//------------------------------// // Shadows // Story: Transcendent Assignation // by Mr Anomalous //------------------------------// The night sky shone brightly, the breeze was warm, the grass and the trees waved, and the bright orbs of lightning bugs hovered about. In short, it was an incredibly cliche type of night. Nice, yes, but often times an omen, the calm before the storm, if you will. That's why Astrus stayed indoors. He knew about nature, he knew about the world around him. And the world, as it would seemed, was often upset with him. The scruffy-looking stallion grit his teeth as he sat at his desk, lamp flickering weakly, quill in hoof and his eyes cast down upon an empty yellowed sheet of parchment. He dropped his quill, and then picked it up, and then dropped it again. He ground his teeth and pressed his hoof into his temple. "You know what? Forget it. They'll have to wait another month," he said, both in anger and in defeat. He forcefully left his desk and left his study, leaving the lamp on. Grumbling, he made his way through his wooden hallways and ducked into his kitchen where he poured a glass of milk. He sighed and leaned against one of the room's counters. His eyes became distant, ponderous as he drank from his glass. Slowly, the anger drained away, but it was replaced by a wall of tiredness. "And I'm all out of coffee," he said dryly to himself. Eventually, after spending a great amount of time staring at the floor, he started off to his bedroom. But something stopped him. There, in the corner of his eye . . . . Most ponies would roll their eyes at such as momentary disturbance of the shadows. But most ponies weren't Astrus. He set off at a trot, not panicked, but not relaxed, either. He hurried up his stairs and shut his door quickly. He let out a sigh of relief, and them promptly set his four locks. Without magic, he had to place his trust in the simpler things for means of self defense. - - - As was tradition, Princess Twilight and Princess Celestia drank tea whilst speaking of important matters. Tea. The beverage of the apocalypse. This time it was surprisingly un-exotic; regular old earl gray from Tottingham, but it was good. The tea in the palace was always good. "Twilight, I find myself in about as much of a loss as you," Celestia said. Twilight started and quickly swallowed her mouthful of tea, despite its temperature. "Wha-does that mean-" "No, Twilight," Celestia said, a flavor of amusement hiding her in voice, "He's not gone forever. I know what took him, but I, as of now, am having trouble remembering how exactly to get him back . . . ." "Well then, what took him?" Twilight asked, eager as well as worried. "A force that I haven't seen for quite a while, as a matter of fact. It has many names, but it has, as of now, almost faded into legend, as the phrase goes," Celestia said, "Most ponies simply call them the 'Shadows.' Unimaginative, I know." Twilight frowned, thinking. "Well . . . why did they take Booker? What uses could they possibly have for him?" "Well, Twilight, the traveling of another being into another dimension is a rather heavy stone on the fabric of the universe." "But I was doing it for months-" "Yes, and each time, another stone was added to the pile." Twilight fell silent, a pit forming in her stomach. "So . . . it's my fault, then." Celestia pondered for a moment, then said, "Well, yes, Twilight, I suppose it is." Twilight 's head fell further, but Celestia chuckled. "Do not worry, Twilight Sparkle, we all make mistakes. It was a good thing that Booker's hunt for you was the stone that tore the fabric; if we had unleashed the Shadows onto Earth, they could not have been stopped quite so easily." Twilight's ears perked. "Easily?" "The Shadows are an ancient force, experienced in the ways of many worlds, leeches, but they are by no means exceedingly powerful. They're illusive and clever, but very rarely do they exhibit the sort of behavior we witnessed today. I fear that this may mean things have changed, but we can still stop them." "How?" Celestia smirked. "I told you. I don't remember." Twilight furrowed her brow while Celestia raised her eyebrow in amusement. Finally, she said: "I don't remember, but I'm sure our library the books do." Twilight hit herself in the forehead. "Of course . . . ." - - - Despite the fact that I was kidnapped by evil shadow tentacles, I did not find myself in some dark void. Actually, I found myself on top of a mountain. A very cold one. I forced away the feeling and began to observer the area around me. As said, I was on a mountain. A ledge, near the peak. I looked over the side and squinted through the snow. "About two hundred feet or so." Not too bad. I checked my pockets--pen, knife, and memopad still there--and I touched my dog tags to make sure they were still there. I found my bag soon after. So I had all of my supplies, but I was still trapped. Maybe. I looked up again, looking closely. There were several tiny juts and wears in the stone that could have been used for climbing, but based off of the fact that I didn't dress for mountain-snow-type-weather, I didn't really want to risk getting higher, and therefore colder. I decided to save that for later. And then I berated myself for not grabbing a freaking jacket. Like Mom used to say. Like every Mom says. I smiled at her memory and decided that, when I got home, I would totally visit her. What would I say? 'Hey Mom, sorry I haven't visited, I went after my small equine girlfriend and got kidnapped by shadows.' It was right then, our of the void it seemed, that I realized something. I Iooked at my hand, and then the other. I tapped my boot on the stone ledge. I was solid again. I grinned and retrieved a handgun from my bag. I could use this thing now. But the question was, on what?