//------------------------------// // The Shadow of a Carrot // Story: Derpy Cardcaptor // by Sotsim //------------------------------// “Derpy? Derpy!” *ZZZ* “~That’s enough, I can’t eat all of those muffins~” *ZZZ* “Why did you set up the alarm at seven o’clock? Didn’t you want to get up soon today?” Derpy finally began to open her eyes. Huhh… What a strange voice. Nopony in my family has such a high-pitched tone… Then she sat up to search for the source. When she looked up she saw a winged unicorn foal with purple coat and yellow mane looking directly at her. “AAHH!” The scream startled the foal too. “A FLYING UNICORN!” The foal sighed. “You’re still asleep, huh?” Then she got close to Derpy’s head and started hitting it weakly while saying: “C’mon, wake up, wake up.” The knocks made Derpy’s eyes spin in circles until she came to realization. “You’re the Guardian of the Seal, the one that protects the Faust Letters!” The foal stopped her pounding and smiled. “That’s right! I’m Cel-” “Good morning, Dinky!” interrupted Derpy. “Aww, I was hoping you had forgotten about that… Anyway, good morning to you too, Derpy Cardcaptor.” she grinned. “As I told you yesterday, I never said I accepted the job.” “Don’t be modest! After all, you captured The Sight all by yourself” and Dinky levitated the book with her magic and she opened it to show Derpy that specific letter. “See?” “But that was a way too close call…” “Breakfast is ready!” “I’m coming!” When Derpy brushed her mane and her tail she went downstairs and she found that it was her sister who was cooking the breakfast today. “Good morning, Octavia!” Octavia turned with mild surprise on her face. “I only had to call you once? Now, that’s a paranormal phenomenon…” “It’s because I have been awakened on time, you brainy egghead!” Octavia showed a more surprised look. Awakened? By whom? She thought. Oh no! I can’t let my sister or my mom find about Dinky and my powers or they could heavily punish me! “I was referring to Mr. Alarm, of course!” and she blurted one of her awkward laughs. Octavia was very used to her sister’s crazy antics, so she just brushed it off and hanged up the apron she was wearing. The situation was safe for now… Berry Punch entered the living room. “Good morning, girls!” “Hi Mom, Good morning!” they both responded at the same time, although with different tones. Derpy’s tone was enthusiastic, while Octavia’s was duller. “Hmmm… This breakfast looks delicious, Octavia!” Then they all sat down at the table. “Not like the ones Buffalo Hooves does here…” After saying this, she received a buck under the table from her sister, strong enough to make her drop her head. Berry was perplexed at Octavia’s reaction, at which Derpy just smiled and said: “Let’s eat or it will get cold!” Few minutes later, Derpy was the first to finish eating her breakfast. “It was delicious, thanks!” “You have been really brisk this morning, sweetie.” “It’s because I have to clean the class.” Answered Derpy near the sink, where she had left the empty dishes. She saw a tiny basket with cookies near and after making sure her relatives weren’t watching her she grabbed a pair and she went up to her room. Dinky Hooves was floating over the desk, where the book laid closed. “Welcome back.” “Here, these are for you Dinky.” and she gave her the cookies. Dinky’s eyes sparkled. “Great! Thank you!” Derpy started to prepare her school saddlebags. “I have to go now. In a few minutes my sister and my mom will go out too, so you can stay here and play with my dolls or watch the TV.” Dinky looked down at the saddlebags and then back to Derpy, who was searching for something in her closet. “But you can’t exit my room under any reason or excuse. Is that clear?” “Sure, okay!” Derpy took the Key of the Seal from a drawer. After returning home the previous day she had added a lace to it so she could carry it around her neck in case of emergency. After placing it into one of the saddlebags, she glanced at the alarm clock of her room (the already famous Mr. Alarm) to check what time it was. “Oh no! I must hurry!” and she caught her saddlebags immediately and dashed out of the room. If only she had looked to her desk once more before leaving… _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Derpy opened the door to her classroom. “Good! I’m first!” And this is not the first good thing this morning. I can’t believe that I found Fancy Pants at his home and he gave me a flower for my classroom from his