The grass was still wet and the the clouds still hanging above her, making it impossible to tell if morning was soon to come. Keeping up with the stallion's pace was a peace of hay, keeping hidden from his watchful eyes was a bit more difficult. He kept looking back and forth, as if searching for something he was certain would be there. MoonShadow watched intently as the pony raised a hoof to the door, but did not knock it, instead, holding a odd looking tool in his hoof. The end of the tool lit up and the mettle door swung open. The stallion disappeared inside the building, glancing down both alleyways as he did so.
"Come on out!" He said" I know you've been watching me."
MoonShadow gasped and hung her head low, hoping he wouldn't see her.
"Okay, I'm coming!"
She let her muscles relax and allowed herself to breath once more. But the question still lingered in the air, who WAS he talking to? The mare peaked her head out of the bushes, glancing left and right like the older stallion as she did so.
"Hold on a sec, i need my sandwich!"
Definitely a mare, and by the slight high-pitched voice, a filly. More importantly, a filly she did not recognize. The filly came out of the doorway, swallowing the last of a rather tasty looking dandelion sandwich. Her coat was a light yellow and her mane and tale a combination of cream and blonde. MoonShadow touched her own mane, secretly despising the filly for her beautifully styled mane and braided tale. Shadow narrowed her eyes.
The filly nuzzled up against the older stallion, wrapping her hooves around him.
"Where are we going Professor?"
Professor? What kind of griffin-loving-hay-hoot'n-mother would name her child PROFESSOR? MoonsShadow growled under her breath. He shouldn't even HAVE a daughter! Locking her in an alleyway like that! HAH! The nerve! She had half a mind to go tell him off! Half a mind to tell him what a stupid name he has, half a mind to ring his neck for leaving a filly alone in this part of ponyville, and half a mind to tell him how angry she was at him for finding a special some pony before she could meet him...Shadow slapped herself with a hoof trying to keep those thoughts far from her. Her coat shivered and she retreated further back into the shadows. How could she let herself think like that again? The mare slapped herself once more.
Turning her attention back to the alley, a slight feeling a disappointment crossed her wondering thoughts. The Professor and filly had both gone, leaving only rays of sunlight in the place where the two had stood. Sunlight?! SUNLIGHT! MoonShadow's eyes shrank to the size of pinheads. Turning as quickly as a pony can, she ran back down the street, passing through shadowed corners and hidden passages no pony bothered to look in. Shadow bolted down the still darkened parts of the streets, neither taking note nor caring of the ponies setting up their shops once again to welcome the new day and new costumers.
When back in her home, Shadow rested on her side amoungst the many pillows in Celestia's secret library.
With a gasp, MoonShadow's eyes snapped open, but the gasp wasn't her own, it came from the main library and by the sound of it, a mare. She held her ear up against the secret passage.
"WOW! Look at all these ancient books!"
Shadow winced, more than one pony, that was new. No pony has ever dared to come here but once, when nightmare moon was defeated.
"it's a veritable gold mine of information. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!"
She sighed in frustration. Great, another one's getting into meh books!
"WOOHOO!"
MoonShadow then heard what sounded like a stumble and the smashing of her books, then a small scream.
A male voice aroused in the chaos," Uh..hehe, so Twilight,"
Twilight? Oh not her!"
"Ready to head home?"
"Are you kidding?! This place is perfect!!!"
Oh hayseeds...
MoonShadow pulled from the door. Pull it together, you've scared away other ponies Shadow, you can scare this one. Tiphoofing, she left through another exit, grabing her black cloak as she did so and making sure not to let Twilight know she was there. Even though it was morning, no sunlight made it's way through the castle windows, or what had once been windows anyway, and it was difficult to see without her torch. After banging her hooves on several loose stones, she found her way outside.
"Are you sure you need those tapestries?"
MoonShadow's face twisted into a frown and her eyes narrowed, how dare they! This is HER home. A familiar feeling burned in her chest.
Another voice, recognizable as the mare who ran The Carousel Boutique
"Of course, although, I must admit, these ruins are a fright."
Shadow watched the two mares and one rabbit, enter the castle, secretly wishing it was still raining.
"Just look at all this dirt everywhere!"The white mare shook her hooves off.
Shadow tensed her muscles, readying herself to pounce out at the unsuspecting two, when the rabbit charged into the castle and as did the pegasus, calling in after him. The mares disappeared into the darkness. Seeing as nopony was there, Shadow stepped out into the clearing, her dark shadow falling upon the doorstep. Before entering, she stopped at the door and could still hear mumbling on the other side. A devilish grin crossed her face and she entered just in time to see a light pink tale and yellow rump fellow it's friends to the next room. Shadow dashed behind a piece of fallen ruble.
"I don't think we'll need all these candles Twilight. I was really only scared for a second."
Scared? MoonShadow glanced up at the two crossing by, followed by levitating candles. Her eyes squinted at the light. It was beautiful, unlike her.
:oh, these aren't for you Spike," Spike, she knew that name, " We're going to be studying late into the night."
The young dragon's eyes grew small in fear.
"And we're gunna need all the light we can get!"
Spike then complained under his breath. Staying in her hiding spot, she could hear more voices, and by the southern twang, AppleJack.
"Well, here we are!"
RainbowDash was following her in.
"Uh, what's so daring about this place?"
The two stood next to each other, staring into the castle and just missing Shadow's tale.
"This is where we got the elements of Harmony." Rainbow continued.
MoonShadow cringed at the title, but continued to listen and watch while AJ formed a sneaky smile on her face.
"When I was just a filly, granny Smith told me of an ancient legend." The orange mare climbed to the top of a crumbling brick staircase." When NightMare Moon was banished, not every last bit of her dark magic whent with her."
A knot formed in Shadow's throat.
"Granny used to say, when night falls on the castle,"
She glanced out a large hole in the wall and stared off into the moon.
"That magic, takes the form of..." AppleJack paused "The Pony Of Shadows!" Aj raised her hooves in the air as an attempt to scare her friend.
Tears flew freely from MoonShadow's eyes. She didn't try to hold them back, she didn't even care to wipe them away from her dark purple face. This is what she deserved, to be alone, and sad.
"You mean like a...ghost?" Rainbow spoke quietly, as if trying to hide her fear.
AppleJack came up next to her friend, and frozen look of(What she was trying to make) shock on her face. She waved her hooves in the air, messing up her yellow mane.
"Noooo Poony Knoowwwwss"
Rainbow grunted. Taking her chance, Shadow left the room, and the mares. Sneaking around the back way, she watched as somepony activated the trap wall. Rainbow screamed, AppleJack screamed! MoonShadow stood up to her full height, casting a longshadow upon the two, causing more screams and squeals of fear. Fear. It felt so natural. NO! She pulled back, taking her shadow from it's place and leaving the horrified ponies alone.
She hadn't been in this room for what felt like centuries. It was darker than the first time she used it. Closing her eyes, Shadow concentrated on she castle, all the trap doors, all the paintings and the secrets...And activated them. She had neither will nor power to frighten them off herself...But maybe....
She concentrated on the paintings in the hallways, making their eyes move back and forth, and then the trap doors in the floor...Yes, surely there will be a pony there as well.