicorn means that somepony can only kill you from such a wound with either a magic blade or if somepony of equal magical strength or greater pierces your heart with their own magic, for ponies that aren't Alicorns or unicorns, such as Pinkamena, they would have to stab you several times for it to be fatal or completely cut all the veins and arteries connected to your heart, but fortunetly for you it seems like missed your heart."
Shadow nodded indicating he understood while making a mental note to be more careful.
"So why are we in a different reality than our own," Shadow asked.
Nightshade thought for a moment.
"I do not know, I think another force is sending us to parallel worlds to stop those that Strife has used to create horrors such as these, and it's our job to stop them from continuing," Nightshade answered.
"So why did you show me asking Spike for the book 'The Legend of the Two Shadows' before we left," Shadow asked.
"If you study that book you may learn something that I have overlooked, now show both Pinkamena and Strife why they should never underestimate us," Nightshade said.
Shadow nodded but before he could reply he felt a sharp pain in his side, jerking him from the all white world and back into the basement, where he found himself in a pool of his own blood.
Shadow kept quiet and didn't move until he was sure Pinkamena wasn't looking.
After he heard Pinkamena threatening Pinkie he looked over at Pinkamena who was stanging infront of a heartbroken Pinkie, ready to swipe the necklace off her neck.
"This is gonna be fun," Pinkamena said.
Without thinking Shadow got up and lunged at Pinkamena punching her in the side of the head with all his strength, the impact made a bone crunching sound before it sent Pinkamena head first into yet another concrete wall.
Having a moment to catch his breathe, Shadow completely healed his wounds and looked over at Pinkie giving her a reassuring smile that he was indeed alive and okay.
He then turned his attention back to Pinkamena who was now bleeding from several wounds.
"I told you not to underestimate me and here I was underestimating you instead," he shook his head, "I now know how you got your own body and that I'll need to fight with everything I have from now on to ensure you're defeat," he said.
Shadow's blue eyes turned red, his blue mane and tail also turned red and moved as though they were a flame, Shadow had Rage Shifted and was no longer holding back.
Pinkamena merely scoffed and lunged at him.
Shadow had anticipated the attack and countered with an uppercut which sent her throught the ceiling of the basement and into the store above.
Shadow quickly followed and bucked her through the wall and outside onto the street.
Pinkie quickly raced upstairs and outside as Shadow walked through the hole in the wall.
There was a small crowd of ponies watching, wondering not only why there were two Pinkies but why was one of them covered in blood and wielding a blood soaked butcher's knife and who was the Alicorn she was fighting.
Pinkamena had felt their eyes on her and quickly turned and lunged at the nearest pony, hoping to take them as a hostage that she could later turn into cupcakes.
Before she even got near the pony, she was caught in Shadow's magic and was slammed into the ground.
Shadow then told the crowd of ponies that it wasn't safe and for them to return home, most complied but some merely moved out of sight to continue watching.
Shadow moved closer to Pinkamena, who he was holding down with his magic, he stopped when he noticed that Pinkie had moved next to her and was glaring down at her, Pinkamena simply looked up at Pinkie and started to laugh maniacly.
"See you turned out exactly like me," she laughed again, "You're as twisted as me and you know it, look at you standing over me, ready to take my life with your own hooves!"
Pinkie simply shook her head.
"No, I will not kill you," she said.
Pinkie looked up at Shadow, "Can you release her, cause I didn't say anything about kicking her plot."
Shadow hesitantly nodded before releasing Pinkamena.
Pinkie then took off the necklace and tossed it to Shadow who caught it in his hoof.
Pinkamena almost imidiately shot up and tried to attack Pinkie, however, Pinkie was ready and uppercut Pinkamena with all her strength, despite her stature she was incredibly strong.
After several minutes of Pinkie beating Pinkamena all over the place she sent Pinkamena flying into the air with another uppercut.
Pinkie then brought her Party Cannon from out of no where and blasted Pinkamena with it as she fell sending her flying again, Pinkie then leapt above Pinkamena, did a front flip, and kicked Pinkamena in the back of the head as hard as she could.