garden! All is going perfect today… She thought dreamily while trotting to her desk. Just after she sat down on her chair and she putted her saddlebags on her desk somepony else entered the classroom. Somepony she recognized. “Good morning, Carrot Top!” “Good morning Derpy!” “You have come really soon!” “It seems I am not the only one.” “Did you have to pick up the class too?” “No. I want to show you something before the class starts!” After saying this, she put a camera on Derpy’s desk. “A video?” “Yes! I filmed something incredible tonight!” The video started. The Moon could be seen and something blurry in front of it too. “D-Don’t tell me…” and her classmate smirked slightly. “Let’s zoom in that blurry figure…” In the next second, Derpy with the staff and Dinky clearly appeared on the camera screen, flying across the starry sky. “WWAAHH!” And then something erupted in a flash from one of the saddlebags as if it was a bolt of lightning. “What happened? Are you fine, Derpy? Is there a Faust Letter? Where is…” In her outburst, Dinky failed to notice an earth pony standing right in front of her. “…it?” Derpy was starting to panic. She didn’t know neither what just happened nor what should she do next. It was exactly the same she felt when she encountered Dinky for the first time. Carrot Top was astonished. She slowly looked into the screen of the camera and back to the flying unicorn in front of her. There was no doubt. “It’s her! The flying unicorn of the video! So, does that really mean that the pegasus flying in the video it’s you, Derpy?” Derpy furiously glanced at the foal. “I TOLD YOU TO NOT EXIT MY ROOM!!” “I’m sorry…” and she returned back to the saddlebag she just came from. “Carrot… It’s a big secret… I can’t tell anypony!” “I promise to shut my mouth up, sugarcube.” “But it’s a long story too…” Derpy started to look down, a little embarrassed by the situation. “Well… Since the others are about to come, why don’t you tell me later on lunch?” and Carrot gave her a smile to reassure her. Derpy sighed. “…Okey dokey lokey…” _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Ponyville’s school, situated in the middle of a meadow near the pathway, was a big and red wooden building that incorporated a bell tower on top and a playground outside. The playground had nice equipment: from various types of swings to all sorts of chalk-drawn sports fields. It even had some spotlights and streetlights for nocturne activities and a pony-shaped bush at one side of the entry, which was supposed to represent Innocence and Youth. In lunch time there were a lot of ponies playing in the playground, some of them were practicing sports while others could be seen on the swings. Derpy and Carrot sat down against the opposite side of the building, making sure nopony could see or hear them. Carrot was only carrying her lunch, while Derpy had to carry all of her saddlebags since one contained Dinky and her lunch and the other contained the Key and the books. She had to take the Key with her in case a Faust Letter suddenly appeared and attacked them or the students. When they were settled, Dinky came out of the saddlebag. “Phew… that saddlebag is too narrow.” “Why did you get into the saddlebag in the first place, Dinky?” Derpy was less mad than before; but nevertheless she was angry. “I-I just wanted to see an average day in the life of a Cardcaptor…” Carrot was beaming. She was fixed in Dinky, so that probably meant she liked her for no apparent reason. “So… her name is Dinky?” “For heaven’s sake, I don’t deserve this! My name is…” she looked at Derpy, who was giving her a puppy face powerful enough to make a minotaur stop in his tracks. She sighed. “… Dinky Hooves. At your service, uuhh…” “My name is Golden Harvest. Still, my friends call me Carrot Top; so that name is okay too!” She smiled and she looked to Derpy. “And what is that Cardcaptor thing she mentioned before?” “Well, uuhh… I think Dinky here can tell you better. If that’s okay, I mean.” “But of course! Let me tell you everything about Derpy Cardcaptor, Carrot Top!” ________________________________________________________________________________________________ The time flew while Dinky described everything that took place the earlier day from her point of view, which caused Derpy to correct her once or twice. Meanwhile, the other two fillies ate their lunches and the other students of the school kept playing on the playground. The movement of their shadows was weird, though… “…And