My first reaction was ‘What.’
It was colorful, blindingly so. Everywhere you looked were pastel-colored miniature horses in various shapes and sizes, all within an equally bright and colorful town that was apparently named “Ponyville.” There weren’t just pegasi, either; there were several dozen regular ponies and unicorns too. Unicorns. What the hell?
It was surreal. An entire civilization of pastel ponies, and each with their own little picture plastered on their hindquarters. It all looked like something out of a fairytale book or a Lisa Frank picture. Perhaps the creation of some mad scientist’s five-year-old daughter.
I was safe and secure in the yellow pegasus’ shadow, though. I took my sweet time observing this bizzaro civilization. I picked up on a few things while I rode. Firstly, that this was indeed a civilization in its own right. They had everything: stores of all kinds, their own monetary system (“bits” I think they were called), a written language (strangely identical to English), and FOOD. OH GOOD GOD THE FOOD. Even from within the shadow, I could smell the tantalizing scents of various baked goods, sweets and vegetables. So many wonderful smells, each like a siren song to my empty stomach. I could feel my stomach doing flips like a little puppy trying to win itself a treat. Down, boy. Sit. I told it.
Secondly, I noticed that… Actually, that first thing was the only thing I noticed, because my stomach started eating itself from the inside out. Oh MAN was I hungry.
‘Feed me.’ Whimpered my stomach. ‘Feed me, Seymour, feed me!’
I gazed longingly at one of the stands the pony passed by, selling some fresh, juicy apples by the barrel load. I mentally licked my lips. Oh how I wanted those apples.
'Just eat them,' whined my stomach. I shook myself. No. Stealing was wrong, and I knew it.
'Food...' My stomach complained. No. Bad stomach.
'Hungry,' my stomach argued. I sighed. It did have a valid point, there...
I gave up. Apparently my stomach was stronger than my moral compass. I slipped over to the apple stand, into the shadow of the barrel, this time making EXTRA SURE no one else was watching. I didn’t need anyone freaking out about a moving shadow, especially given how skittish the first one was. Then I ran into my first problem: figuring out how to get the freaking apples.
I pondered this for a minute or so. I managed to pull myself into a shadow… why couldn’t I do the same with the apples? It sounded as logical as anything else around here. What the heck, I’ll give it a shot.
I spent the next half- hour trying to coax the little red morsels down into their shadows. It was infuriating work, but I finally managed to snag about five apples. I sped off giggling internally at my success. I slipped into an alleyway that seemed sufficiently vacant; there was nothing there but me and an old dusty mirror that was facing the wall. Ha ha, I bet they don't suspect a thing! I thought.
I then ran into my second problem: how to get back out of a shadow. This time, it only took a few minutes of struggling before I was finally able to pull myself and the five tantalizing apples out. I held up the first apple victoriously, and took my first tender bite...
It was delicious. Sweet juice ran down my cheeks as I bit into the apple. I almost gave a little sigh of satisfaction. It tasted just like... like-!
Like guilt. I finished, swallowing hard, my smile fading. I had stolen-
I shook myself hard. No. There's no use in feeling sorry for myself. I did what I had to. I paused, then shrugged. besides, it's not like I could pay for them anyways... No, I was going to have to get by without money for now. If that means stealing food in the meantime... I thought, hardening my resolve, Then so be it.
I quickly finished off every bit of the apples except the seeds. It was a trick I'd learned in my first few weeks of college: you can actually eat the core of an apple; it’s the seeds and stem you’re not supposed to eat. The seeds actually contain small amounts of cyanide, a poison. (1) I wonder if those ponies know there’s poison in their apples, I thought, munching on a core, I’d like to see the looks on their faces- muzzles- whatever- when they find out.
I took a sudden interest in the mirror. I hadn’t gotten a good look at my face since I had fallen into the forest. I bet my face is covered in mud and scratches, I thought dryly. Still, I was curious. I walked over to the mirror and turned it around until the reflecting side was facing me.
I gazed into the mirror, and...
**************************************************
It was a quiet, peaceful day in Ponyville. The birds were chirping, the pegasi had scheduled a full day of sun. Life was good for everypony.
That tranquility was shattered by a loud scream.
“HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!!”
Every pony jumped at the unexpected noise. A few neighborly ponies tracked down the origin of the scream. But when they peeked into the alleyway, they found nothing but a bunch of apple seeds and a mirror. This puzzled many residents, but many shrugged and simply went about their business, figuring it was a couple of foals playing a prank.
Or the Cutie Mark Crusaders
Again.
*************************************************
I stayed hidden in the shadows, while internally freaking out.
My reflection was... well, "startling" was putting it lightly. I knew I looked bad, after all, I had spent the night in a freaking chicken coop. I didn’t expect to look like a beauty queen, but HOLY SHIT! Was THAT my FACE!?!?