Pinkamena was sent face first into the ground, Pinkie landed a few seconds later.
Pinkie walked over to Shadow, took back the necklace, and put it back on.
"Okay I'm done," she said as she walked back over to Sugarcube Corner and sat back down.
Shadow was shocked at how quickly she bested Pinkamena.
"Hell hath no fury like Pinkie Pie scorned," he thought to himself.
Shadow made a mental note not to get Pinkie angry at him, he thought about what Pinkie said about not being like she used to be and he had to agree, for she was stronger now than she ever was.
Shadow looked back at Pinkamena who was just beginning to pick herself back up, he sat there watching to see what she would do, when she finally managed to stand up she turned and glared at Pinkie.
"Just for that I'll turn those two little foals you're so fond of into cupcakes as you watch then force feed them to you," she shouted before turning her glare back to Shadow.
Shadow's anger was now at its peak from hearing those words and he had entered the second stage of Rage Shift, his eyes however started to glow red this time.
He returned her glare with a look in his eyes that even made Pinkamena feel true terror.
She felt as though she was looking at a demon from the pits of Tartarus itself.
"I won't let you," he said.
Pinkamena tried her best to hide the fact that she was terrified.
"A-and how do you plan to stop me if you're dead," she asked as she lunged at him again.
Shadow closed his eyes, took a deep breathe, and opened them again.
"By destroying you," he said as he sent out large beam of magical energy.
The beam was so bright that the sky seemed to go dark, the beam passed through Pinkamena leaving no trace of her behind.
Shadow knew she was no more, letting out a relieved sigh which caused him to almost immidiately exit his Rage Shift, and his eyes, mane, and tail all returned to normal.
He went back into the basement to retrieve his vest, which he also mended like he did in his vision and put it back on, and as he got back upstairs he turned, closed the basement door, and sealed it.
He looked at the hole in the floor and wall and quickly used his magic to completely fix both.
H decided he should also use his magic to get rid of the blood he was covered in and after a few moments joined Pinkie outside once again.
"Okay Pinkie," he said nuzzling her, "lets go get Spike and head home."
She nodded and nuzzled him back.
"Sounds good," she paused for a moment and punched him in the shoulder.
"And don't scare me like that again, you need to be more careful and not get hurt," she said staring at him.
"Noted, no more getting hurt without consulting you first," he said playfully, which got him another punch in the shoulder as a reward.
"What was that about 'Hell hath no fury like Pinkie Pie scorned'," she asked teasingly causing Shadow to gulp wondering how in the world she knew what he had thought to himself earlier.
"Okay lets get going, I bet Spike is worried," she said as the began to walk back to the Treebrary.
When they arrived back at the Treebrary, Shadow told the Cakes it was safe for them to return and they left.
Spike asked what Shadow needed him to fireblow for later use, Shadow nodded and began to list off the needed books.
"Okay I need all the books from last night," he began, "all the spell books, a book called 'The Legend of the Two Shadows', ink, quills, and paper."
After a few minutes Spike had gathered up everything and fireblew them into his storage.
Shadow thought back to the vision, Nightshade didn't show anything about the ink, quills, or paper but Shadow was going to use them to write down anything he discovered from the books.
Shadow then turned his attention on the charm necklace on the table, he used his magic to deactivate the barrier and then gave it to Spike who put it around his neck.
After Spike had secured the necklace around his neck, Shadow once again turned his attention to the table, picked up his sunglasses and put them on.
He then turned his attention to the Beacon, focusing his magic on it until the gem glowed black like it did in his vision.
"There, that should emit a magical pulse to keep me from teleporting us back into this reality by accident, are you two ready," he asked.
Pinkie and Spike each grabbed onto one of his sides and nodded.
Shadow then focused his magic around them.
"Here goes nothing," he said.
He tried his best to picture the Treebrary in his home reality and to also lock on to the signal the beacons were emitting, with a bright flash of light they were gone.
The world they appeared in next, however, was an all new adventure.