that’s how Derpy captured The Sight in an incredible and somewhat lucky act of bravery!” Carrot couldn’t contain herself from clapping her hooves in admiration towards her friend. “That’s simply amazing! Derpy Cardcaptor, protecting our town from the evil Faust Letters! It just sounds fantastic!” Derpy began to blush a little. “I-It’s not exactly like that, really” she said waving a hoof dismissively. “Nonsense! I think you’re 100% able!” “And that makes two, Derpy!” Dinky beamed. “Oh! Could you please show me some of that magic?” “W-What?” Dinky clapped her fore hooves. “Yeah! Just a little display, Derpy!” “B-But… what if…” “…somepony discovers us, you were going to say? Don’t worry; nopony has even come close to us in all this time! If you’re quick then everything should be fine!” Dinky said calmly. Derpy sighed and reached for her saddlebags. She took the Key of the Seal from one of them and stepped away from the other two ponies. She extended her hoof with the key on it, and began to recite the magic formula: “O key that holds the powers of the dusks! Reveal me the nature of your true might! I command you by the grade I have been given!” Once again the Magic Circle appeared on the ground around Derpy’s hooves and the key got surrounded in a sphere of blue light. Carrot stared with her mouth open at her friend while Dinky didn’t show any special reaction. “RELEASE!!” At the shout, the light expanded and the key became a staff. Carrot was truly amazed. “So, you can do magic with this staff?” “Only if I own the letters…” replied Derpy. “Like this one, from example!” Dinky appeared from the saddlebag lifting The Sight with her magic. “Dinky! Don’t show them off like that!” Derpy was still afraid of being caught by somepony. “Please tell me you have a special pose!” “Huh? What?” Carrot’s eyes began to shine with deep inspiration “You know! Poses! Like the magicians of the circus or the movies!” “I… I think you need to relax a little, Carrot. You are starting to make me feel dizzy…” Carrot giggled. Lunchtime was about to end, so they finished eating and they headed back to class. At the end of the morning, the shadows of the students began to drift away from their owners… ______________________________________________________________________________________________ The next day began with another glorious morning. Pegasus ponies cleaned out the sky early and the sun wasn’t too bright. Derpy glided towards the school but when she approached the playground she noticed that there was a huge mass of students gathered there. She approached a trio of fillies in particular: her best friends aside Carrot Top. The first one was a pegasus with light gold coat, light cyan mane and moderate cyan mane. Her cutie mark was three drops of water, one bigger than the others, and her mane and tail shared the same style as Derpy’s ones. The second one was an earth pony with green eyes and a yellow green coat. Her mane was pale orange with an almost white stray and it was curvy; although it went straight up instead of falling in front of her eyes like Carrot’s one did. Her cutie mark was a bee posed on top of a big blue flower. And the last one was a unicorn with a light brilliant yellow coat and moderate raspberry eyes. Her light cornflower blue mane was a little curvy too, but it was shorter and less curvy than her other friends’ manes. Her cutie mark was three hearts: one green and the other two blue. “Raindrops! Junebug! Lemon Hearts! What’s going on?” The three turned around. The other pegasus, Raindrops, answered. “Uhh… It’s better if you take a look by yourself, Derpy.” Then the earth pony, Junebug, moved to one side so Derpy could approach and see better. Derpy’s eyes widened. “W-What’s the meaning of this?” A lot of classroom desks and gym material was stacked up in the middle of an athletic field without any order or pattern. “I don’t know! It was already like that when I arrived!” Raindrops commented. Lemon Hearts put her hoof to the chin and tried to concentrate “Hey, If there are desks here…” Then, she gasped on realisation and looked to the others. “Oh my… The classrooms!” The other three gasped too and Junebug was the first to run off saying “Let’s go!” Shortly after, they opened the door to their classroom revealing yet another surprising sight. All the desks and chairs were clustered on the centre too. “Who could be the responsible of such vandalism?” exclaimed Lemon Hearts. Raindrops’ ears flopped. “Who cares? We