I rose my head out of the shadows again, getting a second look at my face. I flinched.
My face was as dark grey as the rest of me, blending in with my black hair that seemed to flow with an unseen power. My eyes were blank white slates, and seemed to glow with an unearthly light. My nose was just barely visible. My cheeks looked thin, hollow. When I opened my mouth, it looked like a barren void, like a vacuum ready to consume in anything in my way. When I breathed out, a black mist seeped out, like how you see your breath on a cold day. My teeth were four rows of razor-sharp fangs, one at the front and one row just behind. I ran my tongue across them. Yep, those are real.
I now understood why everything I’d come across had reacted with fear. I looked like something out of damn horror movie.
Okay. So that’s a thing… I thought.
I’m not gonna lie, I wasn’t too fond of looking like something that could, and very likely would, eat you. On the other hand, just think of all the scare pranks I could pull…
There was nothing I could really do about it though. I scowled. I didn’t like feeling like I was unable to control my life. I had no choice but to accept it. For now. I made a mental note to myself to rip whomever was responsible for my “extreme makeover” a new asshole. Or five. Yeah, five sounds like a good number. I thought.
I felt a little surer of myself, now that I had a full stomach. I decided to explore my newfound abilities a bit more, play around with them to figure out how they worked. Up until now, I had been running on instinct, which was a bit strange, given I had no prior experience with shadow-walking. Oh, yes, that’s what I’m calling it from now on. Dibs. I’m calling it first.
I slipped effortlessly from shadow to shadow in total secret, every pony totally unaware of my presence. I feel like a freaking ninja master. I mused with a sly grin.
I soon figured out that shadow-walking was kind of like swimming, while being kind of “one with the water.” It sounded like something out of a bad Kung-fu movie, but I’m being completely serious here. Every time I moved out of one shadow, it was like inertia kept me moving in the same direction I had started until I reached another shadow. I then kinda… “blorped” into the other shadow, for lack of a better description. When I tried to change course mid-jump, I found it took more effort and concentration than just sliding around. Within a few minutes, I had mastered the basics.
I began experimenting a little more. I slid over to an out-of-the-way little corner and tried just partially jumping out of the shadow I was in.
No dice.
Stubborn as I was, I tried again, this time just extending out a hand from the shadow I was in. I was met with some resistance, but the shadow soon bent to my will and my hand broke free of the surface. I gave a little wave to a few birds nearby, who squawked in terror and flew away as fast as their little wings could carry them. I huffed. How rude.
I found I could slide through gaps in walls, too, but I kept the use of that trick to a minimum. No telling what you’ll walk in on. Still, it was a useful trick, so I filed it away in my mind for future reference.
After a while I got bored of just messing around and watching the ponies go about their daily lives. I kind of admired them. From what I had seen so far, they seemed to get along. By which I mean they didn't just work together as needed, barely tolerating each other’s presence while hatred, contempt, or apathy bubbled beneath the surface (which seemed to be a very common theme throughout human societies…). No they actually seemed to get along, and genuinely enjoy each other’s help and company. I never thought I’d see anything like it outside of a kid’s movie. Which, actually, would explain just about everything I’d seen until now.
College teenager found comatose after seeing kid’s movie, I thought, imagining the headlines, Officials say it was diabetes, with no prior symptoms of the condition.
It must be a herbivore thing, I guessed.
I spotted the yellow, pink-haired pegasus from before, and decided I might as well follow her. It's not like I have anything better to do. I zipped into her shadow and relaxed a little, letting her unwittingly carry me.
************************************************
Fluttershy knocked on the door of the big oak library and stepped back. “Coming!” called a familiar voice from within. Within a few minutes, the doorknob glowed with a purple aura, swung inward. In the doorway was a lavender alicorn, Ponyville’s resident Princess Twilight Sparkle. She greeted Fluttershy with a smile. “Oh, hi Fluttershy! What brings you here?”
Fluttershy dug into her saddlebags and pulled out a cereulean hardcover book that had the word “COOKBOOK” written in large white letters. In the front, it sported a picture of many yummy vegetarian recipes. “I’m here to return this book you lent me, Twilight.”
The alicorn’s smile widened as she took the book in hoof. “Ah, yes, this is right on time. And in good condition too!” She stepped inside, set the book down on the table in the center of the room, and then came back to the door.
Phew. She was still on time. Fluttershy thought back to the last time somepony had turned in a book late and in poor condition…
A solitary mare stood alone, then slowly, ever so gradually, turned. The rage in her eyes pierced through one's soul-
Fluttershy shuddered. That poor mare had no idea the wrath she'd unleashed when she brought back that tattered mess of a book.
“Anything else?” Twilight asked, interrupting Fluttershy’s thoughts.