will have to pick it up anyway…” The others let out a resigned whine and started to clean the mess. Carrot Top entered the class and gasped too. “Hi Carrot…” commented Derpy just before moving out a chair from the top. “Boy, this sure is a big mess. I wonder who could have done it...” Then she gasped once again and when Derpy landed on the floor with the chair on her hooves she approached her and whispered something. “Do you think it has been one of those Faust Letters?” “Huh? Don’t be ridiculous! This couldn’t…” She stopped a few seconds and looked at the ceiling, searching for thought. “… Actually, is pretty likeable! We will ask Dinky about it later. For now, we should clean this up and focus on the classes.” Carrot Top nodded in agreement. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Derpy invited Carrot to her house for some fresh lemonade and a talk about the strange incident with the little alicorn. Up on her room, they told Dinky everything about it and after asking if the culprit could have been a Faust Letter the foal crossed her fore hooves in order to ponder the possibilities. “Hmmm… Yeah, that’s quite their modus operandi”. Carrot grinned. Derpy stared with confusion, one of her eyes pointing at the ceiling. As if she could read the mind of the blonde filly, the next thing Dinky said was: “Their way of acting, Derpy. In other words, the Faust Letters always love causing strange phenomena so as to call attention and bring chaos to the world!” “I-I already knew you were referring to that, silly.” Derpy creased her lips and shifted her eyes from one side to the other, as if she didn’t want anypony to notice something. “So that means I’m right! Oh boy, this is just getting more and more exciting!” Carrot clapped her hooves and giggled. “And what Letter caused this, Dinky?” Dinky crossed her fore hooves once again. “I cannot think of a concrete Letter, Derpy. It could have been several of them.” She answered brief seconds later. “Then what am I supposed to do? I can’t capture it at the light of day; there would be a lot of ponies watching.” Dinky shrugged “Then that’s simple. We go there at night” Derpy’s eyes shrunk and she shook her head. “NO! No way! There is absolutely NO WAY I am going to the school at night! Everypony knows that there’re plenty of frightening ghosts and other paranormal things on schools at night!” Carrot grabbed Derpy’s fore hooves with her owns “Do not fear, Derpy! I will be at your side the whole time!!” A smile formed on Derpy’s face. “Really, Carrot?” Then a sparkle appeared on Carrot’s eyes. “Yes! I have to film the mighty exploits of my friend Derpy; the only one who can bring the Faust Letters’ evil deeds to an end! Derpy looked at her best friend with the best puzzled face she could have ever imagined. “… Aren’t you overreacting about this, Carrot? You make it sound like I am the protagonist of some kind of fiction novel!” Carrot released her friend’s hooves. “That’s the point, Derpy! You have been blessed with magical powers! What could I do less than making a film about you?” Derpy hanged her head low “Ugh… I give up. Do as you please.” “Okay then! Let’s go to the school; it’s time to teach someone a lesson!” “You say it, Dinky!” They both bumped their right hooves and smiled. “It’s ninja time!” _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Several hours after the twilight, the school was empty and silent. Moreover, the whole zone was empty and silent except for a grey pegasus and a winged unicorn flying at her side. Few minutes later, a yellow earth pony with a saddlebag galloped across the road until she reached them. “Howdy, Derpy!” “Hi Carrot!” “Well, where should we start to search?” Derpy rubbed the back of her neck with one of her hooves. “I… I haven’t thought of anything specific.” Carrot snatched her video camera from the saddlebag with one hoof while moving the other dismissively. “Then I have an idea. There was a pile of desks on the athletics field too, right?” Carrot smirked. “You know what they say: the criminal always returns to the crime scene. I think we should start there.” “I guess that’s better than nothing. Let’s get going!” When they arrived there the whole pile of desks was gone and there was absolutely no trace of weird activities. “I don’t see anything strange here, Carrot. Maybe we should-” Suddenly, a peculiar noise sounded behind them. It came from the other side of the building. “D-Did you hear that too, Carrot?” “B-But it doesn’t make sense… I’m sure there is no nopony around here at this hour!” The noise was growing in intensity and clearance: Whatever was causing it, it was getting closer to them. In a brief instant, the pony-shaped bush of the entry appeared flying from behind the corner and propelled towards the fillies at incredible speed with no visible strings or unicorn magic surrounding it. The girls avoided it by a hair and the bush got stuck inside the ground. “WWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! A GHOST, A GHOST, A GHOST A GHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOST!!!! I TOLD YOU IT WASN’T A GOOD IDEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” screamed Derpy at the top of her lungs while hugging Carrot in pure fear of the flying bush that just attacked them. Nevertheless, Carrot maintained her repair and examined the ground around the bush. She noticed something. “Hold on Derpy! Look at its shadow!” Derpy was really afraid, but she supposed that a quick look couldn’t hurt. The bush was flying few feets over the field and there was nothing around it. However, in the ground under the bush, the shadow of a colt lifting the shadow of the bush was visible even though there was nopony there more than Derpy, Dinky and Carrot. The bodiless shadow threw the bush’s shadow forward and the bush itself did the same, following the motion its shadow was doing. The girls narrowly avoided it and the bush discomposed when hitting the ground. “What kind of Letter is this, Dinky?” Many shadows of fillies and colts, all students of the school, appeared from the ceiling, the walls and the swings towards the one that was attacking the girls. “I have no doubt, this must be The Shadow!” “… Very well. Please Dinky, stay with Carrot Top and protect her!” “Understood!” They nodded at the same time and the pegasus filly trotted some metres away from them and after approaching the other shadows she grabbed the key that was hanging from her neck. “O key that holds the powers of the dusks! Reveal me the nature of your true might! I command you by the grade I have been given! - - RELEASE!!” One again, the Magic Circle appeared beneath and the key turned into a staff. Meanwhile, Dinky and Carrot had hidden behind a near bush to keep an eye on Derpy. Carrot began to film with her camera. All the shadows of the students gathered to form a big mass made of shadow that surrounded the Cardcaptor. Derpy got out The Windy and threw it to the ground. The shadow mass emerged from the ground and formed several waves made of shadow that lunged towards her. “Form a chain of wind to bind this creature - - Windy!” Derpy touched the Letter with the beak and several yellow tendrils of wind emerged from the letter and tied up the waves strong enough to tear them apart. However, the broken pieces came to life and assaulted Derpy one by one. Derpy did her best to avoid them, even having to swipe some of them with the staff. “Derpy! Flee to the air, quick!” encouraged Dinky from the bush. Few seconds later, Derpy touched The Sight with the beak while pronouncing its name and flew towards the starry sky, hovering various feets over the field. “This is bad. The Letter must have gathered the shadows of all the students of the school to make itself huger and stronger.” “Is there something we can do to help?” asked Carrot without moving the camera. “The Shadow is more powerful when it’s surrounded of other shadows. We are on a full moon night, thus the shadow of the Moon is giving the Letter a great advantage. If only we could light up the zone…” Carrot stopped recording and stored the camera inside her saddlebag. “Then I have an idea.” _______________________________________________________________________________________________ *CRASH!* Desks were thrown from the classrooms towards Derpy, breaking the windows on their course. Derpy dodged them with no easiness, and focused into one of the classes just to see that the desks were being manipulated by the shadows of the students. I knew I couldn’t do it… This time I’m done for! The large shadow mass that Derpy left behind on the athletic field took advantage of Derpy’s distraction to form a huge tendril that went higher and higher until it captured Derpy’s left back hoof. Derpy tried to fight it off by flying farer, but the sticky shadow form wouldn’t let her move an inch. “Hey! Let me go!” She began to panic. “Somepony please help me!!” The more she fought, the stronger the tendril was