The Pegasus’s reply came quickly, “Oh, no! I’m just fine!” She paused a moment. “Well, actually, there is one thing I’d like to find out, if that’s okay with you.” She paused, before continuing. “I saw something in the forest last night; I kind of had a bad feeling about it…”
“The Everfree forest?” Twilight exclaimed in surprise, “I thought you didn’t like going there, especially with all the dangerous things lurking there…”
“I know,” Fluttershy replied, “but there was an animal in trouble, and…”
Twilight cut her off. “Look, nevermind. I’ll help you find what you’re looking for. Why don’t you come inside and I’ll see what we can find, okay?”
Fluttershy nodded and stepped inside, shutting the door behind her.
**********************************
I had learned a lot in that quick exchange. Apparently the pegasus I had tailed before was named “Fluttershy,” and the purple one with wings AND a horn was called “Twilight.” I really hope she has no connection to that book… I thought. Of course, I was in a library, so it wasn’t totally out of the question.
That was another thing. I was in a library, with a mildly impressive collection of books stacked on shelves that rose much taller than the ponies themselves, which was in a tree. Which begged two questions: Is living in trees a common thing? And how the hell do they reach the tops of those shelves?
I soon found my answer when the wingy-horned one’s horn glowed. The same glow enveloped a book on the top shelf and pulled it out.
Oh, so the unicorns have telekinesis. I had to admit, it was kinda cool, for multicolored ponies. Not quite as girly as they first appeared. Still kinda girly, though.
Fluttershy gave a quick, and slightly unflattering, description of me. When she was done, the unicorn-pegasus --seriously, what exactly was she?— nodded and flipped to a page. She walked over to Fluttershy (and another thing: are they all named like this or do their parents just hate them?) and showed her the page. I rose up over their heads to get a better look.
“It says here that what you’re describing sounds a lot like a creature known as Shadow Ponies,” explained Twilight, pointing to a picture of a pony who looked somewhat similar to me (barring the fact that it was a horse and I was a human, of course), which is to say it looked like something out of a bad horror flick.
Twilight continued, “It says here that these creatures were normal ponies once, but a dark force turned them evil and granted them something known as shadow magic, a rare form of magic used almost exclusively by these ponies.”
Magic? I questioned whether they were actually being serious here. They didn't show any signs of kidding. Of course, I thought, Ponies that can use magic. I hereby retract my previous impression of them not being girly.
She set the book down on the table in the middle of the room and turned to Fluttershy, tapping her chin (or whatever equated to a chin for horses), while I sunk into the table’s shadow.
“I’ve never heard of any bipedal versions of them, though. I’ll have to do some more research. The last known sighting of them was around 500 years ago, so I might take a while.” Her expression turned deadly serious. “Still, if this really is what you saw, we’ll have to deal with it soon. Shadow ponies were known to be extremely dangerous, and terrorized Equestia for nearly half a century before they vanished.”
Yikes. I’d better stay out of sight, or suddenly develop some expert diplomacy skills. Not that that was likely.
The yellow pegasus seemed to be just as shaken as I was. The lavender one smiled and invited the yellow pegasus to her kitchen for some Chamomile tea, and within minutes I was alone in the room.
I could have just sat there, waiting, hid until I could find a way to not make myself look like a bad guy. I mean, I was a jerk, I’ll admit it. But calling me evil? That was just…
Unacceptable! An insult of the highest order that must be met with-
I shook myself. No, no, no. It’s excessive, true, and more than a little racist, but I don’t think I’d call it insulting. No. I needed to just stay there until I could figure a way out of this mess.
Then again… there was a book that could tell me something more about the state I was in.
Just… lying there…
…Oh, like you could have resisted in the same situation.
I quickly rose out of the shadows and seized the book. I began reading:
The shadow ponies were adept at the use of shadows, forming their own form of magic. This form of magic is commonly referred to as shadow magic. There have been many attempts at recreating this magic form, but to no avail. It has been labeled a form of dark magic.
The diverse use of shadow magic was in part what made them so formidable, along with their ruthless, violent dispositions. Attempts at reasoning with shadow ponies were often met with failure.
I scowled at this, but kept reading.
Shadow ponies are also reported to have been average ponies that have been turned into this state. There is no known reason as to why this is so, but it has been a subject of interest for many researchers.
Shadow ponies have been known to use shadow magic for non-wing based flight, turning themselves and other objects into shadows, defense-
I was so caught up with reading, I almost jumped when I heard the sound of something shatter. I looked towards the source of the noise and my eyes widened. Twilight and Fluttershy had returned from the kitchen, and at the pegasus’s feet was a shattered cup of liquid. Twilight’s horn was pointed at me, glowing so brightly I had to shield my eyes.
Her horn let loose a massive yellow beam of light. I didn’t have time to react. I felt the scalding beam wash over me, and I screamed as everything faded to white.