pulling her towards the ground. It was a desperate situation and Derpy was beginning to give up. Suddenly, a miracle took place. All the highlights and streetlights near turned on one by one, illuminating the whole field. The shadow mass completely vanished, making Derpy tumble back towards the air due to the force she was making to escape. Derpy glanced over all the school ground from the air and spotted Carrot and Dinky waving their hooves and smiling from a window. She approached them. “All the shadows disappeared! What happened?” Carrot was by a panel to control the electric power. “We can’t make the Sun rise, but that doesn’t mean we cannot make light appear on the field, right?” Derpy beamed. “Thank you very much, Carrot! I’m lucky to have such a good friend!” This made Carrot grin. “Aww, it was nothing sugarcube!” Dinky gasped “Derpy! Over there! That’s the true form of The Shadow!” Dinky pointed towards the centre of the athletic field, where a pony with a big dark purple cloak was walking away on her back hooves. “This time it is I who won’t let you escape, buddy!” and Derpy chased the cloaked pony. The cloaked pony turned to reveal that in fact the cloak was empty and it had no hooves whatsoever. The monster made two big shadow tendrils where the holes for her fore hooves were and attacked Derpy with them. This time Derpy dodged each with grace and easiness thanks to her improved sight. Far away, Carrot Top was filming the scene. “Nice moves Derpy! That’s what I call bravery!” Dinky cheered Derpy at top of her lungs. “Finish him off, Derpy!” Derpy landed next to the figure and got out The Windy once again. “Form a chain of wind to bind this creature - - Windy!” The mare that represented The Windy appeared from the Letter and laced the empty cloak with a yellow and green chain of wind. “Return to the guise you were meant to be! FAUST LETTER!! Derpy swung down the staff and a blue letter-shaped light appeared in front of the beak, emanating several waves of energy of the same colour. The cloak turned into a dark purple tornado and got absorbed by the light. A Letter with the inscription “THE SHADOW” and a drawing of a huge empty cloak in the front appeared from the light and fell on the ground. “Victory! That’s my Derpy Cardcaptor!” Carrot Top filmed Derpy retrieving the letter and putted down the camera. “Simply awesome.” _______________________________________________________________________________________________ “Good morning Raindrops! Do you know where Carrot is?” “Good morning, Derpy. I think she is at the Projection Room.” “Okay! Thanks! ” Balancing a bag of candy on her back, the young pegasus opened the room to the Projection Room. “Hello Carrot! I want to give you these candies for helping me ton…” In the projection room, Carrot was viewing all the scenes she recorded that night. “Y-You were recording me the whole time?” “But of course! Your performance was simply amazing! Something worth of a cinema award, I tell you!” “Don’t you remember? You can’t tell anypony about this!” She smirked. “Only if you take me with you when you go capturing letters!” “Huh? Why?” “Because I have to immortalize your heroism! What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t?” “Uhh… I don’t think you want to hear my answer for that question…” “Then is settled! I will be like your sidekick!” She squealed. “I can’t wait for the next chance for using my camera and record your incredible feats of justice!” Derpy sighed. “If only you were in my place, Carrot…” _______________________________________________________________________________________________ (Author’s Note: This is majorly an adaptation of the Spanish dub of the anime, so I’m sorry for any differences between this fic and the original Japanese dub or the English dub if you’re more costumed to those ones. Also, this is my first fic so I need as many critics and opinions as possible. Thanks for reading!) On the next chapter: “How about I invite you to eat tomorrow? I want to thank you for the pancakes!” Derpy’s eyes narrowed “Are… Are you serious?” “Of course! Let’s meet tomorrow at 13 PM at the park, okay?” “Th-That’s fine by me…” “Very well then. Until tomorrow!” Then he trotted elegantly on the direction Derpy came from. Derpy flew off while waving a hoof. “B-Bye!” When she was far enough, Derpy squealed in sheer happiness and even flew in circles. “WOOOW!! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!!! MY FIRST DATE WITH FANCY PANTS!!!!”